Broke a wheel bolt

  • Thread starter Thread starter Alex800st
  • Start date Start date
  • Replies Replies 20
  • Views Views 3K
My best advice is to spray it lightly with penetrating oil (don't get it on the rotor disc surface). Get the right size phillips and drive it in with a hammer so that it seats well in the screw (this might also help with breaking a little of the rust loose). Make sure you have good downward pressure on the screwdriver as you turn it so that you don't further strip out the screw. If all this fails, you can always 1) drill a hole into the screw and try to remove it with an ease-out. or 2) drill out the head of the phillips screw, remove the cover and then try to remove the screw with vice-grip pliers.
 
Thanks! Will drill out.
What kind of tool needed to remove the stud and press the new one? Can be done on the car after I remove the disk I hope?
 
Look at a couple of youtube videos for removal of a wheel stud on hondas. You should be able to drive the old broken one out with a shop hammer and a punch. Again, some penetrating oil might be helpful. It is usually easy to pull the new one in with a spacer and a lug nut (tightening the lug nut to pull the new one in). It would be good to get an open lug nut to do this so that you don't have to deal with not having enough threads on the nut and having to increase the spacer depth to get it all the way seated. I saw one video where there was a dust shield around the hub that had to be cut slightly to give room to get the old one out and the new one in. Hopefully the Clarity isn't like that, but it didn't look like a big deal.
 
Bad news 1 - could not unscrew philips.
Good news 1 - drilled it out.
Bad news 2 - can’t remove disk, too rusty, need a special tool I guess.
Good news 2 - I do not need to remove disk, enough space behind to kick out old studs.
Bad news 3 - 5 new studs and nuts cost me $136
Good news 3 - having some fun with that s-t.
upload_2025-5-5_18-34-55.webp
 
The most likely reason for the broken stud is a garage monkey wildly overtorquing it at some point. If it was corroded to the nut however, a dab of never seeze will solve that in the future. Same with the brake disc, a bit on the hub and the philips bolt will make them come off easily in the future
 
Sorry, I was not paying attention when you posted this thread.
I have some suggestions that might have helped which are now moot (maybe a future victim could benefit) !!

I recently found that a small impact driver (the ones that essentially look like a drill) does an excellent job of removing the small screw holding the disk.

upload_2025-5-6_8-11-12.webp

Also - to remove the disk, the two holes (marked with the yellow arrows) are threaded for 'jack screws'. You can thread bolts in these and use them to jack the disk off of the spindle. If it is really stuck badly, sometimes hammering in addition to the jack screws is necessary to break the rust...

upload_2025-5-6_8-15-53.webp
 
Sorry, I was not paying attention when you posted this thread.
I have some suggestions that might have helped which are now moot (maybe a future victim could benefit) !!

I recently found that a small impact driver (the ones that essentially look like a drill) does an excellent job of removing the small screw holding the disk.

View attachment 24136

Also - to remove the disk, the two holes (marked with the yellow arrows) are threaded for 'jack screws'. You can thread bolts in these and use them to jack the disk off of the spindle. If it is really stuck badly, sometimes hammering in addition to the jack screws is necessary to break the rust...

View attachment 24137
The hardest part of using the jack screws is finding the correct thread bolt.
 
OK, all done.
If someone will have to do the same-
no need to remove philips bolt, do not remove disk and/or breaks - unnecessary.
Enough space there to kick out the old studs and insert the new one (you may have to ask for help someone with more flexible fingers not sausages)
Have fun!
 
OK, all done.
If someone will have to do the same-
no need to remove philips bolt, do not remove disk and/or breaks - unnecessary.
Enough space there to kick out the old studs and insert the new one (you may have to ask for help someone with more flexible fingers not sausages)
Have fun!

Did you buy all the recommended tools and supplies that weren’t necessary to do the job?
 
Back
Top