Spokes stuck!
 

I'm trying to re-dish a wheel from an old '88 Schwinn. A few of the spokes are stuck and will not loosen. Any tips for fixing this without stripping the end of the spoke?

Lubricate them...what else can you do?

I keep hypodermic needles/syringes to apply a small drop of penetrating oil to old spoke nipples.
Do about 4-5 on the bottom (gravity is good), let it sit a minute, rotate 4-5 spokes & repeat.

If spokes are severely frozen, I just peel off the old nipple with a vise grip and install a new, lubed nipple.

Get one of the good (Park Tool is one) spoke wrenches which grips 4 corners/3 sides of the spoke and is the correct size; a good fit is critical to give you the best chance of breaking the spoke loose without rounding off the corners. AFTER a good soak in penetrating oil, Kano Kroil is the best PB Blaster second.

Thanks all! Unfortunately in my haste, I already accidentally rounded (stripped) a few of the nipples. Fix for this? Do I need to remove the spoke entirely and install a new nipple?

NO,
Assuming you can loosen them, there's no need to remove spokes to replace nipples. Of course, if they're truly frozen and won't turn, cutting the spokes the only option.

Apparently you didn't read the last line in post 3.
A vise grip pliers with "sharp" teeth will cut and "unwrap" a frozen nipple with ease.

PB Blaster in a spray bottle is always handy to have around

You are f'ed. Cut the spokes off the wheel with bolt cutters and replace.

The OP's not necessarily down to that last resort. If the OP can get some penetrating oil into the threaded joint to lubricate and loosen the seized threads, as Bill Kapaun noted previously he can still use a pair of locking pliers (e.g., Vice-Grips) to remove the stripped nipples. Doing that will be a bit of a pain, but it will preserve the spokes. (He'll of course have to replace the mangled nipples.)

That's what I'd try before cutting the spokes, anyway.

Plenty of options.
penetrating lube from the hub side.
Penetrating lube from the tire side.
Heat. Soldering iron for the careful approach. Cigarette lighter - position wheel flat for this. MAPP torch if you want some danger.
Shock therapy, ie hit it. Rig something up to act as an anvil, then hammer away. If it doesn’t break free, odds are good it’ll simply break enough to be removeable from the tire side. File or grind one side out, add more lube, then turn from the tire side. Split it with some pliers. Brass is kind of brittle, so it’s entirely doable w/o damage to the spoke.

Get a mag wheel.

(please don't)

Just cut the spokes. If they are standard plain spokes they are not expensive to replace.

Hairdryer, and I speak from personal experience don't let your wife catch you doing it.

No way that will create enough heat to do anything. I find it interesting that you're giving advice when you didn't know how to adjust a road brake.

Don't get snippy with me, pal. I just used the old lady's hairdryer to take off frozen torx nuts on a washing machine, works.

Ok 'pal', whatever you say. I should never have questioned someone with you obvious level of technical expertise. I'm concerned this doesn't sound snippy, that would be terrible.

I've been away from here for 5 years or so. It's comforting to see that some things don't change.

Might help to remove the freewheel before cutting any spokes.

Wintergreen oil.

Welcome back! I took a several year sabbatical too and noticed the same thing. And the number of familiar names (like yours) had diminished...

The hairdryer probably had no effect on the tork bolts of the washing machine. A hairdryer wasn't enough to loosen the glue of reflective tape.

Does a hairdryer even get warm enough to melt grease into treads?

Steel starts expanding at 100 degrees, hairdryer will go to 140. I wouldn't try and take off gandma's lug nuts with one but give it a shot with small stuff. Can't argue with science!


https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...7ba6ad47b6.gif

You know for a guy with the word wrench right in your username you were zero help with my brake problem, a tad condescending I may add.

I think someone just called the Waaaambulace for daring to disagree. Lol

I think somebody was out sick with the mumps when they should have been paying attention in science class.