Decided I had better grease my bolt after having not removed it for almost 20 years (bad I know). Anyway I decided to look for a drift in the shed, no dice. I measured the thread and jumped on the internet. hey presto. Found a 50mm high strength type wheel bolt with a M15x1.25 thread pitch. It arrived today. Threaded it fully into the spindle and the backed it out about 15mm. Gave it a few smacks and the spindle moved, back the other way with an aluminium drift. Back and forth a few times and its ready to come out. Probably the best thing to do is buy 2 bolts and saw the head off of one so you can use a slimmer drift and knock it right through one you have got the initial movement. Maybe this has been thought of before and I'm late to the party. But if not I hope it helps.
View attachment 352538 View attachment 352539 View attachment 352540 View attachment 352538 View attachment 352539 View attachment 352540 Decided I had better grease my bolt after having not removed it for almost 20 years (bad I know). Anyway I decided to look for a drift in the shed, no dice. I measured the thread and jumped on the internet. hey presto. Found a 50mm high strength type wheel bolt with a M15x1.25 thread pitch. It arrived today. Threaded it fully into the spindle and the backed it out about 15mm. Gave it a few smacks and the spindle moved, back the other way with an aluminium drift. Back and forth a few times and its ready to come out. Probably the best thing to do is buy 2 bolts and saw the head off of one so you can use a slimmer drift and knock it right through one you have got the initial movement. Maybe this has been thought of before and I'm late to the party. But if not I hope it helps.
Possibly perhaps, but its spreading the load over at least a 30mm thread section and prevents any possibility of burring the end and becoming totally Donald Duck'd
Completed the removal today after freeing the bolt yesterday. Used a length of 18mm Acetal rod. Spindle out, zero damage, zero burring. Finished off by pushing some cloth through the hole a few times to clear out any bits. Then all back together, ready for the next 20 years!! Valves checked, all good. Onto the belts, oil and new tyres.
