Wheel weight rusted onto the wheel - Help Please!

J

John S

Active member
This Farmall A I just bought has rear wheel weights, the one on the left was removed but the one on the right hand side is rusted onto the cast iron wheel center extremely well. I don’t think it’s been off in many years and it is beginning to be a real pain. One of the bolts was already removed when I bought it but two of the others snapped the nuts off the bolts trying to loosen them The third bolt snapped off when I tried to turn it out. So now what I have is one completely out, one with the nut & bolt snapped off and the other two with the nuts snapped off. I have soaked the void between the wheel center and the weight with BP Blaster the best I could. Now even with a crow bar trying to pry the weight off all I get is the crow bar flexing and no sign of movement. Can you give me any advice?
 
Just the other day I was separating a wheel from a rim with the same problem. All bolts out and their still hard fast. No amount of prying would work even with a spud bar. Finally I went and got a sledge hammer and a block of wood. That did the trick! The wood offered protection against the blow. No damage done.
 
WKPoor, did you just hit it with the sledge hammer from the all sides or did you hit it right on the front surface?
 
John, if I understood your description correctly, you still have a couple bolts in the holes, but with the ends twisted off. they may be rusted to the weight and causing more of a problem than the rust to the wheel. squirt your oil around them also. May help if you take the wheel off and tap the heads from the back to vibrate them loose some. hitting them or using a punch from the front may head them.
 
I basically beat around on it. John's right though it might help if all fasteners were out. Mine were before I figured out it was just plain stuck.
 
Thank you for the help. I would also like to thank everybody that helped me with my carburetor problem in the earlier post. This site is a great source of information. I'm still wrestling with that wheel weight but in the end I'm going to show it who's boss.
 
I have a similar problem with our BN . The main wheels pans Cast Iron) are stuck to the main axle hub. I haven't tried heat yet. wanted to get the fuel tank off before I started with the heat. I know they have not been off since my dad purchased it in 1970. They are cast so they are pretty heavy. Left two bolts in loose. I have tried the heavy persuasion with no luck.
Thanks PWL
 
John S":2qs1uyp3 said:
Thank you for the help. I would also like to thank everybody that helped me with my carburetor problem in the earlier post. This site is a great source of information. I'm still wrestling with that wheel weight but in the end I'm going to show it who's boss.
Click to expand...

Attaboy, John,

Don't take "no" for an answer. :D As you are no doubt aware the rust expands the bolt in the hole, making it very tight, just the same as the rust on a rim makes the bead very tight. (the rust has a higher volume than the steel) Your problem should be easier to deal with. I would clean the one vacant hole as well as possible and put a temporary bolt in it for safety reasons. (to keep the weight from falling on you.) Turn the safety bolt to the top and just have at it with whatever is available. In my case it would be a long stroke air hammer and simply drive the bolts out. A BFH and a large punch would also work. The rust cannot bond the weight to the wheel center... it's the bolts.
 
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