| Stuck Wheels |
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| A feature new to me, and one I gave little thought to before buying my car, were the wire wheels. Then I read in the owner's manual that the splined of wire wheels should be greased periodically to prevent binding at the worst possible time: while away from home, and possibly in foul weather.
Removal of the first three wheels took a matter of minutes. A wire brush applied to the splines, careful wiping, and application of a thin coat of grease proved a simple, almost pleasant job. I was idly imagining having a flat in traffic and replacing it with the spare in next to no time. Then I tried to remove the fourth wheel. What I thought was a 'a little snug' turned out to be frozen tight. Pry bars, then wrecking bars proved no match. Penetrating oil applied through tubes to reach behind made no difference. Hammering with increasing intensity produced only a ringing in the ears.
The most amazing aspect of the whole experience was the lack of good advice available. I called numerous mechanics and wheel/tire specialists, only to hear that they had no special tools or equipment to solve this problem. A kind of one-upmanship emerged in the story telling of normally helpful mechanics. I heard about the guy who replaced the whole rear end, the guy who changed the tire right on the car, and the guy who put the car in a broadslide and still couldn't get the wheel off. Lucky for him it stayed on!
Finally I told my tale of woe to an industrial mechanic. He was more at ease with heavy machinery than light sports cars, but his answer came without hesitation. Handing me a large gear puller, he said, ' Heat the wheel'. I told him it would ruin the paint and he assured me that was the least of my problems! 'You can always get it painted, but if you deform it, you've ruined it', he told me. ' It'll come off hard all the way', he predicted 'but let the heat do the work for you. The axle will act as a heat sink, keeping the spline cool as the wheel expands'. I first confirmed that the penetrating oil I had used was not flammable. Then I carefully positioned the three arms of the gear puller between the spokes. It might be necessary to disassemble the gear puller to avoid bending the spokes; this is a simple matter. Considerable pressure can then be applied very evenly, without distorting the rim, but probably still not enough to loosen the wheel. The torch is the charm. Concentrate heat between the outer spokes, while turning the wheel slowly. I did this for what seemed like far too long a time and was about to give up when a sound very much like a twenty-two caliber rifle scared me to death. I jumped, yelled, and nearly dropped the torch. Even then there was no obvious evidence anything had come free. The only noticeable change was that the gear puller was not quite as tight as before. I gave it a turn or two and began heating again. A minute or two later, 'Pop', another sixteenth of an inch! That was the way it went all the way off. To save all this trouble, the owner's manual warning to remove the wheels and grease the splines regularly should not be taken lightly. Ed. note: Your gear puller will have to have relatively fine jaws to fit behind the wheel hub. A harness can be made by securing ca chain around the hub and attaching the gear puller to the chain. |
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