Stripped wheel bolts...possibly.

[MacWomble]

I had the rear wheels off my 2.1 estate today to adjust handbrake shoes n stuff and when I put one wheel back on it feels like 4 bolts won't tighten. The light was failing so I packed up for the day.
Has anybody got any ideas what may be wrong?
I've had the wheels off dozens of times and never had this problem.
Have i stripped the bolts and if so what could be done?

Thanks.
MacWomble.

[lozz]

icarnt see how youve managed to strip 4

have you put the locating screws back in the drum,
if not then maybe the drum as gone round and your missing the hub holes with the bolts.


if stripped then id guess replacement hub is needed, http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/COMLINE-REAR- ... 19d39eb2cb

[GingerMagic]

+1, I can't imagine stripping all 4 at the same time. It only takes to disc/drum to be out by 1mm and the bolts won't go in for love nor money....

Try again in the daylight, I tend to put a bolt through the wheel before trying to hang it on to line things up a bit better. There should be a long bolt thing in the spare wheel area for lining the wheel up with the bolt holes.....

[markw]

That 'long bolt thing' lived in my spare wheel kit for 4 years till I realised what it did!
I never change a wheel now without using it....makes life much easier.
Just screw it in, spin the hub so that it's at the top, hang the wheel on it then you have both hands free for the bolts.

[gumby6371]

I'm sure the Haynes book of lies states 90 NM for wheel nuts which if you actually use a torque wrench is hardly anything.

As already said check again in the daylight, you'd need to really lean on them to strip the threads.

[MacWomble]

Thankyou all for the advice. In the light of day I removed all the bolts and found the threads were worn on all 4. Looking at the hub I could see the threads in there weren't the best either. Just wear in a set of bolts that are 16 years old.
I tried a known good bolt from a front wheel and it tightened up as normal in the back and even better the worn bolt from the back bit normally in the front too.
In the true spirit of the 406 OC, I went round pinching bolts from the 3 good wheels and swopping them for the worn ones. They all tightened up normally in the back and also where I'd removed them from the other wheels.
Clearly the combination of worn bolts AND hub was the problem.

[lozz]

perhaps a Tyre monkey been at the bolts before ipresume,

Stretched with windy gun seen loads like that,



you might be best pick a handful of bolts up from Scrapyard for the future just in case same happens on another wheel,.

[MacWomble]

Final update on the wheel bolts. I borrowed an M12 x 1.25 tap and cleaned out the hub threads and then fitted 4 new ones from ebay, (scrap ones can be a bit hit and miss).
So anyone with wheel bolt issues I'd suggest a retap and new bolts before you think about replacing the hub itself.

[Rolebama]

Slightly beside the point, but I thought worth mentioning. On my old 306, took the wheel off to do a timing belt job. Replaced, and all seemed OK. After a few miles car started making a screeching noise on left hand bends. Checked all the usual culprits, couldn't find anything, so drove home, gently. Decided to readjust aux belt, (anything worth a try), and when I pulled the wheel trim off there was metallic swarf inside the trim and on the wheel. The bolts had a shank on them which meant the bolts tightened to the hub, but were only just 'nipping' the wheel. Chenged the wheel bolts for shankless and never had the problem again.