How to get rounded nut off the wheel

  • Thread starter Thread starter mike113
  • Start date Start date
M

mike113

I wanted to take off my wheels to grease the balljoints but i found out
that my wheel nuts were round and can't take off my hand, what can i do to
take the nut off.
 
mike113 said:
I wanted to take off my wheels to grease the balljoints but i found out
that my wheel nuts were round and can't take off my hand, what can i do to
take the nut off.
Click to expand...

Hey Mike - in the last month, you've have asked 16 questions, some of
them repeats, most of them pretty elementary and/or easily answerable
using a shop manual. You've gotten many answers, and never given so
much as a single response or thank you.

You might be serious in asking these questions, maybe you're just a
young kid starting out with a junker that you're trying to fix up and
you don't know a spark plug from an oxygen sensor - and that would be
OK, or you may just be jerking us around.

If your serious and just lacking social skills, well, we maybe can
tolerate that, but how about a little acknowledgement that you have at
least read some of the answers. Sounds like you might also consider
trading that van in and getting something in a little better shape.

So - bottom line - how about a little feedback. Otherwise my assumption
is you're intentionally wasting everyone's time.

On your question, have someone weld a bolt to it, then turn it using the
bolt head.

Bill Putney
(to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with "x")
 
mike113 said:
I wanted to take off my wheels to grease the balljoints but i found out
that my wheel nuts were round and can't take off my hand, what can i do to
take the nut off.
Click to expand...

Take the car back to whichever garage rounded off the lug nuts and make
them remove them and replace them.


Matt
 
Actually, this is one question that you can't find in the shop manual, and
the correct answer is with a cold chisel. Make a notch in the nut and drive
the notch around and around with the chisel.
 
Joe said:
Actually, this is one question that you can't find in the shop manual, and
the correct answer is with a cold chisel. Make a notch in the nut and drive
the notch around and around with the chisel.
Click to expand...

Did you miss my suggestion of welding a bolt to any problem nuts and
using the head of the bolt to remove them?

Bill Putney
(to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with "x")
 
mike113 said:
I wanted to take off my wheels to grease the balljoints but i found out
that my wheel nuts were round and can't take off my hand, what can i do to
take the nut off.
Click to expand...
Sears sells a set of sockets specially made to solve this problem.

Gramps
 
Bill said:
Did you miss my suggestion of welding a bolt to any problem nuts and
using the head of the bolt to remove them?
Click to expand...

I'd give vice grips a try first.


Matt
 
Matt said:
I'd give vice grips a try first.

Matt
Click to expand...

I guess my point was that there is not necessarily a single right answer
- may depend on the wheel and nut configuration. At least we have given
the OP some alternatives to consider for what may work best for his
setup.

Bill Putney
(to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with "x")
 
"Bill Putney" wrote
I guess my point was that there is not necessarily a single right answer
- may depend on the wheel and nut configuration. At least we have given
the OP some alternatives to consider for what may work best for his
setup.
Click to expand...

I'll mention it again: Sears sockets made to address this problem DO WORK.

Grampd
 
Jim said:
"Bill Putney" wrote


I'll mention it again: Sears sockets made to address this problem DO WORK.

Grampd
Click to expand...

In some cases, yes. But consistent with my previous point that there
may not be a one-size-fits-all solution - not if, say, the lug is a lot
longer than the nut (in which case you would effctively need the
equivalent of a deep-well version of the Sears doo-hickey to be able to
remove it). My own suggestion of welding a bolt to the nut may also not
work in that case either unless there was room to weld to the side of
the nut (which there may not be).

Once again, probably no one soultion that has been proposed will work in
every situation either due to the lug being longer than the nut or the
nut being recessed in the wheel details. It's up to the OP to figure
out what will work best on his application.

Bill Putney
(to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with "x")
 
Jim,

I'm realizing that if the Sears thingy is like a nut on its outside and
has a thru hole so that you chuck a regular socket onto it (the socket
could be deepwell), that it could very well work pretty much in ever
case as long as the socket require to go over it isn't to big on the
outside to clear the wheel structure, and if the thru hole in the center
of the Sears thingy is large enough for a long lug to go thru.

If that is the case, then a kilo-pardon to you. It could very well be
"the" solution for all cases. Hmmm - what about a domed nut? Probably.

Bill Putney
(to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with "x")
 
Bill said:
I guess my point was that there is not necessarily a single right answer
- may depend on the wheel and nut configuration. At least we have given
the OP some alternatives to consider for what may work best for his
setup.
Click to expand...

True, there is seldom a single solution. However, I like to start
simple and work up, and vice grips are easier than welding ... at least
for most of us! A professional welder would likely disagree.


Matt
 
Matt said:
True, there is seldom a single solution. However, I like to start
simple and work up, and vice grips are easier than welding ... at least
for most of us! A professional welder would likely disagree.

Matt
Click to expand...

And if the lugs and nuts are deeply recessed in the wheel? 8^)

Bill Putney
(to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with "x")
 
mike113 said:
I wanted to take off my wheels to grease the balljoints but i found out
that my wheel nuts were round and can't take off my hand, what can i do to
take the nut off.
Click to expand...

Well there's heat, special sockets and penetrating oil, and if that fails
there's nut splitters. Your local garage can probably take care of that a
lot faster than you can, it's a common problem.
 
Dave said:
Well there's heat, special sockets and penetrating oil, and if that fails
there's nut splitters. Your local garage can probably take care of that a
lot faster than you can, it's a common problem.
Click to expand...

Yes, unfortunately there are too many monkeys who seem unable to use the
right size socket and proper technique to install the lug nuts. And
cranking on the nuts for 3 seconds with an air wrench isn't the proper
technique.


Matt
 
Bill Putney said:
In some cases, yes. But consistent with my previous point that there
may not be a one-size-fits-all solution - not if, say, the lug is a lot
longer than the nut (in which case you would effctively need the
equivalent of a deep-well version of the Sears doo-hickey to be able to
remove it). My own suggestion of welding a bolt to the nut may also not
work in that case either unless there was room to weld to the side of
the nut (which there may not be).
Click to expand...
Take a look at
http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?vertical=TOOL&pid=00952161000&bidsite=&BV_UseBVCookie=Yes

Gramps
 
I haven't been following this thread... but has anyone suggested using a
cheap-O (cheaper is actually BETTER) 12-point socket wrench of a size
that is just small enough to fit very tightly if you POUND it onto the
nut (metric sizes for rounded-off SAE and SAE sizes for rounded-off
metric bolts come in very handy). Put the socket on the nut, hammer the
snot out of the socket so that it digs hard into the remains of the nut.
Impact-wrench the nut and socket off, throw both away.


I've successfully used that method for removing wheel locks with lost
keys, too.
 
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