Frozen Lug Nut

[David T]

Well, not actually frozen but it won't come off. The cover rounded off and then came off in my lug wrench. I put a special locking lug nut removal tool on it and that won't budge it. I pounded several different sockets onto it, metric and SAE and cracked them trying to loosen the lug nut. Now I am in the process of drilling a hole in the center of the stud and enlarging it enough so that I can break it off. I still haven't damaged the rim (and it is in nice shape). Has anyone had anything similar to this? If so how was it dealt with? All of the lug nuts on this car were supertight but I got them all loose except one on the rear. Trying to get the wheels off because the brakes are leaking and the calipers are stuck so we have to rebuild the brake system. Had to quit for the evening but will have to attack this again soon.
David Teitelbaum

[LEVY]

See if you can find a piece of steel pipe that fits outside the lugnut but inside the rim, about four inches long. Weld it to the lugnut in while still hot, use a pipe wrench and get the lugnut out. This should not damage the rim.

Good luck.

[DMC3165]

I might have tried soaking it in penetrating oil and leaving it overnight. With the cover gone it would give me direct acess to the threads. I would've then followed up by trying to take it off with a large impact gun like a 3/4 or 1 inch drive using reducers and impact sockets. I know most home shops don't have stuff like this and even some professional shops don't but I just happen to have acess to those kinds of tools. Even if I snapped the stud at least it'll be off. Odds are if your having this much trouble that stud is shot anyway.
Best of luck drilling it out.

[Jacko]

I can't remember the actual sizes of the sockets but I had a similar situation once. The cover of a lugnut came off and after it was off the remaining lugnut was the exact size of an impact socket. After letting the impact gun run for a while the lugnut came loose.

[dmc6960]

You are using an impact, right? Thats imperative on a frozen lug nut.

[David T]

I used an air impact, that's how I rounded the damm thing off. I dislike the welding idea, the heat will damage the paint on the rim. As I said, I also tried locking lug nut removal tools where you hammer them on and I spun them. That lug nut is on supertight as all of the others were. I already figure the stud is gone, most of it is drilled away. Those original lug nuts with the cheap covers are garbage. The owner is springing for a set of solid S/S ones (and of course 1 rear stud)! Let this be a lesson, don't overtighten the OEM lug nuts and make sure they are properly torqued!
David Teitelbaum

[Ron]

Sounds like you are taking the right approach. If it's truly fused and you do get something to grab it, there is a fairly significant risk of the knurls on the stud reaming out the hub and then your only option would be to burn it off, the last thing you want to do, of coarse.
I'd drill far enough to be barely past the bottom of the nut and twist/break it on off.

IMHO, there is nowhere near enough room to weld a pipe on it even if it wasn't in a recessed hole...

[LEVY]

Done before!

No damage to the wheel at all, wet rag around it and some help to turn it very quick after welding. The welding is done inside the pipe and on top of the lug nut.

This is not a job for the average person but I know David could do it if everything else failed.


LEVY


Sounds like you are taking the right approach. If it's truly fused and you do get something to grab it, there is a fairly significant risk of the knurls on the stud reaming out the hub and then your only option would be to burn it off, the last thing you want to do, of coarse.
I'd drill far enough to be barely past the bottom of the nut and twist/break it on off.

IMHO, there is nowhere near enough room to weld a pipe on it even if it wasn't in a recessed hole...

[David T]

I have used the "weld some piece of something on and try turning that" trick and it does work. The heat from the welding seems to help in loosening it. I am just worried that I will mess up the rim but I hear you, if I can't drill it off, welding may be the next step. At that point I wouldn't expect to be unscrewing it as much as twisting it off! This has turned what should have been a routine brake job into a real big deal! I am probably going to spend more time getting this wheel off than actually rebuilding the brake system!
David Teitelbaum

[Ron]

Done before!

No damage to the wheel at all, wet rag around it and some help to turn it very quick after welding. The welding is done inside the pipe and on top of the lug nut.

This is not a job for the average person but I know David could do it if everything else failed.


LEVY
That's not what I was getting at....nevermind. :D

[DMCMW Dave]

don't overtighten the OEM lug nuts and make sure they are properly torqued!
David Teitelbaum

And take them off more than once every 25 years.

[David T]

This car appears to have been very well taken care of. Always garaged and 3K miles. The present owner (2nd owner) said it sat for only 4 years. The lug nuts are beat up enough for me to think the wheels have been off at least several times. ALL of the lug nuts were supertight. I think this is just a case of a shop severely overtightening the lug nuts with an air impact. Fortunate I was able to get all of the others loose and only have 1 to deal with this way!
David Teitelbaum

[tgraham]

I think this is just a case of a shop severely overtightening the lug nuts with an air impact.

I hate it when shops do this (and they generally do, in my experience). I know it saves (them) a minute or two of time, but the lug nuts are usually on there so tight that you have to use an impact gun (or a large breaker bar) to get them off again! If an average person cannot get the lug nuts off using the stock tire iron (and perhaps some choice words) on the side of a road, then I consider it a massive fail for the shop that put the wheels on.

Just one of the reasons why, when I have tires installed, I take them a set of wheels and no car :)

Travis

[Bitsyncmaster]

If you can't get it off then it must have >200 ft/lbs if torque. It that does not damage anything (not counting the bolt and nut), why do they only use 60 ft/lbs recomended?

I use 70 ft/lbs but even that seems to light.

[David T]

If you go to a tire shop and a wheel falls off afterwards they will fire the guy that worked on the car. No one ever gets fired for overtightening the lug nuts. In fact, the shop stands to make more money if they have to deal with a situation like this! Overtightening alloy rims can actually make them fall off. If they don't crack, the metal will deform under the overtightened lug nut and loosen. The bottom line here is any reputable shop will torque the lug nuts. Not all shops do. Draw your own conclusions. You are never getting them loose with the toy they give you for a lug wrench if they are overtorqued. In the dark, in the rain. Don't bother anyway, the spare is probably flat!
David Teitelbaum