Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Wheels & Tires Merkur rear wheels will not come off

I spoted a Merkur at the wreckers with four good wheels. I removed all the lug nuts and can not pull off the rear wheels. looks like i have to remove a big axle nut? Any ideas what size socket I will need?
Bill D.
PS: I am hoping the merkur 14" Al wheels will fit my contour.

i had an 87 XR4Ti. there is no central wheel nut to be removed. take a rubber mallet and tap the edges of the wheel. they have a tendency to get "tight" for whatever reason with the brake drums in the rear. what year is the car? only the 85's had 14" wheels. 86-89 were 15".

Aluminum wheels will rust weld themselves on to, IIRC, high iron content metals. Had it happen this year on my Girlfriend's '00 Mustang GT. Rub a light coat of grease on with your finger before installing them, but for now... WD-40 down the lug holes and a hammer dude. Merkurs have the same 108mm X 4 lug pattern, unless you have an SVT, they will fit. The front brakes will most likely cause interferance problems on the SVTs with most 14" wheels.

Yup, get a rubber mallet. Happened to me on my girlfriend's car. No matter what I did it wouldn't budge. Got the mallet and off it came with three hits.

might be hard to do w/ a non-running car, but one thing that might work (should the mallet not do the trick) is to let the car off the jack w/ the lugnuts off and push/roll the car forward/backward. sometimes the weight of the car is enough to break loose the rusty connection....had to help a couple teenagers w/ changing a flat on their old ragged-out honda accord a while back. rim wouldn't come off at all, nobody had a hammer, etc. etc. etc. so, to avoid waking up their friends/family at midnight, i suggested the above...rolled the car forward a couple feet and *POP*! came loose. jacked it back up, swapped it out for the spare, and they were ready to go.

fwiw....

Here is a merkur wheel interchange chart I found. Might be of some use to others. also in 1995 what is stock steel wheel width/offset?
Bill D. http://www.merkurencyclopedia.com/Suspension/wheels.html

I have had this problem as well. If loosening and rolling or a rubber mallet don't work, hose the lug nut holes down with Blaster (buy it at Murray's or Autozone) pump the tires up as high as you dare (50-60 psi) and hit the tire (not the wheel) with a full size sledge hammer. Worked for me.

I got the wheels off. just used a dead blow hammer. hard to get a good angle but they came off. They bolt up to my fronts but i think they need to be spaced out about 1/8" for better caliper clearance.
Bill D.
ps: these are E41 backset