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#1
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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, |
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#2
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"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 |
#3
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"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 |
#4
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"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. |
#5
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"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. |
#6
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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. |
#7
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"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. |
#8
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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. |
#9
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"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. |
#10
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"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 |
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