Half of my wheel lug is stuck! Help!

[Its_Scott]

It seems I always run into problems with cars. The other day I was getting the lug nuts off of my wheels and one of them decided to be stubborn. I yanked on it and what do you know, the lug nut broke in half! So the result is that half of my lug nut is out and the other half is still in there. This is for one of the rear wheels on my 951 and you know the lugs are deeper in the rear. I tried to get a grip on the remaining, stuck lug but it would not give me enough leverage to get it off. The lug is partially rounded out now and there is no turning back.

Of course there is the option of torching the darn thing but that would be my last step as I don't want to damage the rim itself.

There is also the option of drilling through the stud which may take some time.

and I just thought of a crazy idea, is there by any chance you can try to drill through the lug itself and eventually breaking it? The lug is made a softer/lighter material (aluminum?) as opposed to the steel stud. Or maybe try to slowly shave the lug down. What do you guys think? Any advice/suggestions?


Thanks!

[zedsn]

Hi, if you have the working room to get in there get a small high speed dremel and buy a few metal removing rasps and naw away at the aluminum. The rasp will clog after a little while though. You pretty much can do one side and use a chisel when towards the end to seperate one side them when cracked you should just be able to spin it off.

[bud9344]

Hold everything I have been there and for about 6month I try to figure it out how to solve the problem, with out damaging my rim on my 87 930.
I talk to my Snap On salesman and he sold me a sawdrill .
The cup goes between the stud and the saw is cutting around the wheel nut , save my rim and also the wheel stud, I already bought the wheel stud any way and replace the wheel stud.
Here is the Picture off the tool. Home Depot sell them as well and is cost less then Snap ON





Pic 1 is how you buy them
Pic 2 take the drill out and the Orange part go over the wheel stud
Just use your judgement how deep you wanted to drill it with out touching the Rim
Good Luck


_________________________________
Bud

87 930 Black
86 951 Black
86 944 N/A part car
87 944S White
83 944 N/A Black
83 944 N/A White Auto

[bud9344]

Sorry I forget to tell the Size 3/4 19mm


---------------------------
Bud

[many944s]

We had a similar issue a couple of years ago at the 944 gathering on Legion's car. Depending on how much of the nut is left, you can use a slightly smaller socket and hammer it onto the lugnut (the Aluminum deforms and "adds" new gripping surfaces). Once the socket is driven all the way down give it one good crack with a breaker bar (or impact wrench if available!) In our case, it came right off!

Hope it helps!
-Nick

[Schumi]

Im not sure of they make 19mm 'easy out'sockets or not.. check Autozone. I had some 12 point CV bolts strip on my while working on a guy's Volkswagen transmission. They make these sockets that have sharp, helical grooves in them going in the opposite direction of loosening so that they cut and grip into the nut/bold head as they rotate. You put them on a hammer impact (the kind of impact that looks like a punch and you hit with a hammer... or sledge) and they wedge themselves onto the bolt and loosen it as you hit.

Alot like Many944s method (which I have used and works) but more hardcore.

[krystar]

if u go to like some really cheap crappy store, u can find a really soft metal socket that u can hammer on. you don't want to ruin a good socket

like schumi said, you could also get an easy out socket set. sears or home depot has em for $20. not sure if there's one that'll fit a lug nut, but the tool is never a bad thing to have

[flash968]

when you finally get it off of there, throw away those aluminum lug nuts and get steel ones - the aluminum is only good for about 25 on and offs anyway - then they can no longer hold full torque

snap on also sells a lug nut removal tool - it's kind of like an easy out, but grabs the outside of the lug nut

[Its_Scott]

You guys are life savers! I'll try Nick's way first. If that doesn't work, the "saw drill" method sounds enticing. Never knew a tool like that existed. I'll let you guys know how it turns out. Thanks!

[GrantM951]

Get a damaged nut/remover set from sears.

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00952166000P

Grant

[Its_Scott]

Hey everyone, here's an update of my situation. I got the lug out!

I first tried many944s way and the lug was just wouldn't fit into my sockets no matter how much I tried to force it in.

I then tried the "bolt out" sockets I purchased from Sears since they had a sale on it. Might as well. The more I used those sockets, the more it shaved down the outer portion of the lug nuts. I'm sure those bolt out sockets work, but not in my case since it just wasn't getting enough grip on the lug nut.

Bud's technique was the solution for me. The tool was actually called a "hole saw". As Bud has already said, I used a 19mm (3/4) hole drive, which I purchased from Home Depot. It looked exactly like the pictures shown above. The hole saw and the drill arbor came in two different packages so I had to purchase both of them for about $20. I then got to work. It's pretty much straight forward from here. Luckily the lug is made out of softer material, which made the job easier. Remember to lubricate the tool once in awhile or often to avoid over heating and to prolong the longevity of hole saw.

Just gave the wheel a nice tug to break off what little was left of the lug nut at the end and called it a night.

Thanks for everyone's help!

[GrantM951]

Glad you got it off. Sorry the bolt out set didn't work, but you might need it later...

Grant