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STUCK wheel nuts!!!

Melensdad

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
OK I need some ideas. I have a flat tire on my utility cart. Its a tubeless tire/wheel and completely off the rim. I need to get the wheel off.

The damn lug nuts are stuck. I tried the my 1/2 inch socket wrench with an extension for leverage. Nope. Beat on it for a while. Nope. Turned on the big compressor, pulled out the Ingersol Rand air sockets and the 1/2 impact driver. Nope.

I know that heating it up a little would solve my problem, just a light flick of the torch on the lug nuts . . . but my torch is in a truck about 40 miles from where I am sitting.

Damn.

Any other ideas on how to loosen these so I can get the wheel off?
 
Have you hit it with some penetrating oil? Kroil if you have it, PB Blaster would be my second choice.

Got a small propane torch sitting in your plumbing supplies?

If you have a good electric heat gun, it's better than nothing.
 
I hit all 4 with KROIL and now they are soaking with PB Blaster!!!

My little propane torch is the one that is 40 miles away. No heat gun, unless I take my wife's hair drier :glare:
 
Are the lug nuts actually nuts, or are they bolts themselves? When I was into old VW Beetles it was very common for the lug nuts to get stuck; really stuck. The type of lug nut makes a difference in the method of attack.
 
If they've been sitting in the oil for awhile, I'd go back to the impact wrench. Go forward and backward a few times.

Got a 1/2" drive breaker bar? That will take care of it. Put a cheater bar on the end to give yourself some real leverage. You'll probably have to block/chock the tire as it'll most likely want to turn with that leverage.
 
Utility cart.........tubeless tire..........is a 4.00X8 or 4.10X8? Just prop up the cart and get the tire off the ground. Get one side of the tire off the rim with tire spoons or big screwdrivers and put a tube in it. Pop the tire back on and inflate.
 
If you can get a OX/ACE torch, just heat one side of the nut to a dull red, not the whole thing. That will keep the stud from losing it's temper if you do it quickly. If you get the whole thing cherry red, it is pretty much toast as far as strenght goes.

The propane torch will get it all red after some time, but may distroy the studs temper. If the wheel isn't going to be on the highway, then do whatever it takes.

Good luck
 
Just use KROIL dont screw up again by shooting PB Blaster on it after the Kroil was put on!:poke:...... Kroil works 1000 times better but needs time to soak in. Kroil than wait a day (if possible) Get a 3/4 Impact 6 sided socket. 3/4" breaker bar and the longest thickwall tubing you can find. Either the lug nut will come off or you will break the stud. Either way its off. Let the Kroil soak in though. The longer you wait the better it will work. Also there are a few vehicles with reversed threaded lug nuts. Could this be one of them??????
 
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Nobody has mentioned vibration yet. Rap each stud with a hammer. This may help work the Kroil into the threads.

But I like SO's advice. That's what I would do. Use an impact socket and a huge cheater pipe extending your breaker bar. (Don't do this to a ratchet.) Expect a broken stud or two. If they didn't allow ordinary maintenance you needed to replace them anyway.

I keep a 6 ft length of army surplus aluminum mast for a cheater. (Its lighter weight makes it safer if something slips, compared to water pipe.) This works great for the nut under a trailer ball. Last time I used it was for the axle nut on a disc harrow, the only time I have had to apply full force to it. (6.5 ft leverage x 170 lbs standing on the pipe = over 1,000 ft lbs of torque.)


Or give up and follow DaveNay's advice. :tongue:
 
There was a story on the line not too long ago about the benefits of shooting stuck lug nuts with a 12 ga. shotgun.

Did you try that yet? :tongue:
 
OK here is a little update. I didn't find a man to help me but I got it done anyway. Yesterday I had to run to Home Depot for a light fixture for my humidor and while I was there I picked up a little propane torch, heated up the bolts and got the wheel off and loaded into my truck. Got back to the house and there were my brand new Jeep seats waiting on the front porch, loaded them up too.

This morning I went up to the shop that is doing most of the restoration work on my 67 Jeepster (real men work there) and gave them the new seats. Headed off to the Goodyear store with the wheel/tire and smiled real pretty at the girl behind the counter, despite that she took pity on me and fixed my tire free of charge!!! Went to one of my stores, smoked a really good cigar, traded some stocks, made a little bit of money and headed home. Stopped at the gun shop and bought another Detonics Combat Master, this one is a 9mm "MC" model (Military Combat). Played with a bunch of other guns, some guy was cleaning out his guns and brought in a whole bunch of them, several were old but in 98+% condition including a Teddy Roosevelt Winchester that was NIB. Left before I spent my hard earned daily income and came home. Mounted the wheel on the hub and tested it out. All was good. Loaded the cart with some decorative concrete blocks for a yard project, hauled them to where there were needed, unloaded and only yelled one time after crushing a finger. Put it all away and walked down to the lower field were the tractor had been stuck for the past 3 weeks. Fired it up, used the FEL to push it back to drier ground and was able to drive it away just as the sky decided to let down some more rain. Got it up to the workshop and parked before the rain started to get serious.

Walked in the house, checked the mail. No bills. Its been a good day!
 
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