After a bad experiance with a tyre company last year i have now found that they have stripped the bolt hole on one of the rear hubs.After searching the forum i came across heli coils, which is a threaded insert which threads into the hub and then the original size bolt screws into that.I was wandering if anyone has had experience with these and if they are as easy to fit as they look.I will be using a light duty loctite to keep the bolt in place for now until the better weather comes when i can sort it out properly.Thanks Paul....

 

Ive used them to bolt the starter to the bell housing in a V6 ford ranger i had in college. I didn’t have any trouble with them. Just remember they are a temporary fix.

 

Helli Coil products are very useful when there is no other alternative. They have been used (in my experience) to repair damaged spark plug threads in cylinder heads. For wheel bolts its too risky. There are plenty of cheap used Crossfire hubs waiting at the breakers yard - and on ebay; thats the only way to repair it properly.

 

I had the same problem. I wound up with 3 bad holes that need coils. 2 of them worked out perfectly, but the third did not. I wound up replacing the hub via junk yard ($65). If you can drill and tap perfectly perpendicular in both planes, this is a cheap fix. If you get one or the other (up/down, left/right) off center, it's almost impossible to get the bolt lined up in the hole.

Good luck.

https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...wheel-hub.html

 

Get a new hub - that's a simple solution and the best one.
As outlined above it is not at all good to have a bolt that is not perpendicular to the hub face, as this puts undue stresses on the bolt and those expensive rims.

If I was forced to do a fix for whatever reason I would choose Keenserts over Helicoils. I would take off the hub and have it tapped on a mill. Drilling out ruined threads is hard as the drill will take the easiest route through the steel and with uneven traces of the threads the drill will flex and wander.
The hole would need to be accurately aligned to the others and the material removed with a end cutting milling tool. The hole could then be drilled to size and tapped.
This would be more expensive in most cases than a new hub.
http://www.bjg-design.com/designbook...NS-KNS-KNS.pdf

 

When I bought my car last year, both the rear hubs had one stripped thread each. At first I was considering using pressed-in studs, those commonly found on north american cars. That option got thrown out the window when realising the back of the hub doesn't have a flat surface. Instead, I converted the hub to 14x1.5mm. With the use of wheel spacers, I was able to drill and tap as accurately as can be done(right on the vehicle). This mod also requires that you drill the wheel lug bolt holes to 19/32" The spacer holes were already for the 14mm bolts. The 14mm lug bolt ball seat uses the same radius so no problem there. The 14mm lugbolt has the same 17mm socket head.

The pic shows the use of the spacers as a guide. The lug bolt on the left is 14mm in it's freshly tapped thread. the lugbolt on the right is 12mm which is next in line to be tapped. The rotor is left in place during the process to make use of the parking brake. Care must also be taken to ensure the tap has clearance to go past the hub into the parking brake area without interfering with it.


Note: This is not something everyone can do. This should only be attempted by professionals!

 

I did it and wrote a posting on it and did some photos on the album section too. Make sure the depth of the helicoil does not penetrate into (behind) the hub as it will snagg the parking brake components. Woody

 

I'm using 14x1.5mm lugbolts

 

I'm with Steve on this one only way to go

 

I have used helicoils since 1960. No problems. engine makers used them since 1940's . And they still do.They use them as original threads in aluminum castings. Plus repairs. Very high strength. Gary

 

Short of replacement, this is a very viable alternative.

I would be a bit leery of where the swarf ends up, though. You'd have to clean the chips out of the e-brake area before use. And I would only do this using cutting oil.
This would tend to contaminate the e-brake shoes, no?

Just sayin'...

 

Be safe, it's your butt on the line. Go to the junk yard, breaker's yard in your case and get another wheel. Safest thing to do.

 

I am not in favor of re-drilling using a jig, they should be done accurately on a mill. The ball seat should sit squarely in the wheel otherwise it will sit off center and distort and damage the alloy wheel seat. Tapered seats would be the same problem.
Installing HeliCoils by the same method presents the same problem. In preference I would use a Keensert type of thread replacement, these are more secure.
Keenserts® Keylocking Thread Inserts

 

Had the same problem this week went for a new hub total cost fitted £180. I have the old hub here with 3 shot bolt holes your welcome to it if you want 1 to practice on. I went new hub as 3 shot bolts is 60% of what's holding the wheel to the car and I'd like the wheel to stay attached.

 

Keeping a wheel attached is, as our lovely Martha Stewart would say " A Good Thing"

 

Not gonna start an argument here but the conversion to 14x1.5mm can be done on the car with great success and time saving w/o the use of helicoils. The bonus part is your 14mm threads will outlast the 12mm.