Wheel guide peg snapped off in hub.

[Nuvo]

I had a little bit of bad luck yesterday.

The little black plastic peg supplied with the jack snapped clean of yesterday when refitting the wheel. Thats what happens when you try to remove and refit a wheel in a very confined space.

The shaft of this is hollow so I tried gently knocking in a slightly over-sized Torx bit into the hole to grip it and unscrew the offending stud. Unsurprisingly, this just shaved the interior of the hole making it that bit wider.

I thought I could use this to my advantage and try sucessively larger Torx bits to clean out the hole and then pick out the rest with a small jewelers flat blade.

This worked well up to a point, but removing the last remnants of plastic out of the threads isn't so easy.

Would a M14x1.5 second/intermediate tap be all that is needed to fix this? Or maybe a taper tap would be better?

Any other hints, tips or advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

[Rusty]

If it's just plastic then the tap should remove it very, very easily

[quattro]

Blowtorch? :mischeif:

[Nuvo]

My guess is its made from polypropylene. I'll try and pick a tap up today and give it a shot.

[Nuvo]

I'm sure using a blowtorch would be a lot of fun, but I don't think it would be ideal for a number of reasons.

[quattro]

On a serious note if its made of plastic why dont you put some doses of petrol on to then it will go brittle in a few hours, should more or less fall off then?

Then try the blowtorch if the above dosent work......

[Nuvo]

Are you a recovering firebug by any chance?

I'm no polymer engineer, I know that petroleum can be used to dissolve the likes of polystyrene, but I don't think this would work for a thermoplastic such as polypropylene.
Certainly not at room temp anyway.

Even if it does work, it would mean that I would need to take off the hub so that I can immerse it in petrol.

I think I'll try using a secondary tap first as this is more convenient and presents a lower risk too.

[Evilgoat76]

Have to say I'd go the head route too. I have a hot air gun that I'd give a go along with a dental pick.

[pixsaudisex2]

get a little screw driver red hot on the stove then burn it in the middle and let it cool down and it might just unscrew it then... Maybe...

[S2central.net]

Would a hammer and lol chisel not be quickest way to get that useless piece of plastic out... Fit some wheel studs and you'll never look back

[Nuvo]

A good old secondary tap saved the day. Once I cleared about 2 or 3 threads I then inserted a wheel bolt and tightened that enough to push out the little plug. It worked a treat.