Corroded nipples - have to snap the spoke?

[robjh]

Had a bad pothole incident the other night and the wheel developed a small but persistent kink. I think the rim is OK, but - when I went to retrue the wheel I found that some of the nipples were badly damaged, and virtually crumbled away when I tried to tighten them. I'm now left with a few that have crumbled right back to the rim and I can't get any grip on them, and the screw-type heads on the rim side have also stripped smooth so that I can't get a screwdriver into them from that side.

Do I have to snap the spokes to get these nipples out, or does anyone know a better way?

 

[accountantpete]

Looking down on the nipples from the hub you turn clockwise - I usually spray with WD40 and use some big pliers with teeth.


Sounds like you have alloy nipples which have corroded with age/salt etc - replace with brass nipples.

 

[robjh]

Looking down on the nipples from the hub you turn clockwise - I usually spray with WD40 and use some big pliers with teeth.


Sounds like you have alloy nipples which have corroded with age/salt etc - replace with brass nipples.

Yes no problem with what direction to turn, and they have certainly corroded. The trouble is there's nothing left to grab onto with pliers.

 

[accountantpete]

Well to minimise cost you could just cut through a few spokes - just enough to to allow the hub to move. You can then push the spoke through the rim and get a better purchase.

 

[robjh]

An update - I bought 12 new spokes thinking I'd have to cut through just a few of the old ones, and have used all but two - most of the old alloy nipples just crumbled to dust as I tried to turn them, leaving me no other way of getting the spokes free. Thankfully all the new nipples are brass, so shouldn't have this problem again - my LBS told me they'd stopped supplying alloy ones years ago as they were cr*p.