Lugnut 101 Class

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So I have been rotating my own tires on my vehicles for 20+ years without incident. For many years I removed lug nuts with a breaker bar and socket. About 4 years ago I purchased an Ingersol-Rand air impact gun and it has made the job a little easier........until yesterday.

Actually, about 6 months ago I was rotating tires on my truck and one of the lug nuts started to come loose (maybe two turns) and locked up. So I tried to retighten and wouldn't budge. I got the 3/4" breaker bar and ended up snapping off the stud. Rotated tires and just tightened the other 5 lug nuts.....called it good.

Fast forward to yesterday. I wanted to check my brakes on the truck and when I went to remove that same wheel........not one but two of the remaining five lug nuts locked up as I was removing them!! Again, both of them made about 2 revolutions and will not loosen or tighten even with the breaker bar.

Only thing I can think of is I did not have all the pressure off of the wheel with the jack. In other words, I lifted the truck but still left some pressure on the tire to get the lug nuts loose without the wheel spinning. This was a habit I used to do when I only used the breaker bar but realize now I probably don't have to do that anymore with an air impact gun. I am thinking the slight pressure on the wheel and me using the gun ran the lug nut crooked on the stud and it is now stuck. Dang it!

So rather than snap them off are there any tricks or remedies to getting these babies loose or tightened? I have the three remaining lugs tight, one broke off and the two that are stuck about two rotations from being tight! I feel pretty stupid.
 
IMO the time has come for you to cut to the chase, get fresh new (high quality ones, properly hardened) lug nut studs and new sets of lug nuts to match.

Bet ya over time, your lug nuts, no matter how careful you have been in the past, have stretched already. Once they have "stretched", cross-threading and snapping is just waiting for you around the corner.

Q.
 
Are you threading the nuts on by hand (until nut is fully engaged), then use impact?

Are you over tightening with impact?

Using grease or never-seize?

With an impact, I would forget the breaker. The impact and some PB Blaster are less likely to snap a stud than a breaker bar.

Using a torque wrench to do final tightening?
 
This probably came about due to over-tigtening with the impact. Always do final tightening by hand. Impacts are great for removal but you can never control the tightening very well.

The only cure now is to wail on the stuck nuts until something gives (most likely the stud will break) then replace.

I agree with the others you should change the whole set of 6 studs and nuts and keep some grease or anti-seize on the threads.
 
It is extremely easy to overtighten with an impact gun.

When I was working, no matter how lightly you feathered on the nut it was above 100ft. lbs torque.

Old stretched studs will start to snap off, as mentioned time to replace them all as well as all new lug nuts.

Skip the impact to tighten the lug nuts. Spin them down gently with the impact then use a torque wrench.

The benefit of the impact is in loosening the lug nuts, be very careful when tightening, don't skip the torque wrench to prevent stretched studs.
 
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Thanks for the great information. I never knew that they could stretch and I have been using the impact gun to tighten the lug nuts on all my vehicles. Not anymore! Lesson learned.
 
Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
Get yourself a set of torque sticks-that will stop you from overtightening them. HF has a cheap set, I have them & they're better than nothing.


I have been using torque sticks for years, if you have multiple vehicles you're rotating tires on they make your job much easier.
 
Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
Get yourself a set of torque sticks-that will stop you from overtightening them. HF has a cheap set, I have them & they're better than nothing.


Have you checked the torque they give you? Is it close to a quality torque wrench?
 
many will use them to limit torque then use a torque wrench to final tighten.
 
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I maintained my saturn from year 8 to year 19 and blew a few studs. I was the only guy to pull wheels, ever, and used hand tools if not torque wrenches to tighten, always.

They make studs out of cheapo steel. Corrosion on the threads doesn't help. Open ended lug nuts are worse than enclosed ones in this regard.
 
I have been rotating tires for sixty some years now and never had a problem with lug nuts or lugs. Run them on by hand, tighten each lug nut three or four times in a cross pattern and forget them.
 
I just snug up with an impact. I let off as soon as I feel the impact start to hammer. I then torque the lugs on the ground with a torque wrench. Never an issue on a vehicle where I do the work myself. I also do weird things like line up the lugnut hole adjacent to the valve stem with the marked stud on the hub and then use the wheel lock nut on that stud.
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
I maintained my saturn from year 8 to year 19 and blew a few studs. I was the only guy to pull wheels, ever, and used hand tools if not torque wrenches to tighten, always.

They make studs out of cheapo steel. Corrosion on the threads doesn't help. Open ended lug nuts are worse than enclosed ones in this regard.


I have never used an air gun or anything other than hand-tools and a torque wrench on lug nuts. People at the hobby shop give me funny looks sometimes.
 
The key to preventing snapped and stripped lug nuts is to NOT use an impact wrench at all. Proper threading and proper torque by hand is all you need.
 
wolfehunter.not one but two of the remaining five lug nuts locked up as I was removing them!! Again said:
The nuts are friction welded to the stud, because the stud is stretched altering the pitch. They don't snap off from over tightening, they shear off after friction welding to the nut on removal.
 
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