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Removing damaged lugnuts, sucks!!!

neonrog

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Tooele
Pulling wheels off the parts Jeep. All but two lugnuts came loose. One I managed to strip, the other I managed to break... And these wheels are alloys, not steels. So I couldn't just hit them with a cutoff tool.

Thanks to friends for letting me borrow extraction sockets, I did get the one stripped nut off.

The other broke off the top when I tried to take it off, and there was nothing for any socket to grab onto. I originally thought I could cut into it with a carbide bit in a dremel, but broke two carbide bits...

Tried to chisel on it, just tore it up and mashed it. So, I tried to drill into the mashed sections (which I managed to get though), and then tried a sharpened chisel again. Nope....

Then I had an epiphany...

Grabbed the hole saw set I got from the Chinese tool store for cheap. Smallest cutter chucked in the drill and over the lug... A little cutting oil and I'll be darned if the cheap tool didn't chew right through that lugnut. And, its still sharp. GO figure.

I did screw up the wheel though. Just a little.:repair:

But I think I can still use this wheel for a spare.
100_3207.jpg

100_3209.jpg

But not a primary wheel anymore...

So the question is, would anyone here run this wheel as a primary, or like me, set it aside as a spare?
 
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using it as a spare will be best, but i dont think it would cause any serious problem.

next time tack weld a nut onto the end of the lugnut and then back it off. OR do what palbo's tire shop down the street from my shop does. take a mini sledge and beat an 18mm impact socket on, then back it off, or tighten the crap out of it and snap the the stud, then replace the stud too. thats how they get rims off when the owner loses the anti theft key.
 
x2 on th ewelded nut, have used that before, when u replace the studs and lug nuts i would reccomend using antiseize on the threads, havent broke or damaged any lugs or wheel studs since i ahve been using it and never had a lug back off good idea with the hole saw hth
 
Used special extraction sockets, meant for those hardened locks, got the stripp nut off easy.

But the broken one, down inside the wheel sucked. Broke it off below the top of the stud, couldn't get any socket, regular or extraction on it. Wouldn't have had anything to weld to.

Just as I thought, spare is best.
 
After my brother struggled and beat his to death for a week I came home and suggested he use a 1.25" hole saw and cut out the alloy. We have piles of those Aluminum wheels laying around and it wasn't much of a loss.

Cut right through and made short work of it. I would have loved to save the wheel just cause I'm anal like that, but he had already pretty much screwed it up beyond that point. Might have been able to break the stud as a last resort but he was frustrated as hell and it worked.

I'd personally not think twice about running that wheel as a primary. I have had plenty of 5-luggers with a broken stud that I never bothered fixing. I'm still here, the wheels are still attached, live goes on.
 
One might forgive me for being a little concerned. The parts rig I got for free, the D30 is going into a different vehicle project, and I'll replace the studs as I go through the axle. It had these wheels on it, and really nice matched set of 235/75R-15s that appear to be mostly new. Certainly better than the tires and steel wheels on my daughter's XJ. Which is my main reason for being concerned with it. I might use it for myself, but my daughter? I'll err on the side of caution.

I've really gotten my gas money's value from picking up this free XJ for parts... Great set of tires, the axle with new rotors and pads, and a remanufactured motor. Too bad it didn't have the transfer case or tranny (even if it had a Pukegoat...)...
 
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