• Hello there guest and Welcome to The #1 Classic Mustang forum!
    To gain full access you must Register. Registration is free and it takes only a few moments to complete.
    Already a member? Login here then!

A huge Thank You

A

abrahamfh

Active Member
As you all know, John(Opentracker) made the 100 mile drive to my home to give me a UNO on UNO all day welding lesson.

It was an amazing experience and I have been enjoying welding on Fred a lot.

"You give a man a fish, he eats for a day, teach him how to fish he eats for a lifetime."

I ran into a problem a few days ago. I needed to do a major brake job on my Passat. So, I purchased everything I needed to get the job done, already have all the tools and was pretty excited to get ER done.

I took the center caps off and proceeded to the trunk to get the key for the wheel locks. They were missing! Last time I saw it was when I handed them to the dude at the big o' tires when I had my tires rotated. Gave them a call, guess what? sorry we don't have them. Crap!!!! Okay, no problem, I drove over to VW to purchase an new key. Tech was real nice, he came out and checked all the OEM keys they use and none of them worked. I didn't know what to do.

I was pretty upset with myself for not making sure the tire place gave them back when all of a sudden I remembered John telling me how you can pretty much do anything with a welder.

The lightbulb in my head turned on and so I pulled out the welder and went to work.

Enjoy the pics. LoL. I was pretty happy.

The wheel lock
54378c81.jpg


235ac7b9.jpg


8c9ae6bd.jpg


Vuala!
fa1ce30f.jpg


Thanks a ton John, the skill you have helped me acquire has been extremely helpful.
 
Good thinking off you Abe !!
I did have the same problem , lost the key of the wheel locks too.
I took a 12 flange 18mm socket and drove it onto the key lock with a big hammer , took the wrench et voila .. It came off !!
 
Your very welcome Abe. That was some good thinking to weld that together. The brake job is harder to do with the wheels on for sure !
 
Abe, that's not too smart. I would have gone on to find a large straight slot screwdriver to remove the locking lug. With that 3/8" fitting on there, now anyone will be able to steal your wheels!
 
Yep, but the cool effect will be the lack of balance while driving.....unless he matches them all for a set.
 
I've seen that done before.

If you want to maintain locking lugs just run down to the local parts shop and buy a new pair of locking lugs with the key.
 
Or you can replace the locking nuts with standard nuts and be done with it.
 
"Midlife" said:
Or you can replace the locking nuts with standard nuts and be done with it.
Click to expand...

Exactly what I did.

When the VW tech informed me that none of the keys worked I purchased replacement standard nuts for the locks from him.

If they want the wheels from the Passat that bad they can have them. Just kidding, kind of.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top