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Wheel Stuck on Hub!!! Help!!

E

elks

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SO in the shop we have a 1999 dodge 1500. It has been abused. Well today we got up in the air and went to start a brake job. The right rear wheel is not coming off. Lug nuts all off. We have beat on it with rubber mallet, heated the center, even pulled with another vehicle and a chain. I am not sure what to do next. Thought about taking the entire axle drum and all then using the press!!!!

Any thoughts? I even tried a chain from the wheel to another vehicle and jumping up and down. I weigh 285 pounds and we never got a bit of movement from the wheel coming of..

I am not sure how or why it is stuck on...
 
Is this a stock or aftermarket wheel? Alum or steel? Any gap in the wheel center for the hub and the actual hub? Very odd.. How about soaking the mounting surface (between the wheel and drum/rotor) with PB blaster etc? If all else fails I'd press it out on the bench somehow like you said.
 
Put the rubber mallet away and get a real hammer. Hit the tire as hard as you can on each side, front and back, left and right until it breaks free
 
Put the nuts back on finger tight, or a little looser. Go for a drive.
 
This happened to me...broke my thumbnail off trying.

But was pulling the axles anyway, so just rolled it out and gave it away on CL
 
tRustyK5 said:
Put the nuts back on finger tight, or a little looser. Go for a drive.
Click to expand...

Had a friend do this (right front wheel) and even plowed snow with the nuts loose and the steel wheel never came off. He later parted the Blazer out.
 
elks said:
SO in the shop we have a 1999 dodge 1500. It has been abused. Well today we got up in the air and went to start a brake job. The right rear wheel is not coming off. Lug nuts all off. We have beat on it with rubber mallet, heated the center, even pulled with another vehicle and a chain. I am not sure what to do next. Thought about taking the entire axle drum and all then using the press!!!!

Any thoughts? I even tried a chain from the wheel to another vehicle and jumping up and down. I weigh 285 pounds and we never got a bit of movement from the wheel coming of..

I am not sure how or why it is stuck on...
Click to expand...

I have had this problem with my big rig and steel wheels, the only thing that worked was a pry bar from the back between the wheel and the drum
 
8 pound sledge. My 04 2500hd aluminum wheels would seize onto the hubs every winter. Loosen the lugs, jack it up and give it a good swing. Just don't hit the wheel.
 
I've done it two ways. One is to use an air hammer to vibrate the wheel center as it is probably a steel wheel and rusted on. The center hole usually gets stuck on the axle ring. I've also put a bottle jack off the leaf springs onto the edge of the rim. Then with a sledge hit the opposite side (180degrees)of the tire real hard. Vibrate it first all around the center of the wheel with a blunt or flat air hammer tip then if that doesn't work try the jack and hitting the other side with the sledge. A Porta-Power cylinder also works in place of the bottle jacks. Two jacks on each edge of the rim (180d apart) and then hitting the axle center with a heavy bar/sledge should get it off too. I guess that was about 4 ways!:D
 
Lots of good suggestions here. I've had good luck taking off lug nuts and lowering the weight of the truck onto the tire with the jack, but it sounds like you may be beyond this. Lots of PB Blaster and some hits with a hammer (if you trust yourself use a sledge) should take care of the problem.
 
personaly i would find the biggest hammer i can and beat the crap out of it till it pops loose.(rim, tire never mattered to me when its my stuff)

when i worked in the shop, the air hammer thing worked good, and loose lugs and go for a ride.

everything has been said that i can think of.
 
I usually slam it with a 10 pound sledge to vibrate it loose from the tire. This sounds pretty stuck on. You may have to try your press idea if all else fails.
 
had a f-550 4x4 dump / plow 10ft / 3 yard loaded salt spreader come in 1 time . the rims were frozen . even did the drive it loose lug nut trick . went over heavy pot holes still nothing . loaded up the 6 new tires and drove it to our other shop were i use to work and used the porta power with a special fat/short ram just for poping rims off frozen hubs. we bent the rims but got them after walking them all the way around to get each one off.

but yes 8-10 lb hammer on back side with 1 lug nut on loose to catch rim . if not drive it with nuts finger tight and then backed off 2-3 full turns . then if no go heat around the hub on the rim and hope it works .
 
I've seen rims rusted so tight to the hub centers at my friends shop,that loosening the lugs and doing several reverse to drive "slams" and a few burnouts and doghnouts around the parking lot failed to loosen them..

The only way he got them off was to heat the rims with a torch (very risky,the tires can explode!),and then use a 20 lb. sledge to whack the inside of the rim--usually ruins the rim ,but at least they come off..

I read in a very old auto repair book this was a common dilema on old cars--they showed how to use two peices of 4x4 lumber to pop the rims off,by jacking the car up and placing the wood against the two rear rims ,in an inverted "V" fashion,and lowering the jack,this supposedly applies a lot of outward thrust to the rims,and a few whacks of a hammer would pop off the one with the lugs loosened..never tried it myself,but I suppose it could work...my sledge aways worked for me..so far..
 
I know i'm late to the game...i suggest a hi-lift jack.
1: raise vehicle off the ground, so that wheel does not make contact with the ground.
2: remove lug nuts.
3: place high-lift jack between tire and frame, the actuating jaw against frame, base on tire, perhaps on the wheel itself. For equal distribution of force use two jacks, one on either side, if a shock is not in the way.
4: Make sure that no life is in an area of 90 degrees of the lateral force of the outside of the wheel assembly. Maybe a distance of 12' feet away, too.
5: Operate the jacks. If you bend the frame, or bust the jacks...you got a problem.

So how DID this get fixed?
 
good idea . just 1 redo on directions .

I always leave 1-2 lug nuts 4-5 turn on but still real loose . this catches the rim/tire so it will not go flying around the shop and cause damage to its self or other items.

some wheel tire combos are heavy and bounce just as bad as a basketball. :whistle:
 
I had this problem...hit it with WD-40 or PB Blaster...soak it good and let it sit overnight...next day...get something comfortable to lay down on like a moving blanket....lay on your back and kick the tire up top or on bottom whichever is more comfortable to you. You may have to kick several time but it will come loose eventually.
 
Ive seen this happen from using the wrong lug nuts with aluminum wheels, the wheel mated with the threads.

Worst case scenario, you have to pull the axle and grind the backs off of the studs and drive them out of the drum from the inside and try to save the wheel.
 
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