Opening rounded Allan key holes

[Nobimmer 694]

I have lock nuts on all my wheels and they are a long cylinder with a female hex inside.

Problem is,for f**k knows what reason,a few of the hex's have rounded themselves to the point where I can't undo them..hence cant take my wheel off.Sucks cos its the rears!

They arent too bad,but just enough to stop it from biting... I mean the wheel brace doesnt slip until youve got all your weight on it kinda thing.

Any ideas?

Cheers

Ashkan

[*sic 1]

superglue.

[*sic 1]

or weld that sh*t

[Nobimmer 694]

When pappy gets home I think I'll try put some knead-it (epoxy play doh) around the key and jam it in,let it set and try it from there.Gonna f**k both the nut and the key but meh they're rooted already.

[Gus 5]

hammer? somehow somewhere

[will 169]

hammer? somehow somewhere

bet my hammer is bigger than your hammer

gas axe for the win!!

[will 169]

If you get it up here next weekend, I'll get them off for you.

[Mike 1]

or weld that sh*t

+1

(if you can get in there, just weld some steel or an old allen key in there)

[will 169]

thinking about it, ever heard of an "easy out"? Used to remove broken bolts by first drilling a hole down the centre of the broken-off stub, is a left-hand threaded thingymajig you screw into the hole. If you can get one big enough, it should do the trick.

A good engineering shop should have one. If they do, it would only take a few minutes to get it out..

Will

[Silver Fox 43]

Local tyre man taught me this one. Get an old socket which is just smaller than the outside and hammer it on, then take it off with a ratchet. Worked for me when I had to get mine off.

[nz320i 0]

Buy a reverse drill bit from a shop like blacks

[will 169]

Local tyre man taught me this one. Get an old socket which is just smaller than the outside and hammer it on, then take it off with a ratchet. Worked for me when I had to get mine off.

his is one of these nuts with a hex hole down the middle, not on the outside. Same theory, maybe an imperial size hex key slightly bigger and hammered in with Gus's all-conquering hammer would work??

[Silver Fox 43]

Yeah Will, I mean to get a socket to go over the outside of the nut, not in the hole. Same problem I had, worked for me. Other way I got some off was with a set of sump sockets I've got and found one which I could jam in the middle, worked too.

[bimmer boy 21]

Take the car to the tyre shop and let them deal with it haha

[Nobimmer 694]

The outside is round,I'll "borrow" an old crappy socket from work tommorow and give it a whirl.Dad ran out of industrial play-doh so give that a miss...but that would basiclly be the same idea as welding the allan key into it,just not as potent!

Could also try hammering a slightly bigger hex into it,but the hex on it is *huge guestimate* 15-20mm so I'll try find something.

Tried a tyre shop a couple weeks ago when I was doing some rear springs...they wouldn't touch it because they didn't want to take responsibility for it...I'm sure it was just that one store,but I gave up haha.

[kerrynzl 3]

You need a 'Cold Chisel' made from Hex steel extrusion [most are]

Whack the chisel in diagonally across the rounded hex [Gus's special hammer is needed here]

Use a cresent spanner on the 'shank' of the chisel to crack them loose

This method has always worked for me [except I use finnese, not Gus's hammer]

[bravo 34]

Cold chisel, weld, etc all may work. Can use a centre punch to make a couple of decent marks on the outside of the face of the nut, then whack it around with another punch.

Will - I have used two types o easy outs - one have the left-hand tapered thread as you talk about - there are another kind which are almost square with the edges sharpened also tapered that you hammer in and the edges cut into the sides of the hole you have drilled - both work well.

As the hole has been started you could drill out the middle of the stud/locknut and use easy-outs.

[OLLIE 26]

i have knead it and a rattle gun if i can be of any help

[318is 0]

An old trick that works every time ( as mentioned before ) is get a 21mm single hex socket, smack it on with a hammer until it's right on, then just power bar it off. 21mm is 99% fit, for others use another socket that you can't get over it by hand, hammer only. And only use a single hex.

Will need a vice and punch to get the old nut out.

I've had to do this so many times with mates cars and customers who can't find the key in the past.

Ever wonder how the scum bags get your wheels off without your nut key?.... same ole 21mm socket and hammer.

[kerrynzl 3]

I've had to do this so many times with mates cars and customers who can't find the key in the past.

Ever wonder how the scum bags get your wheels off without your nut key?.... same ole 21mm socket and hammer.

I was just at a mates tyre shop today,and watched him whack a crossbrace over a locknut as you suggested [6 point hex] he said the cheap crossbraces worked best ,as they bite into the locknuts better

It worked a treat [nothing is scumbag proof]

[Guest Spargo]

You need a 'Cold Chisel' made from Hex steel extrusion [most are]

Whack the chisel in diagonally across the rounded hex [Gus's special hammer is needed here]

Exactly what I did when faced with lock nuts and the key some 200km from said lock nuts.

[kiwipetrolhead 1]

...[Gus's special hammer is needed here]]

Did Gus use the money I gave him for my 'new' e21 head to buy his hammer? Well, he did say he needed the money in a hurry to buy some "tools"!

P

[Guest Spargo]

Did Gus use the money I gave him for my 'new' e21 head to buy his hammer? Well, he did say he needed the money in a hurry to buy some "tools"!

P

[ketzalsterlingindianvoice] you can never have too many hammers [/ketzalsterlingindianvoice]