Reverse threaded bolts can make you feel stupid.

[GON]

I knew when he mentioned the hex cavity (Screw as he put it) that it was for holding the stud, but as you said, it's useless when removing the nut in most cases.
I didn't want to tell him he had to be mistaken, but for the life of me, I couldn't remember any sway bar links that were reverse threaded.
I'll use a Vice Grip to hold the backside, or I'll split the nut if it's bad enough. (If it's one that I can get the splitter on)

Stay young my friends.

I will have to pull up the video that shows the reverse thread action. Maybe I am mistaken, wouldn't be the first time..all I know is I kicked myself for tightening a sensitive area that requires loosening.

I don't have time at the moment to pull up the video.

 

[oil pan 4]

I needed to shorten the handle on the garden hose reel, where the reel sits between the house and storage shed it sticks out and catches your leg when you walk by. No problem, except the metric shoulder bolt has a 4mm hex socket and it would not come loose. No rust here so that's not it. Sprayed it with penetrating fluid no help. Heated it up and melted the nylon out of the nylock nut won't budge. The 4mm hole is stripping. Whatever, I needed a shorter shoulder bolt anyway so cut the end off the handle so I can cut the head off the bolt. The nut is captured in a recess in the crankarm. Got that done and cranked the bolt hard in the vise and it will not come loose, spinning the shaft. Ground flats on opposite sides of the shaft and hit the crankarm with a deadblow hammer still nothing. By mistake I hit the crankarm the wrong way and it instantly came loose. Duh, in 100 years I never would have thought of reverse threads and the bolt didn't stick out of the end of the nut. The only things in my world with reverse threads are bicycle pedals and bottom brackets, should have had an AHA moment as the crankarm looks like a bike part. Went to ACE got a new shorter shoulder bolt and nut, took some measurements and printed a new handle and it's fixed. An hour to do a 5 minute job. Always an adventure.

Old
View attachment 325092

New.
View attachment 325093

Naw you're good. Reverse thread bolts are stupid.

 

[HemiBenny]

Stay young my friends.

I will have to pull up the video that shows the reverse thread action. Maybe I am mistaken, wouldn't be the first time..all I know is I kicked myself for tightening a sensitive area that requires loosening.

I don't have time at the moment to pull up the video.

Meh, no worries.
If anyone here says that their memory of everything they've done over the years is 100%, I'll show you a liar.

 

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

We are dealing with the left-hand thread screwup on my friend's 46 Willys Jeep. The Lugnuts on the driver's side are left hand thread and we didn't notice that until it was too late. We have one lug nut that is totally rounded off and stuck on because my friend tightened it when he thought he was loosening it. He will probably have to take it somewhere for them to cut the Lugnut off since we don't have anything to take it off with at this point.

Look at some of these "nut cutting" tools.
https://top10best.how/nut-cutter-sp...6491&msclkid=13879291eaec135b94defb08a173b235

You guys can easily break/cut the nut in half. Then if not too destroyed , run a chaser threading die nut to re-thread the bolt. If it is too messed up, there is a possibility you can remove the bolt and replace it. Sometimes one has to remove the brake caliper to get the bolt out and the new one installed. This is not a very complicated job but will be a little time consuming if you guys can assemble the tools and parts needed which should be obtainable from a local Auto Parts store. NAPA or AutoZone could be of help since they both will rent or loan small tools when you purchase the parts you will need with them. Good luck with it.

 

[GON]

Meh, no worries.
If anyone here says that their memory of everything they've done over the years is 100%, I'll show you a liar.

5:17 in this video shows the knucklehead move (mistake) I made. IIRC I tried turning the Allen receiver lefty loosey, instead of fixing the Allen receiver static, and breaking the bolt loose. I was in a huge hurry and jet lagged, likely wasn't the best idea to even work on the car knowing I had to be on a plane departing CONUS in under three hours, and a two-hour drive to the airport. I had done this job on the driver side a few months earlier, with zero issues. The passenger side I just simply screwed up.

 

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

5:17 in this video shows the knucklehead move (mistake) I made. IIRC I tried turning the Allen receiver lefty loosey, instead of fixing the Allen receiver static, and breaking the bolt loose. I was in a huge hurry and jet lagged, likely wasn't the best idea to even work on the car knowing I had to be on a plane departing CONUS in under three hours, and a two-hour drive to the airport. I had done this job on the driver side a few months earlier, with zero issues. The passenger side I just simply screwed up.

You have no idea as I get older how many times I get all worked up to take on a simple auto or home project and then my better half/the boss/ WIFE intervenes to talk sense into me.
She will tell me stuff like : "ok, I know how bad you want to be the one to take care of that." "Please STOP. Take a breather." "Think about it before you dive in. Do you feel up to it enough if it does not go easy + as simple as you expect to endure to the completion!?" LoL A lot of times those words of wisdom keep me out of trouble and from further added aches and pains. They have come back to bite me a few times when my hard head would not listen.

 

[Exhaustgases]

Chryslers had reverse threads on lug nuts on the left, driver's side of the car at one time.

That seems a bit back wards since that rolling direction would tend to loosen them. A buddys old junker back in the day of using it like a jeep off roading it was always the right side that got loose, and yes all right handed lug nuts.

All ya got to do is hold the nut and spin the tire in what ever direction and see if that either tightens it or loosens it.

 

[wtd]

Look at some of these "nut cutting" tools.
https://top10best.how/nut-cutter-sp...6491&msclkid=13879291eaec135b94defb08a173b235

You guys can easily break/cut the nut in half. Then if not too destroyed , run a chaser threading die nut to re-thread the bolt. If it is too messed up, there is a possibility you can remove the bolt and replace it. Sometimes one has to remove the brake caliper to get the bolt out and the new one installed. This is not a very complicated job but will be a little time consuming if you guys can assemble the tools and parts needed which should be obtainable from a local Auto Parts store. NAPA or AutoZone could be of help since they both will rent or loan small tools when you purchase the parts you will need with them. Good luck with it.

I have a couple of the nut splitters like the one at the top of the page. I don't think mine are angled enough to get on the nut because of the wheel. I may try it though just to see. I have lug stud installation tools if we ruin it and can get the wheel off.

 

[ElectroMechanoMan]

If things are bad, they can always get worse. Imagine breaking off that bolt and spending the next week trying to remove the piece!
I had an International Scout with left hand studs, but that were marked . Pa told me about that years ago and to watch for it.

 

[slo town]

You have no idea as I get older how many times I get all worked up to take on a simple auto or home project and then my better half/the boss/ WIFE intervenes to talk sense into me.
She will tell me stuff like : "ok, I know how bad you want to be the one to take care of that." "Please STOP. Take a breather."

My story is similar but different. I can have a pretty serious "potty mouth" when a project becomes woefully uncooperative, which results in me calling whatever I'm working on very bad things.

Sometimes Sue will come out to the garage and tell me to stop because she says the neighbors will think I'm talking to her.

Scott

 

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

My story is similar but different. I can have a pretty serious "potty mouth" when a project becomes woefully uncooperative, which results in me calling whatever I'm working on very bad things.

Sometimes Sue will come out to the garage and tell me to stop because she says the neighbors will think I'm talking to her.

Scott

Ha Ha Ha ! Whooo Who. Sounds exactly like me these days when things go south.
What is funny is the wife had the potty mouth when we first met in the 70s. I never could stand to hear a woman curse and we got in some pretty good fights about it. Then over the years we both stopped it with barely much effort.

THEN it happened. I discovered as I got older a question she and I often talked and joked about years ago. "why does it seem MOST old people we encounter are either so peed off and cursing all the time or rude?" I get it now. They can mostly not do things for themselves anymore or they are in chronic pain like me which can put one in a foul mood.
NOW, I have turned into one of them. Something just broke in the house last week and she jumped me when she heard me with my most choice, as of late preferred rant. S.O.B!!! Then what ever it was, I had it fixed and back together in minutes and she was like "Poppa, you need to calm down and learn some patience!"
YEP, we have started calling each other what the grand kids have named us. Maw Maw Kitty and Poppa Sam. I died laughing the other day in the store. I was down the aisle and heard her calling "Poppa" and I looked back to see some little girls looking around like "who is that lady calling !?" Still she made me shave off the full snow white beard last week that I have had since October. Her school kids have often thought I was her dad visiting their classroom on occasion when dropping stuff off.

 

[DWS507]

Back in 1971,my first car was a1968 Dodge Charger.Ask me why this thread brings back memories

 

[Hohn]

Chryslers had reverse threads on lug nuts on the left, driver's side of the car at one time.

That's how 15 year old me learned about reverse threads. 1967 Coronet.

I was so frustrated by them I actually went to the auto parts store and bought all RH thread lug studs, pounded the old ones out of the hubs and replaced them all.

 

[shortyb]

VW camshaft spool valves are reverse threaded. Don't ask me how many I've "tightened" .

Found a more cerebral way of expressing my frustration with God-forsaken stuff I'm working on. I come up with something totally off the wall that starts with the first letter of choice curse words instead of screaming the actual expletive. Wife actually brought me a fudgesicle out of the freezer to the garage last time I was "working" .

 

[Pablo]

I bet most of us here have had a reverse threaded bolt cause us grief at some point in our lives.

They should give a fella some warning!

Cranks, pedals, things that rotate - I have learned after 50+ years of wrenching - to think, check, do.........

 

[QwikKota]

My A3 had reverse threads on the right side lugs.

View attachment 325099

That thing is awesome.

 

[DWS507]

Back in 1971,my first car was a1968 Dodge Charger.Ask me why this thread brings back memories

Here's the rest of the story,after breaking off a stud on the left side of my car,I walked to the parts store and got a replacement.I borrowed a hammer from my Dad,as I lived at home.I partially hammered it back thru.I I promptly broke off the tip of the claw on Dad's hammer.He told me to walk to the hardware store and buy him a new one which I did.After getting everything all replaced and put back together, I realized,I was out of money on a Saturday night.My Dad laughed and said "At least you learned a lesson about listening and the old hammer is yours Gawd I miss my DAD and the lessons and time I had with him