Spare wheel cradle - cannot remove / stupid design!!

[trackdemon]

Wonder if anyone has experienced this before - I'm giving my NSX a thorough going over to prepare it for sale ( :( ) and I'm removing bits and pieces for cleaning or modification. I cannot remove the spare wheel cradle because two of the 10mm retaining nuts are rotating with the pins they screw onto. Unfortunately the pin heads are hidden on the other side, which seems like an untypically stupid bit of design - how on earth am I to get these nuts off if I cannot access the other side?

The only option I can see currently is to drill them out, which still leaves 3 retaining nuts anyway... but of course I'd rather not do this!

[Nick Graves]

You might Dremel a slot in the end of the stud & hold it fast with a screwdriver?

That rather presumes the threads aren't too corroded & the nuts aren't too stuck.

Or screw a capped bolt over the end (it there's enough thread) & hold it with a spanner whilst you loosen the other one?

[Kaz-kzukNA1]

Hi, trackdemon.

I know how you feel because quite often, I encounter the same issue as yours.
It all depends on how badly the nut is seized to the already rotating stud bolt.

These days, if I feel the nut is not going to come off, I will stop there and use the following method.

If you have already spun the nut/bolt several times, I’m afraid this method may not work…


The aim is to stop the stud bolt from spinning.

Apply small amount of penetrating oil only at the centre of the nut and leave it for few hours.
Don’t use too much oil because it will let the bolt to spin even more.


Then, the centre punch.


10287
You can use the standard centre/pin punch and the hammer but I prefer using the automatic type.


If you are not using the lift, I would recommend the automatic one due to the limited space and also no matter how clean your NSX is, all sorts of debris will fall down to your face/body every time when you apply the shock.

With the automatic type, you can keep your face away from the centre punch.


From the bottom of the car behind the rotating bolt under the square aluminium panel where the spare tyre cradle sits, mark the position of the bolt.

By using the automatic centre punch, create tiny dent at 5 positions around the bolt in 5 pointed star shape.

You may need to use small diameter pin punch instead of the centre punch if you can’t stop the bolt from rotating and repeat the above.


So far, it worked for me on all cases but again, if the nut was heavily corroded, it may not work….

If you have mini nut splitter, you can crack open just the nut and use the above method to stop the bolt from rotating on re-assembly process but due to the waved shape of the spare wheel cradle, you won’t be able to attach the splitter to the nut especially at the left side rear one.

Good luck!

Kaz