Sasquatch wheel beauty ring removal

[Cold_steel]

Hey all,
Frustrating one here and looking for some pointers.

I purchased 5 silver sasquatch wheel beauty rings that someone took off their rig, and I had them powdercoated black. Plan is to use the black ones daily, then swap on the original silver ones so I can beat them against rocks this summer.

I had no trouble breaking the Threadlocker loose on 4 of the 5 wheels, and got the black rings swapped over.

When I came to the driver front however, I came across a single bolt that would only turn a few times and then would stop turning. It felt mechanically stuck like it was cross threaded. I had applied enough torque to start tearing up the T45 both head, so I stopped before it stripped out all the way.

I ordered a replacement bolt ahead of time, and went to the dealer today to have them look at what was going on.

Their mechanic was able to get the bolt out by applying heat, and swapped my black ring on. Great!

…except he didn’t put the ring on where the notch lined up with the valve stem.

It was late in the day at that point - no big deal, now that the bolt was removed and replaced with the new one,shouldn’t have an issue just like I didn’t have an issue on the other 65 bolts right?

wrong. There are now TWO bolts on that wheel that feel like they won’t come out.

help me out here guys, because I don’t want to keep hitting this with my purse.

what heat source should I use to warm these two up myself without wrecking the powdercoated ring or painted bolt?

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[cmcbronco]

I’d take it back to the dealer. They can fix it since they put it on wrong.

 

[KnoxGnater]

Pro tip, these are Torx+ bolts. There is a difference and it will help save the heads. If you have a soldering iron, direct contact on the bolt for several minutes may help. And PB Blaster.

 

[WuNgUn]

Pro tip, these are Torx+ bolts. There is a difference and it will help save the heads. If you have a soldering iron, direct contact on the bolt for several minutes may help. And PB Blaster.

NOT TP bolts on the beauty rings. Regular Torx.
The issue is you have steel bolts in contact with aluminum rim. Besides corrosion, the aluminum threads can be easily damaged by over torquing them... And turn to crap trying to pull them out.

 

[Roger123]

At this point heat really isn't going to do much, if there was any thread locker it's gone (unless the dealer put some on) and there's no rust to break free. Heating the bolt will just cause it to expand making the situation worse.

As mentioned above use a good bit of a quality penetrating fluid to lubricate and work the bolt back and forth to slowly try and back it out. if the AL and Fe have galled there's nothing left to do other than drill it out.

For anybody else out there doing this I highly recommend using a good anti-seize coating on these bolts and stay away from the air/ power tools. Al and Fe can be a tough combination to work with.

 

[M&M Beer]

Get yourself some Anti-Seize and apply to your bolts you will never have a problem again. I plan on doing mine as soon as I get my Bronco someday. Reservation Date 9/22/20 Order Date 1/22/21

 

[flip]

I've taken this complaint to a person that sent to the company that makes these for Ford. We swapped rings for a customer and had 6 strip out on a vehicle with no miles since delivery. After trying several Torx bits our conclusion is the socket is too shallow, bolt not hardened enough and Torx pattern out of spec. Tried to find other bolts with hex or at least stainless with no luck. The button head width is smaller than standard replacements and will not work in the recess machined into the rings.

We ended up drilling the centers out which we believe heated the loc tite enough for us to use an ez-out to extract.

These bolts are junk.

 

[VoltageDrop]

I've taken this complaint to a person that sent to the company that makes these for Ford. We swapped rings for a customer and had 6 strip out on a vehicle with no miles since delivery. After trying several Torx bits our conclusion is the socket is too shallow, bolt not hardened enough and Torx pattern out of spec. Tried to find other bolts with hex or at least stainless with no luck. The button head width is smaller than standard replacements and will not work in the recess machined into the rings.

We ended up drilling the centers out which we believe heated the loc tite enough for us to use an ez-out to extract.

These bolts are junk.

Yikes! What's your suggestion for removal? Impact or no?

 

[TripleB]

NOT TP bolts on the beauty rings. Regular Torx.
The issue is you have steel bolts in contact with aluminum rim. Besides corrosion, the aluminum threads can be easily damaged by over torquing them... And turn to crap trying to pull them out.

this

 

[WuNgUn]

Get yourself some Anti-Seize and apply to your bolts you will never have a problem again. I plan on doing mine as soon as I get my Bronco someday. Reservation Date 9/22/20 Order Date 1/22/21

And be generous with the stuff! Slather that shit on!

 

[Roger123]

I've taken this complaint to a person that sent to the company that makes these for Ford. We swapped rings for a customer and had 6 strip out on a vehicle with no miles since delivery. After trying several Torx bits our conclusion is the socket is too shallow, bolt not hardened enough and Torx pattern out of spec. Tried to find other bolts with hex or at least stainless with no luck. The button head width is smaller than standard replacements and will not work in the recess machined into the rings.

We ended up drilling the centers out which we believe heated the loc tite enough for us to use an ez-out to extract.

These bolts are junk.

This almost makes me want to back all of mine out and apply anti-seize now in case I ever have to remove them down the road........

 

[Dirty Bronco]

I removed all of mine to have them painted two weeks ago. DO NOT USE AN IMPACT. Use a small hand ratchet and take your time to make sure the torx 45 (NOT torx 45 PLUS) is seated the entire time. I had no issues. My mechanic was watching me and started helping out. He noted that the ring and the bolts had anti-seize applied. He got me some more for when I go back to put the rings back on.

 

[flip]

Yikes! What's your suggestion for removal? Impact or no?

I dunno. We tried several brands of Torx bits and none fit worth a poo. The Snap-On fit best and he removed by hand, no impact. Once the galvanic corrosion starts in coupled with the loc-tite, I don't think it will matter, strip city, here we come. Ideally you would apply some heat with a small pencil torch but that will cook the clear on the ring and likely the paint on the wheel. Maybe heat gun since it has the least risk of damage. The loc-tite is applied about 1/2" from the head of the bolt so you'll need quite a bit of heat to get it down that far. If the socket was stamped deeper and closer to the tight end of the spectrum it might not be a problem. The heat treat is suspect as easy as it stripped but have not sent one to a machine ship to test.

These come from one of the biggest Chinese suppliers to the auto industry so I'll just leave that there for you to draw a conclusion.

 

[Cold_steel]

So back to the issue at hand - and no these are definitely not Torx Plus - I got a Torx Plus bit set so I could remove the modular front bumper bolts, and these are not that shape.

I saw someone mention contact with a soldering iron; would a heat gun possibly help? Seems like a small torch would cook the paint?

 

[flip]

Don't use the torch. A couple issues with the bolts as I mentioned before is you have an alloy bolt that has some type of coating applied to reduce/delay galvanic corrosion between the aluminum ring, bolt and wheel. If you get new bolts or the old ones out, get rid of the loc-tite and try to avoid going through the coating. If you feel the need for a thread locker, use a low strength like 222 or some red gasket maker. The proper torque should be sufficient but the thread lock helps account for the vibration and different expansion properties between the different metals.

IMO, they are still junk.

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