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i was helping a friend change his brakes today on his newly purchased car, and a couple of strange occurences took place...

the passenger's side of the car was lifted up in the air under the jack, and i had all the lugs off the front wheel, but the wheel wouldn't come off... i tugged pretty hard and it just wouldn't budge... i could've pulled harder, but i pulled it as hard as i could while still feeling safe (didn't want the car to fall off the jack)... i used a mallet in hopes to pound it loose (thought maybe it was rusted on) but that didn't work.... i moved back to the rear wheel to make sure there wasn't something i was missing... i took the lugs off the rear and the wheel slid right off... what's goin' on here?

after i was done working on the car i looked under the car and i noticed that the spot on the frame where i had lifted the car up on the jack was all crumped, as if it were smashed!!! why would this happen? i swear that that crumpled spot on the frame wasn't there before i started, so y would a car lifted up on a jack crumple the frame??? the frame didn't appear to be damaged or rusted at all... what's goin' on here?

i had the same problem last weekend on a 1988 cutlass. the wheel would not come off no matter how hard i pulled or pushed on it. the way i got it off (took a long time to do but did the trick) was grab each side of the tire and wiggle it off.

Aluminum can stick a bit, especially if there has been an impact like hitting a pothole. As you rotate the wheel, give it a whack on the inside side with a rubber mallet or small sledgehammer. It'll come loose then.

kick the top of it and i am not kidding it works trust me

Don't knock it off the jack, use jack stands. And instead of kicking the crap out of it, try some WD40 squirted around the wheel hub then tap it with a rubber mallet as you turn the wheel around. It should come off then.

kick the living s--- out of its tire.

happens all the time to me...the stupid things fuse to the hub over the winter b/c of corrosion.

My roomates accent was horrible. Its 13" steelies always stick to the front hubs. We kick the CRAP out of it, top then bottom then top friggin hard as hell too. My foot was hurting after that ordeal.

Finally got that mofo off tho.

what about my frame smooshing problem?

The frame thing happened to me on my mx-3. Not using the stock jack will cause this for what ever reason. Since it happened, I just try to find something better to lift it on(i.e. suspension, etc) the subframes are pretty weak, and with rust they will indeed bend unless you lift it on a frame rack. An yeah, never work on a car without jackstands!!!!Not safe

93SOHC wrote:The frame thing happened to me on my mx-3. Not using the stock jack will cause this for what ever reason. Since it happened, I just try to find something better to lift it on(i.e. suspension, etc) the subframes are pretty weak, and with rust they will indeed bend unless you lift it on a frame rack. An yeah, never work on a car without jackstands!!!!Not safe

i like livin' life on the wild side... and even if i do bite the ole proverbial dust, at least i can say i went down in a blaze of glory... oooooooorrrr ummmm.... by slow painful torment underneath the crushing weight of a car i think it was ole blue eyes that said "i did it my way"

Isnt ole blue eyes pushing up daisies now? Just something to ponder

Tunes67

P.S. You can get a decent floorjack from http://www.harborfreight.com pretty cheap.. not only are they safer but you dont have to rely on the cheesy factory jack to lift your car.. I love Harbor Freight They always have something I need and dont charge an arm or a leg to get it.

I have a floor jack and stands that I bought as a package, even came with a 12V air compressor and some of those useless little wheel chocks, for about $80. Pretty cheap and makes getting under the car a lot safer, not to mention easier and quicker.

Hey Tunes - that site even has aluminium racing jacks for $80!! We bought one last year for about $900 out here!!!

Harbor Freight rules Their stuff isnt name brand though.. and I will admit that I have had some of their stuff not be as good as the brand name stuff.. but its also damn hard to argue with their prices

Tunes67

Harbor Freight is ok, not the best tools but can't argue about the price., kicking the wheel off , works most of the time but WATCH OUT....or you might end up fixing more then what you started.. safest thing to do is put it on a jack stand, IS alway a must when working on your car off the wheel. even a strong wind will tip a car over on a floor jack.. seen it a few time and thats some scary sh*t....

use a 4x4 block o wood ..and wack it from behind the wheel.... works all the time.. on the first try...

everything i say comes directly from the trade i work in, Auto mechanic


to remove the wheel if stuck simplily use brute force, hit the tire hard with your foot or a large rubber mallet, but not a hammer. a hammer could break a belt in the tire causing vibrations.

when the tire and wheel assembly is off, spray some anti sezie on the hub to prevent future wheel removal problems


as for your frame "smushing" you probally placed your jack stand in the wrong place. every car has a jack point. if the jack points are hard for you to find remmember this - the usally carry something big in the cars unibody, like suspension or motor. be carfully tho only jack on suspension parts where they connected to the frame.

if more, if you cant reach these points with a small jack, use a peice of wood ontop of the jack to spread the load of the car on the jack, this prevents a " nail through wood" kind of thing from happening .

yeah my frame rails are "smushed" in a couple places...oh well. It doesn't really matter.

There are jacking points that are pretty obvious under the car, but I don't like their location so i just put the jack wherever along the frame rails


And yea, harbor freight rules, but the vast majority of their tools are s--- so beware. I still buy them b/c their price outweighs their shittiness. Their open-end wrench set has lasted me awhile now & their impact sockets are working great! their ratchets, however have broken, as has one open end wrench, a ratcheting wrench, a pair of nibblers i bought, and my hand-riveter is a peic! that thing doesn't even work right
ils"0D