Incredibly hard-to-remove lugnuts
 

Just lugnuts on a farm trailer wheel, but I can't get them off.
They've been on for years, probably put on with an air wrench,
certainly good'n'rusted. I've tried socket wrench, cross wrench,
electric impact wrench, they won't budge. I've used a gallon of Liquid
Wrench, no joy. I took the trailer to a garage, they put their air
impact wrench on one nut and just (oh great) rounded it off. The wheel
is dished in and the lugs are placed in a sort of circular trough
within the dish, result being I can't get a nut splitter on the frozen
lugnuts. Can anybody suggest my next step? Blasting? Lightsaber?
Thanks very much! Jim Fuller,

"James P. H. Fuller" wrote:
>
> Just lugnuts on a farm trailer wheel, but I can't get them off.
> They've been on for years, probably put on with an air wrench,
> certainly good'n'rusted. I've tried socket wrench, cross wrench,
> electric impact wrench, they won't budge. I've used a gallon of Liquid
> Wrench, no joy. I took the trailer to a garage, they put their air
> impact wrench on one nut and just (oh great) rounded it off. The wheel
> is dished in and the lugs are placed in a sort of circular trough
> within the dish, result being I can't get a nut splitter on the frozen
> lugnuts. Can anybody suggest my next step? Blasting? Lightsaber?
> Thanks very much! Jim Fuller,

You might try some heat, good propane torch for example. Heat up the
nut and stud as hot as you can, try removing it hot or if that doesn't
work, after it cools a bit. You might try melting some paraffin wax
onto the exposed threads of the stud while it's hot. The heat will wick
the paraffin down the threads. Again try to remove the nut when it is
hot and then after it cools. May take a few cycles to get it to break
free. For the rounded off nut, you could have someone weld another nut
onto the rounded off one and try using that to get it off. Quite often,
the intense heat of arc welding is enough to free the stuck nut.

--
Roger

"James P. H. Fuller" > wrote in message
om...
> Just lugnuts on a farm trailer wheel, but I can't get them off.
> They've been on for years, probably put on with an air wrench,
> certainly good'n'rusted. I've tried socket wrench, cross wrench,
> electric impact wrench, they won't budge. I've used a gallon of Liquid
> Wrench, no joy. I took the trailer to a garage, they put their air
> impact wrench on one nut and just (oh great) rounded it off. The wheel
> is dished in and the lugs are placed in a sort of circular trough
> within the dish, result being I can't get a nut splitter on the frozen
> lugnuts. Can anybody suggest my next step? Blasting? Lightsaber?
> Thanks very much! Jim Fuller,

Kroil penetrating oil. It is nasty on the hands so wear chemical gloves or
don't touch it.

-John

"Generic" > wrote in message
m...
>
> "James P. H. Fuller" > wrote in message
> om...
> > Just lugnuts on a farm trailer wheel, but I can't get them off.
> > They've been on for years, probably put on with an air wrench,
> > certainly good'n'rusted. I've tried socket wrench, cross wrench,
> > electric impact wrench, they won't budge. I've used a gallon of Liquid
> > Wrench, no joy. I took the trailer to a garage, they put their air
> > impact wrench on one nut and just (oh great) rounded it off. The wheel
> > is dished in and the lugs are placed in a sort of circular trough
> > within the dish, result being I can't get a nut splitter on the frozen
> > lugnuts. Can anybody suggest my next step? Blasting? Lightsaber?
> > Thanks very much! Jim Fuller,
>
> Kroil penetrating oil. It is nasty on the hands so wear chemical gloves
or
> don't touch it.
>
> -John
>
>
I've also used PUB Blaster. Stinks like hell but works and you can find
it at most auto parts stores. I think the "heat wrench" is probably going to
be your best bet though.

"tranch728" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Generic" > wrote in message
> m...
> >
> > "James P. H. Fuller" > wrote in message
> > om...
> > > Just lugnuts on a farm trailer wheel, but I can't get them off.
> > > They've been on for years, probably put on with an air wrench,
> > > certainly good'n'rusted. I've tried socket wrench, cross wrench,
> > > electric impact wrench, they won't budge. I've used a gallon of Liquid
> > > Wrench, no joy. I took the trailer to a garage, they put their air
> > > impact wrench on one nut and just (oh great) rounded it off. The wheel
> > > is dished in and the lugs are placed in a sort of circular trough
> > > within the dish, result being I can't get a nut splitter on the frozen
> > > lugnuts. Can anybody suggest my next step? Blasting? Lightsaber?
> > > Thanks very much! Jim Fuller,
> >
> > Kroil penetrating oil. It is nasty on the hands so wear chemical gloves
> or
> > don't touch it.
> >
> > -John
> >
> >
> I've also used PUB Blaster. Stinks like hell but works and you can
find
> it at most auto parts stores. I think the "heat wrench" is probably going
to
> be your best bet though.
>
>

I agree, but I doubt propane will be hot enough unless he has oxygen with
it, he'll need to heat the nuts redhot at least the way it sounds.

The Ancient One wrote:
> "tranch728" > wrote in message
> ...
>
>>"Generic" > wrote in message
. com...
>>
>>>"James P. H. Fuller" > wrote in message
e.com...
>>>
>>>>Just lugnuts on a farm trailer wheel, but I can't get them off.
>>>>They've been on for years, probably put on with an air wrench,
>>>>certainly good'n'rusted. I've tried socket wrench, cross wrench,
>>>>electric impact wrench, they won't budge. I've used a gallon of Liquid
>>>>Wrench, no joy. I took the trailer to a garage, they put their air
>>>>impact wrench on one nut and just (oh great) rounded it off. The wheel
>>>>is dished in and the lugs are placed in a sort of circular trough
>>>>within the dish, result being I can't get a nut splitter on the frozen
>>>>lugnuts. Can anybody suggest my next step? Blasting? Lightsaber?
>>>>Thanks very much! Jim Fuller,
>>>
>>>Kroil penetrating oil. It is nasty on the hands so wear chemical gloves
>>
>>or
>>
>>>don't touch it.
>>>
>>>-John
>>>
>>>
>>
>> I've also used PUB Blaster. Stinks like hell but works and you can
>
> find
>
>>it at most auto parts stores. I think the "heat wrench" is probably going
>
> to
>
>>be your best bet though.
>>
>>
>
>
> I agree, but I doubt propane will be hot enough unless he has oxygen with
> it, he'll need to heat the nuts redhot at least the way it sounds.
>
>
Here's a thought. Any possibility it's a left-hand thread? If it is a
homemade trailer, and the builder happened to use a wheel/axle from, for
example, a 50's Chrysler product, you may be tightening it further when
you think you're loosening it.

"James P. H. Fuller" wrote:
>
> Can anybody suggest my next step? Blasting? Lightsaber?

Use an acetylene torch such as plumbers use for soldering. Keep the heat on the nut
and away from the stud as much as possible. Work the torch around the nut to try to
heat it evenly. About five minutes should do it. I apply heat until I get a slight
reddish glow. Try to remove the nut while it's still hot. I would use a 1/2" or 3/4"
drive socket with a 5' or longer piece of pipe as a cheater on the drive handle. (my
setup is a 1/2" drive Craftsman handle and socket with a piece of 1.5" steel plumbing
pipe for a cheater).

George Patterson
If a man gets into a fight 3,000 miles away from home, he *had* to have
been looking for it.

Larry wrote:
>
> Here's a thought. Any possibility it's a left-hand thread? If it is a
> homemade trailer, and the builder happened to use a wheel/axle from, for
> example, a 50's Chrysler product, you may be tightening it further when
> you think you're loosening it.

Didn't the old Chrysler products have an "L" stamped on the end of the lugs?

George Patterson
If a man gets into a fight 3,000 miles away from home, he *had* to have
been looking for it.

"James P. H. Fuller" wrote:
>
> The wheel
> is dished in and the lugs are placed in a sort of circular trough
> within the dish, result being I can't get a nut splitter on the frozen
> lugnuts.

If you're serious about splitting the nuts, this can be done from the end of the nut
rather than the side by using a cold chisel. Lots of work, though.

George Patterson
If a man gets into a fight 3,000 miles away from home, he *had* to have
been looking for it.

"James P. H. Fuller" > wrote in message
om...
> Just lugnuts on a farm trailer wheel, but I can't get them off.
> They've been on for years, probably put on with an air wrench,
> certainly good'n'rusted. I've tried socket wrench, cross wrench,
> electric impact wrench, they won't budge. I've used a gallon of Liquid
> Wrench, no joy. I took the trailer to a garage, they put their air
> impact wrench on one nut and just (oh great) rounded it off. The wheel
> is dished in and the lugs are placed in a sort of circular trough
> within the dish, result being I can't get a nut splitter on the frozen
> lugnuts. Can anybody suggest my next step? Blasting? Lightsaber?
> Thanks very much! Jim Fuller,

Drill down one side, on the thread line, with say a 3 or 4 mm drill. Using a
small 6 or 8mm wide engineers chisel, driven axial to the thread, split the
remaining material. This will, at the same time, force the thread open.

Even though the thread will be left with a half drilled hole down one side
they should be still functional. Clean out the thread burrs with a
triangular needle (Swiss) file

dj