Those Stupid Nuts

RBBailey

RBBailey

NAS-ROW Addict
Callsign: KF7KFZ
RRC with boost wheels.

I've been trying different techniques for removing my wheels, but each one has at least one nut that has a destroyed cap, and I can't get them off.

So far, I've tried hammering a socket on over the top. I've tried using a spanner to "flatten" each side. I've tried to use a large channel lock. I've tried using a cold chisel to "flatten" each side. But nothing is working. Several of the caps are so loose that they can be turned by hand.

I'd like to figure some way to remove the cap by pulling it off. I've seen it done easily on a workbench, but I have not figured how to do it while still on the vehicle. I have in mind to put a hole in the center of the cap, then use some kind of puller to grab and pull... but what tool?

Any ideas?
 
JimC

JimC

Super Moderator
Staff member
I just had to do this recently on some alloys that hadn’t been removed during a decade of storage. Some lugs were frozen and the rims were stuck to the hubs.

For the stuck lugs I punched a hole in the cap with a chisel and loaded them up with PB blaster. i didn’t have to do it this time, but you can get an easy-out into the end of the nut (because they are tubes) if you cut the end off so that it’s shorter (otherwise it bottoms out before the threads engage).
 
rocky

rocky

NAS-ROW Addict
If the cap has swollen due to corrosion, and its hard to get the socket on, try heating the socket up, then er bashing it on to the nut.
Of course once it’s on, it’s tough to get off. But this is definitely the time to get new lugnuts anyway...
Alternatively get a mm or two bigger sockets.
One of these methods has always worked for me.
 
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JimC

JimC

Super Moderator
Staff member
you gotta pay up if you want someone else to polish your nuts - 60 extra £ as it were.
 
rover4x4

rover4x4

Well-known member
get a proper 6pt impact (black) socket hammer it on, getting the lug nut out of the socket will be a little tricky. you can also chisel the cap off at the risk of scratching the wheel
 
RBBailey

RBBailey

NAS-ROW Addict
Callsign: KF7KFZ
Well, I don't think it is the lugs on the threads that is the problem. It's that I can't get any force applied to them at all because of the caps.

Using the slightly larger (can't remember the size right now) sockets to fit them over the caps by force isn't working because the caps are so badly mangled that the only thing that fits over them, even with a hammer to help, is too big to grip the nut, thereby just causing the same issue over again.

I'd like to drill a hole in the caps, then insert some kind of "barbed" tool that I could then get a grip on from outside to attach a puller to. The I'd have the naked nuts..... I'll just stop there. You get the idea. I just don't know what tool I might be able to use for this. But think of a drywall anchor type thing.
 
RBBailey

RBBailey

NAS-ROW Addict
Callsign: KF7KFZ
Yeah, I've tried all that. And using those sockets does work -- if they will go on. But if the cap is as messed up as a few of mine are, those sockets simply won't fit over the nut/cap. You have to go to the next size up, but by the time you do that, it is too big to grip the underlying nut, and you end up spinning the cap more.

Also, I already do have a set of replacement solid lugs. Putting a full set on the Disco and the RRC to just be done with this stupid headache once and for all.
 
RBBailey

RBBailey

NAS-ROW Addict
Callsign: KF7KFZ
I took my time and flattened the sides of each of the caps on eight of the nuts. This allowed me to use a new, 3” deep 6-sided socket and a rubber mallet to knock it on one at a time. Took a long bolt and a 3 lbs hammer to get the nut out of the socket each time.

that was slow, but it worked. Three of them had no caps, but nine of them had to be removed buy simply tearing the cap off with pliers. This sucked. Two hours later I have the two front wheels off...
 
Dan kemper

Dan kemper

Founding Member
Callsign: KK6ECF
Damn. This is classic rover ownership. I agree with comments prior and have moved onto the steel rrc style for this very reason. Nice work moving forward
 
RBBailey

RBBailey

NAS-ROW Addict
Callsign: KF7KFZ
Na, the socket just grabs the cap and slips it around the nut so now the caps are perfectly rounded. Then you have to go up to the next size and...

I managed to get two more nuts off by using a cold chisel to flatten each side, then I was able to get the six sided socket on by using the hammer to reshape the cap as the socket goes on. I think the rest will come of a little easier, but I'll need to remove the caps on at least two of them tonight.
 
Napalm00

Napalm00

Technical Excellence Contributor
solid nuts time. When i go to the junkyard its REALLY common t o see rovers still having one or more wheels on...the rest of the cars they take them off. thats how shitty the design is
 
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