Hi just a tip that we use in the black country UK, When you have put the extractor on the nut we use a bottle jack under the extension bar to support it from dropping when you put the pressure on, then when you put the pressure on the bar strike with a lump hammer inline with the socket to shock the nut give it a try the next time it works for us some times thank BOB.
robert bridge, That's been used for many years especially in the van and truck workshops , not so much nowadays with all the air and electric impact equipment available, but very useful if out on the roadside with a flat and not much else to get a stubborn wheel nut undone for people that don't know about hammer shocking the nut while while loading the bar of the wheel nut socket.
I wish I had a mechanic like this. Whatever you are paid it isn’t enough. Trusting your mechanic brings peace of mind and there really isn’t a price on that. I thank you for all the owners and their families whose vehicles you’ve worked on.
Geez, if those lug nuts were threaded on, initially, by hand that wouldn't have happened. Someone was in a big hurry and it cost 5 hours and $$$! Go figure, if you take your time and do it right... You do good work, thanks for sharing it with us!
So irritating. Because it is "inefficient" as a screw up, causing so much more time to repair for such a tiny thing. When i was a teen i started doing light maintenance at a small dealer and someone brought their car in for a tire rotation. The lug nuts just spun and i was confused, till i realized all the threads were ripped off from someone totally blasting them on (probably for like w20 seconds a piece) with a huge impact. Got a lesson in drilling and removing studs that day...
It's comforting to see a professional pulling the sort of tricks us amateurs resort to. I wouldn't even have started around those smart and expensive wheels. When you watch a "celebrity" mechanic breezing through a job you just know off camera someone else has put the hard yards like this in first
What a nightmare! For those of us who have experienced this it's good to know that we're not incompetent, and it really takes this level of involvement to solve this problem. I personally have been there more times than I want to remember.
Great video Ray. I really enjoy your content. As to beginning the wheel nuts by hand and because of my age (I’m 62 yo and live in Canada and I still swap my own tires from summer to winter and vice versa) I’m starting to get arthritis in my hands and my index fingers and thumbs don’t play well together. I put the nut in the socket with a short extension and carefully start it on the stud making sure its not cross threaded. Haven’t had an issue yet. Most tire shops here want $15 a tire plus tax to do the swap which is outrageous considering that I can do it in an hour in my driveway with a floor jack. Some of you might think I’m cheap but I can think of better things to do with $68.
Great video, good to see someone taking on hard work to solve a problem instead of just selling the customer on more hours and parts to replace the whole assembly.
As a former tire tech at DCT. When I was New I cross threaded a few lugs onto studs. I apologize to any and all mechanics tht had to fix my oopsie's..... From The Bottom Of My Heart .......Sorry!!!!
Gotta say Ray, one could almost share the frisson of excitement that coursed it way through your system as that last lug nut came off. *excellent job dude, an excellent job indeed* ... BUT it does beg the question, *why on earth could the dealership techs not do what you did* but I guess thats why you are the 'Go-Too Rainman"
Because dealer techs are lazy as fuck. Most (not all) are parts replacers. More specifically warranty work. With direction via the mothership. If the mothership doesn't dictate it, they have no clue. If it isn't covered under a TSB or there isn't specific instructions, they have no clue what to do. Not because they are stupid, but because they are literally paid only to do tried, true, and tested via the manufacturer replacement/repair methods. They are absolutely not aloud to think outside the box. It is the "dealer culture." You want a master mechanic who can think outside the box? You go independent. You want someone who will follow the rule book to an absolute T, you go dealer.
I presume the dealership COULD have done it, but it was a better use of their resources to pay an independent shop to do it while using their own techs for other things.
They could do it. But they pay book rates at a dealer. And no one is gonna take a job making less than an hr labor. And no dealers gonna pay them the 5 hrs it took to get em off. Therefore you have your impasse
Take it from someone whose done it. Get yourself a full set of Lefthand short drill bits. That way it's loosening the stud instead of tightening it. U can left hand thread the hole also with a bottoming tap.
I'm so happy, i got overly invested in the first video only to realize it was 2 months old and only 10 minues, thank you soo soo much for finishing it out. My ocd is forever grateful 😅😅
As an ASE certified technician, I have come across this many many times. The lug nuts are not seized to the stud but to the rim. This happens from corrosion and is more common on aluminum wheels. It's not always because somebody over torqued the nut as I have had it happen on my own vehicle and I always torque to spec but has not happened again after I learned this trick. If you come across this and you give it a go with an impact and it don't twist right off after 2 or 3 seconds, then STOP do not keep going or you will start to tear shit up. This tip will save you a ton of time. Simply pull the socket off the impact and put the socket back on the lug nut then get a big dead blow or a sledgehammer and hit the back of the socket as square and hard as you can a few times (I have to hit it as hard as I can as I am a small build man and only weigh about 135 pounds lol.) This will break the nut free from the corrosion and the nut will now twist off with the impact normally. If it does not twist off normally, then repeat the previous step until it breaks free. To prevent this from happening in the future simply put a little anti seize on the rim where the lug nut seats. DO NOT put anti seize on the threads of the stud or in the lug nut. This method has worked for me every time over the years and each time it does, I quietly whisper to myself "Thank you Tim!" as Tim is the 45-year ASE tech (now retired and teaches ASE at the local community college) who taught me this trick 15 years ago. I hope this helps you all too.
Lucky you, Ray... Now you're the designated "stuck lug nut guy" in the shop! Whenever I have a wheel off, I dab just a little grease on the threads and the base of the lug nut, start them by hand, then torque them to specification. So far I've avoided any problems!
The wrench that comes with the vehicle is for putting the nuts on is designed for the job and will not over tighten them. It pays to loosen a half turn and re tighten the nuts on a regular basis to prevent seizure. Never put oil on lug nuts it is dangerous and may result in them loosening due to the force of angular momentum.
I've had Chrysler lugs stuck exactly like this as far back as 94 model year. Nice to see they're still consistent lol. Cross thread and over torqued wasn't the problem. Where the lug seats in the alloy rim would corrode and fuse. A little anti seize on the lug taper and it won't happen again.
Remove the original lugnuts first thing, and replace them with Dorman solid ones. This happened to my 06 SRT8. Never looked back. The stock units are one use only.
I am amazed really that the local dealership sent this away instead of telling the customer they need $$$ plus it their wheel will be damaged. And this is why when i took Driver's Ed back in high school (it was an actual elective class) they made us learn to change a tire and they taught us to put them on by hand tighten first to make sure they are going on straight...
Ray, we just had the same exact thing happen with our 2012 Jeep Liberty. The lugs were torqued on so hard that an impact wrench could not remove them. We ended up torch cutting them out and replacing the studs. Those tin-plated carbon steel lug nuts are worthless, too. I replaced all 20 with stainless steel lug nuts to avoid this problem again.
We had several left hand from bits we used to drill out frozen bolts. Had a tool & die shop that used to burn out hardened Allen bolts out of plastic molds using an EDM machine. Work like he did separates the boys from the men. Great job.
Ray you are really an ARTIST at what you do you im a first time watcher im 72 year old lady but just wanted to say great work and loved watching how you master it
They probably saw his first video. lol It does say something about that other dealership as well. Maybe they will try to pull Ray over to their dealership with more pay. ha ha
I've met maybe one dodge tech that was decent . Most of the time they are glorified parts changers who typically only do warranty work , and couldn't fix a damn sandwich . Not surprising that they sent it out.
@@johnmilner5485 It's not just at Dodge. But I would agree with that statement. One really has to be aware of it if they're looking for a good mechanic.
It's outrageous what the stealership charges. I wouldn't have them do anything besides warranty work and routine maintenance. I'd rather do it myself but sometimes it's just faster and easier to have someone else do it.
You must have the patience of a saint. I bet that "smoke-wrench" sitting over there in the corner of the shop was awfully tempting. I don't know if you have an inductive heating tool, but I use that tool on damaged lug nuts if I can fit the coil around the nut, which usually I can. Get that damaged nut glowing red hot, and either the nut will spin off or the wheel stud will snap off when I try to walk it off with my air chisel. Minimal damage if any. The inductive heating tool, a good one that is, is a little over $200. I don't use it very often, but when I do, I am thankful I got it. One of my best tool purchases (and no, I do not work for a tool company nor am I a distributor).
This is why I've installed locking lugs on my wheels. I got sick and f**kin' tired of mechanics over torquing or cross threading the lugs. And if they ever need to rotate my tires, I give 'em the lug key, stand there and watch.
Great video. I had this exact thing happen to me after the dealer worked on my SRT. I tried all the same techniques you used including trying to drill it out. Nothing worked. As a last ditch effort I even tried to weld a large 3/4 bolt onto the end. First try failed. Rewelded it, and second try broke the lug nut more than it was and worse yet, even though I had something protecting the wheel the heat was close enough to cause some melting. Urge. So fail x 2. With a hammer and chisel the nut was finally freed. Stud was destroyed but wheel finally off. I was really mad. However, I managed to repair the damage with some sandpaper around a snug fitting socket. Took a while to polish out but did make it unnoticeable.
Here's a possibility.....I had this happen several times on a Nissan Altima with aluminum rims. The damn fool wheel installers, after mounting new tires, would drag the wheel over he studs and shave some aluminum into the stud threads. When you install the nuts they'd give no indication of any cross threading because there was none. They'd install just fine and torque properly. The issue was when you removed them they'd lock up exactly as you see in your video. The key is....don't try to remove the nut. Instead, just torque the damn thing tighter until the stud breaks. You'd be surprised at how little it really takes. Then it's just a matter of installing a new stud. Do not get caught up thinking that nut removal is the only way. I always watched the tire shop on the nut removal at tire change time and caught them slamming the rim back and forth, wallowing out the hole. They replaced the rim with new after I pitched a fit. This is why I'll never have alum rims again, steel wheels only.
9/10 times the effed up lug nut can be removed without drilling or breaking the stud. At carvana, I was a go-to guy for this. The only real reason is if the stud is stripped, or the splines came out of the hub.
Well done, well done indeed. Dealership should be ashamed they don’t have anyone competent enough to do that. Would be nice to know the back story on how they got so tight when the other 7 were just fine.
I once cross threaded a wheel nut. But I pulled it off before it was too tight. Someone just said, why is this so much harder then the rest, and just kept going with an impact. I had to watch this to the bitter end since you took the time to save this car.
The car says thank you. Nice job, Ray! I love the phone ringer in your facility. As it was ringing, somehow in my mind, the ringing started saying, "Rainman Ray" LOL Another lug for ya! Have a great day!
Ray, I loved the lug nut surgery ! Been there done that. I enjoyed this one alot! This proves you can do the impossible. You remind me of my son working ! Love it when you mock the shop phone ringing !
I had a similar problem with the nuts on my 2015 Jaguar , the dealer whanted a fortune to make good including a new disc! So thinking sideways I took a good holesaw with the internal diameter 1 or 2 mm larger than the stud, drilling carefully I cut right through to the opening in the wheel. The nut was then loose and could be taken out with two fingers, the remaining thread on the stud came off with small pliers. The wheel was undamaged and pulled off as normal, all that was needed was replacement nuts! The whole effort took 10 minutes for 2 nuts. I hope this helps and saves a lot of drilling and chiselling
Sixty years working in tool and die shop I got to remove many broken taps and bolts. A tap is hardened tool steel, take it to a machine shop that has EDM. But if you can drill it, it is loose (turning) in a tapped hole you have a chance of backing it out or off. Don't even think about using easy-outs, they make very unsecessful fishing sinkers. Get out your file collection, a small adjustable and your smallest ball peen hammer. Remove the handle exposing the tang, select one that just enters the drilled hole, tap the flat end with the hammer just enough to bite the 4 sharp corners into the hole (too hard will expand the bolt) adjust the wrench to fit the file's thickness, press downward on the file and rotate the broken part out. The same could have been done with the 1 thread remaining lug nuts with the file's opposite the tang end if the width of the file fits. If not sacrifice the file by reducing the width on a grinder providing a slight taper to provide the corner bite.
@@btcbob11392 What's there not to prove ?? The dealership silicone attached a wheel nut onto an existing bolt !! Pictures / Video after the work was done would prove lots !
I was GOING to make a smart comment but I’ll be honest I’m thoroughly impressed. I thought that would’ve been easy but after you described 5.5 hrs into it... I feel the pain.
Put a strap around a spoke of the wheel and a 2x4 have someone push on the other end of the 2x4 against the back of the drill to put more leverage and pressure on the bit.
Well done mate, we had a similar experience with a set that were cross threaded we packed the area with dry ice let it cook ,freeze and off they came .
My friend, what you need to be using is a set of LEFT HAND drill bits. Lug nut removes itself on the bit when you get enough metal out. 2 hour job with them, maximum
Had to do the same thing on my mother in law's 15 Cherokee... Last shop down the road overtorqued the lug bolts... Had to drill out like 5 bolts. What fun that was... Bought all new solid steel bolts for it and threw out the rest. Perfect now
It's a shame for a Dodge dealership to have such great technology and tools but could not be able to extract a lug nut. Rainman Ray you earned my respect
Had to do this myself recently.. tyre fitters have no idea of the trouble they cause.. why they cannot reduce the torque or tighten by hand. great work and video
Terrible thing to say but I enjoyed watching YOU bust YOUR knuckles and stuff doing just what I would have done. I am getting too old to enjoy the success of beating problems like this. Good on ya!! My only negative was when you had them pretty free. I thought I would have used the chisel like a huge flat blade screwdriver and placed it in the notches you cut and twisted the darn thing off like a screw. I "think" that equal pressure from two sides would have helped to loosen it quicker. Just a nit to pick. I am impressed. NO way could I have stuck it out that long without totally losing it. Thanks for letting me watch!! I did enjoy it.
(From a millwrong point of view) If a guy thought he'd have to do these with some degree of frequency, he could construct a steel plate jig that could clamp onto the wheel. There would be, say, a 2" hole that could generally align with the bastard nut. Use a Hougen (or similar) magnetic drill with a 7/16" annular cutter. This cutter will go right through the threads of both the nut and stud, and won't touch the hole in the wheel. Would take less than 5 minutes to set up and cut through the depth of the nut. A Hougen is about a grand, so it would take a while to pay for itself. They're cool tools.
For drilling metal, an old waste oil can, a magnet and a simple turn valve can be very useful. Hang the can off the side of the car by the magnet. Lower the hose to where you're working, clamp it and open the valve to a slow drip. I used to have one I made for just under $30. Used small alligator clips to hold it near my work (piece of 10AWG solid copper wire with an alligator clip on both sides), you can clamp or wrap it on something nearby then just grab the nozzle with the clips to hold it. Then open the valve just enough to get a slow drip. It's not free, but neither is it expensive. And it has probably saved me a few drill bits by allowing me to keep them cool while stabilizing with both hands. Sadly, I no longer have this old can and haven't made a new one because I haven't been doing as much metal drilling.
i had the same thing on my SV6 Holden (GM) but i only spend 28 min on 2 lock nuts. I carefully heated up the locknuts with a small flame and not damaging the wheels and they came of easy
Use less speed and more pressure. You can't use too much oil. Set up a drip or find a minion to feed oil. Keep the bit sharp. I usually start with a large bit to get a good centre. If you have the hang of it, an easy 10 minutes each studs this size. Practice makes perfect!
My Dodge dealership was able to do this job with no damage, a good tech like you can achieve good results. .. was on one wheel and 4 lugs. I brought my Charger into a tire shop to have a nail taken out, turns out they had to replace the tire and over torqued the bolts with an impact. I have the 4 lugs a nylon tie as a souvenir and still have the nail on my keychain
Yeah I was hoping you showed the other side too. Thank you. TBI use to do things like this, but now I can only watch. Thank you for helping the day be a bit brighter.
I’ve had to deal with same problem when tire dealership cross threaded a couple studs one from each side on the front on my Nissan truck, to make it even more enjoyable to replace the front studs on this truck requires pulling wheel bearings not enough clearance to simply hammer old ones out and slide new one in, rear wheel studs can be but not front go figure lol
Had this experience with my sons 2010 Lacrosse. I was able to use a new sharp chisel and get through the aluminum cap leaving a clean steel lug nut one size smaller. Those I was able to remove with a breaker bar and pipe. Might have just got lucky. Still very time consuming sitting on my garage floor.
I was taught that quick raps with a hammer was better for loosening stuck nuts. (Keep your minds out of the gutter). These lug nuts were probably not ever moving again but try short hard hits on the handle. I am so impressed with your patience because my video would have been five hours of bleep, bleep, bleep. F bomb nightmare. PS… I cant help but laugh every time the phone rings and you say “doo da doo”. Keep up the great videos and have a great day.
Being a machinist for 35 years, I can really appreciate your struggles. Removing seized fasteners is one of the least enjoyable tasks I can think of, beaten out only by broken tap extraction. You're lucky the previous removal attempt didn't include drilling by someone who only had high-speed drill bits. Carbide is the only thing that will drill through a hole that burned up a high-speed drill but carbide is difficult to impossible with hand drills.
@@RRaucina Reread my comment carefully. And, left-handed drills wouldn't have done anything to drill out a lug stud, they are straight knurled and pressed in.
@@pedrowhack-a-mole6786 The left hand bit will remove the lug nut at some point in the process. One could drill right hand at first and then left when reaching the area of the lug nut. You can watch him spin the nuts to the right in the video, with the drill. Then he uses pliers to turn it left. Mechanics need left hand bits for many other stuck nut and bolt apps. Could use EDM if the $$ justified it.
"Reverse machining" made me laugh rather hard. Thanks for sharing the frustration. I've had 8th hand vehicles ad nauseum, and occasionally find some stupidity like this. I've never seen them this stuck and destroyed though. That was wild. I might have considered welding a suitably sized bolt to the inside of the nut with just enough length to have the head just above the nut so you could grab it with your impact. The vibration of impact might have made it let go more easily. I don't imagine the heat would have damaged anything, and it might also have helped it let go. You would have needed to shield the wheels from the spatter though; I'm always working on vehicles so old the spatter might be an improvement. :P
Heating would have Destroyed the Clearcoat Finish on the Rims . Welding in another Bolt MIGHT have worked , though . Again a risk of damaging the Wheel however . IF there was Rubber Paint available to protect the Wheel , definitely a viable option .
Suggestion: diamond coated drill bits. Not as expensive as you might think. Concern/reminder: Be careful of the drill bit jamming. If it breaks it can go flying like a .30 caliber. Or, the torque feedback through the drill can break your wrist. Question: " clean with solvent..." Is the solvent brake parts cleaner?? Thanks for the videos. Not only are they informative, but they are entertaining as well.
An old machinist told me a trick on stuck lug nuts like this, im shure you have a ton of experience on doing this, but next time try only drilling maybe half the diameter of the threads, those are prob like 12mm thread, so lets say like 6mm hole. The thread will colapse when you remove about half the material. Ive had good luck doing it like this, and if it doesnt work you still have to keep drilling anyway. So try next time giving a a good twist when you get a decent hole started. You will be supprised how well it works at releasing the clamping load of the thread...without actually drilling it all the way out
@Ray I've done this very same method to remove a lug nut that was cross threaded and seized on my vehicle. Through my efforts I even managed to strip the splines on the wheel stud, so I had to drill it out in a similar manner. Additionally I've had to remove wheel lock nuts on the same vehicle after I misplaced the key for them. For this I used a piece of steel pipe that I welded over the nut. I know you have openly stated that you're not a welder but that could have been a possible solution for your job too. Well done on s great job.
I like your methods. One tip is before using any drill, make a little drill bushing. Make the OD of the bushing fit snugly inside the nut and the ID fit the first drill you plan on using. That way, the first hole is in the center of the stud. The other drills will follow pretty true with the first hole. Also grease the threads when pulling the new stud into place. Not oil.
That's a lot of drilling work..should be a higher hourly rate! Crazy how hard the caliper bolts came out as well, thought for sure they were also crossed threaded. That scratch in the rim was minor compared to how it could have turned out in the hands of a hack mechanic which seem to be a dime a dozen. Pro job 👊🏻👏👏
Lug nuts on Dodges absolutely suck. A friend of mine is a single mom and I always do things for her and one of those things is working on her car. See I was told after getting new tires of that on the passenger side he had bad ball joints and they quoted her ridiculous amount of money to fix it. He asked me if that was something I could fix and I said yes. As I was taking off the wheel there is a very thin piece of tiny metal that is over the working end of the lug nut. I ripped two of them apart. Since I had to pick up parts I stopped and got new lug nuts that I destroyed. Came back with everything together and I looked up what the wheels are supposed to be torque to. A year later she needed breaks this time I knew the wheel was torque correctly and so were all the other ones since I made sure of that. This time around almost every lug nut on the front end had that cheap metal come off. This time when I went to the parts store I picked up a set of four-wheel but not that were aftermarket. They looked pretty similar to the ones I removed and the bottom was the exact same. So putting everything back together I use the better lug nuts. When she needed front end work again two years later this time not a single problem with the lug nuts. After messing with her car the first time I noticed the same trend on all the dodges that they have. Most of them discovered it after having flat tires and not having the right tools to fix the problem on the side of the road. Now I don't know from 2020 on if they are still using the same lug nuts. I haven't touched anybody's car that was newer and nobody has called me asking for help. I'm telling everyone if you have one of these dodgers you really might want to think about getting your lug nuts off now before you are on the side of the road and have to have your car towed to a service center. A set of four lug nuts is not very expensive especially compared to a visit to the shop. Just make sure you torque them for whatever the factory setting is.
You might want to invest in some left-handed drill bits, during my years in maintenance they helped me a lot ,during the drilling process the nuts, screws, etc sometimes let go and back out.
I had a '65 Dodge A-100 pickup with left-hand threads on the driver's side (all Mopars did prior to 71). When I went to get new tires I made sure the service writer put that information in big bold letters on the invoice. No issues thankfully.
A loong time ago my friend was helping me rotate tires on a 65 Valiant. He was of the righty-tighty and lefty-loosey school of threads. Unfortunately he was on the driver's side and had two lug studs twisted off before I got him stopped and re-educated on Chrysler lug patterns. He was so dang strong he did not really feel them ripping off till they fell on the ground. Best dang friend a person could possibly want!! Knowing him has brought me a LOT of joy and wonderful memories.
I had an issue similar done to my vehicle. The mechanic I took it to decided to continue to tighten them until the studs broke. That's how he got them off, then put new studs in. It worked. Some tire monkey screwed me but at least it was fixed. That was at least 25 or so years ago and I verify lug nuts are torqued correctly ever since. I bring my torque wrench down to the tire shop.
Hard to fathom why those nuts were cross threaded. Somebody was ill taught! Bloody glad my mechanic father taught me better some 50 years back, 'cause I haven't cross threaded one in the following years, and I have been / do swap winter to summer to winter every year. Also know to re-torque after the first drive.
I don't know if it's laziness or trying to beat the flat-rate clock but every time I have been around wheels being removed then re-installed, never have I seen a torque wrench used in shops around here. It's always the whine then rap of an impact wrench. My lugs are 90 lbs. When I get home, each lug is cracked loose, one at a time then properly torqued.
When you have idiots putting your wheels on your vehicle, anything is possible. Once, after getting my two year old Toyota Rav-4 back from the dealership from my last "Free" tire rotations, I was curious if that shop actually used a torque wrench on the lug nuts. Answer...No. I ended up loosening all of the lug nuts with a breaker bar. All of the lug nuts had different torque. Two of the lug nuts required me to put a pipe on the handle of the breaker to loosen them. Even standing on the handle 9f the breaker bar couldn't loosen them. That means if I had a flat on the road, the stock lug nut wrench wouldn't have been able to remove the lug nuts. Another time many years ago, I bought tires from a local Pep Boys. I told the service rep to tell the "mechanc" to torque the lug nuts to 85 ft lbs. And no higher. As I watched from the waiting area, I watched the shop guy using an impact wrench to tighten the lug nuts. I approached service rep and told him to tell the shop guy not to over tightene the lug nuts because I didn't want the rotors to warp. The service rep said that the shop guy wouldn't do that. After all four wheels were on, the shop guy went around with a torque wrench on all of the lug nuts. I could see that he wasn't bringing the nuts up to torque, but simply checking that the nuts were at least up to the requested torque value. You have idiots like these guys with no common sense. If you want it done properly, you have to do it yourself. Since then, I purchased a tire changing fixture and a wheel balancer. Saved a lot of money since then doing it myself.
Last time I ran into this kind of seized lug, my neighbor was a truck driver and I had free access to his garage. That air chisel saved the day. Getting the drums off afterward was another story. Hammer one side, then the other, over and over, prying all the way. Took several hours and was dark out by the time I got them off. Since then, no real lug issues. I tend to my vehicles too often to have them. In other places though, old rusty bolts snap off all the time.
I went through the same issue on a dodge I removed the cap used a flat face threader, turned short bolt in as far as I could then used my small welder with 1/16th rod and welded and used my Milwaukie impact and it came rite out was due more to the heat expanding the nut to get to break free but having something to grab onto with impact also helped
See the kid helper was just getting you prepared for this job 🤣.. You should put the lug nuts in the owners glove box with a note saying Stealership couldn't get them off properly
Moral of this story: don't use cheap hollow lug nuts and invest a few dollars in a torque wrench. It doesn't have to be a fancy one because even the cheaper ones get to within a few percent accuracy. A beam type torque wrench works well. Read the instructions on how to use if there's a pivot point on the handle and store in the case when not in use.
It takes over 5 hours to correct a small mistake that could have been prevented with 5 seconds of thinking before doing! Great work!
“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”
Exactly. Just hand tightening the lugs down would have prevented all this. Instead they just sent it. The next guy be damned
80 to 100 foot pounds max for lug nuts. At least I thinks that's the max. But I might be wrong
@@colinklang lock tight, make er right 👍👍
@@ronniewilliz153 Depends on the car. I had one car, a Peugeot, that the wheel torque was 35 foot pounds. And only three lugs to boot.
Hi just a tip that we use in the black country UK, When you have put the extractor on the nut we use a bottle jack under the extension bar to support it from dropping when you put the pressure on, then when you put the pressure on the bar strike with a lump hammer inline with the socket to shock the nut give it a try the next time it works for us some times thank BOB.
robert bridge, That's been used for many years especially in the van and truck workshops , not so much nowadays with all the air and electric impact equipment available, but very useful if out on the roadside with a flat and not much else to get a stubborn wheel nut undone for people that don't know about hammer shocking the nut while while loading the bar of the wheel nut socket.
We'll I'm from the UK as well and I was shouting the same thing at him.
Yes I was thinking the same thing when I was watching this.
Great tip!
bottle jack / axle stand . etc . works pretty well every time .
I wish I had a mechanic like this. Whatever you are paid it isn’t enough. Trusting your mechanic brings peace of mind and there really isn’t a price on that.
I thank you for all the owners and their families whose vehicles you’ve worked on.
Geez, if those lug nuts were threaded on, initially, by hand that wouldn't have happened. Someone was in a big hurry and it cost 5 hours and $$$! Go figure, if you take your time and do it right... You do good work, thanks for sharing it with us!
5 turns by hand, and then a torque limiting extension on an impact. It only takes a few seconds longer to do it right! Saves a lot of time later!!
So irritating. Because it is "inefficient" as a screw up, causing so much more time to repair for such a tiny thing.
When i was a teen i started doing light maintenance at a small dealer and someone brought their car in for a tire rotation. The lug nuts just spun and i was confused, till i realized all the threads were ripped off from someone totally blasting them on (probably for like w20 seconds a piece) with a huge impact.
Got a lesson in drilling and removing studs that day...
See my comment above. They may have been installed by hand...but not the five you suggest.....
@@dondale68 5 turns ? At that point you might as well carry on by hand and use a real torque wrench .....
@@callumcurtis15 After 5 turns by hand, there is no way you can still get them cross threaded!
It's comforting to see a professional pulling the sort of tricks us amateurs resort to. I wouldn't even have started around those smart and expensive wheels. When you watch a "celebrity" mechanic breezing through a job you just know off camera someone else has put the hard yards like this in first
Ray- you stuck with it, you didn't get sloppy in the end. Absolute respect. Great job.
What a nightmare! For those of us who have experienced this it's good to
know that we're not incompetent, and it really takes this level of
involvement to solve this problem. I personally have been there more
times than I want to remember.
Great video Ray. I really enjoy your content. As to beginning the wheel nuts by hand and because of my age (I’m 62 yo and live in Canada and I still swap my own tires from summer to winter and vice versa) I’m starting to get arthritis in my hands and my index fingers and thumbs don’t play well together. I put the nut in the socket with a short extension and carefully start it on the stud making sure its not cross threaded. Haven’t had an issue yet. Most tire shops here want $15 a tire plus tax to do the swap which is outrageous considering that I can do it in an hour in my driveway with a floor jack. Some of you might think I’m cheap but I can think of better things to do with $68.
Great video, good to see someone taking on hard work to solve a problem instead of just selling the customer on more hours and parts to replace the whole assembly.
As a former tire tech at DCT. When I was New I cross threaded a few lugs onto studs. I apologize to any and all mechanics tht had to fix my oopsie's..... From The Bottom Of My Heart .......Sorry!!!!
Gotta say Ray, one could almost share the frisson of excitement that coursed it way through your system as that last lug nut came off. *excellent job dude, an excellent job indeed* ... BUT it does beg the question, *why on earth could the dealership techs not do what you did* but I guess thats why you are the 'Go-Too Rainman"
Because dealer techs are lazy as fuck. Most (not all) are parts replacers. More specifically warranty work. With direction via the mothership. If the mothership doesn't dictate it, they have no clue. If it isn't covered under a TSB or there isn't specific instructions, they have no clue what to do. Not because they are stupid, but because they are literally paid only to do tried, true, and tested via the manufacturer replacement/repair methods. They are absolutely not aloud to think outside the box. It is the "dealer culture." You want a master mechanic who can think outside the box? You go independent. You want someone who will follow the rule book to an absolute T, you go dealer.
I presume the dealership COULD have done it, but it was a better use of their resources to pay an independent shop to do it while using their own techs for other things.
@@xPreatorianx1 You think more highly of dealer service than I do!
Bigger drill bit, nuts shot and you have to replace the stud anyway 🇨🇦
They could do it. But they pay book rates at a dealer. And no one is gonna take a job making less than an hr labor. And no dealers gonna pay them the 5 hrs it took to get em off. Therefore you have your impasse
Take it from someone whose done it. Get yourself a full set of Lefthand short drill bits. That way it's loosening the stud instead of tightening it. U can left hand thread the hole also with a bottoming tap.
I'm so happy, i got overly invested in the first video only to realize it was 2 months old and only 10 minues, thank you soo soo much for finishing it out. My ocd is forever grateful 😅😅
As an ASE certified technician, I have come across this many many times. The lug nuts are not seized to the stud but to the rim. This happens from corrosion and is more common on aluminum wheels. It's not always because somebody over torqued the nut as I have had it happen on my own vehicle and I always torque to spec but has not happened again after I learned this trick.
If you come across this and you give it a go with an impact and it don't twist right off after 2 or 3 seconds, then STOP do not keep going or you will start to tear shit up. This tip will save you a ton of time. Simply pull the socket off the impact and put the socket back on the lug nut then get a big dead blow or a sledgehammer and hit the back of the socket as square and hard as you can a few times (I have to hit it as hard as I can as I am a small build man and only weigh about 135 pounds lol.)
This will break the nut free from the corrosion and the nut will now twist off with the impact normally. If it does not twist off normally, then repeat the previous step until it breaks free. To prevent this from happening in the future simply put a little anti seize on the rim where the lug nut seats. DO NOT put anti seize on the threads of the stud or in the lug nut.
This method has worked for me every time over the years and each time it does, I quietly whisper to myself "Thank you Tim!" as Tim is the 45-year ASE tech (now retired and teaches ASE at the local community college) who taught me this trick 15 years ago. I hope this helps you all too.
Lucky you, Ray... Now you're the designated "stuck lug nut guy" in the shop!
Whenever I have a wheel off, I dab just a little grease on the threads and the base of the lug nut, start them by hand, then torque them to specification. So far I've avoided any problems!
That's the way to go. You will catch any cross threading and be able to correct it.
The wrench that comes with the vehicle is for putting the nuts on is designed for the job and will not over tighten them. It pays to loosen a half turn and re tighten the nuts on a regular basis to prevent seizure. Never put oil on lug nuts it is dangerous and may result in them loosening due to the force of angular momentum.
I've had Chrysler lugs stuck exactly like this as far back as 94 model year. Nice to see they're still consistent lol. Cross thread and over torqued wasn't the problem. Where the lug seats in the alloy rim would corrode and fuse. A little anti seize on the lug taper and it won't happen again.
Remove the original lugnuts first thing, and replace them with Dorman solid ones. This happened to my 06 SRT8. Never looked back. The stock units are one use only.
There's a difference between a "service technician" stealership, and an actual mechanics shop.
Think it comes down to 1) experience and 2) integrity.
I am amazed really that the local dealership sent this away instead of telling the customer they need $$$ plus it their wheel will be damaged. And this is why when i took Driver's Ed back in high school (it was an actual elective class) they made us learn to change a tire and they taught us to put them on by hand tighten first to make sure they are going on straight...
Ray, we just had the same exact thing happen with our 2012 Jeep Liberty. The lugs were torqued on so hard that an impact wrench could not remove them. We ended up torch cutting them out and replacing the studs. Those tin-plated carbon steel lug nuts are worthless, too. I replaced all 20 with stainless steel lug nuts to avoid this problem again.
We had several left hand from bits we used to drill out frozen bolts. Had a tool & die shop that used to burn out hardened Allen bolts out of plastic molds using an EDM machine. Work like he did separates the boys from the men. Great job.
Ray you are really an ARTIST at what you do you im a first time watcher im 72 year old lady but just wanted to say great work and loved watching how you master it
Great Job Ray. Thanks for being an example of "pride in my work".
Ray, I think you got a compliment from the dealership that had you fix the car. They must know your work. Good work is rewarding. Keep it up!
They probably saw his first video. lol It does say something about that other dealership as well. Maybe they will try to pull Ray over to their dealership with more pay. ha ha
I've met maybe one dodge tech that was decent . Most of the time they are glorified parts changers who typically only do warranty work , and couldn't fix a damn sandwich . Not surprising that they sent it out.
@@johnmilner5485 It's not just at Dodge. But I would agree with that statement. One really has to be aware of it if they're looking for a good mechanic.
It's outrageous what the stealership charges. I wouldn't have them do anything besides warranty work and routine maintenance.
I'd rather do it myself but sometimes it's just faster and easier to have someone else do it.
You must have the patience of a saint. I bet that "smoke-wrench" sitting over there in the corner of the shop was awfully tempting. I don't know if you have an inductive heating tool, but I use that tool on damaged lug nuts if I can fit the coil around the nut, which usually I can. Get that damaged nut glowing red hot, and either the nut will spin off or the wheel stud will snap off when I try to walk it off with my air chisel. Minimal damage if any. The inductive heating tool, a good one that is, is a little over $200. I don't use it very often, but when I do, I am thankful I got it. One of my best tool purchases (and no, I do not work for a tool company nor am I a distributor).
We called them "blue-knifes", never heard the term "smoke wrench".
This is why I've installed locking lugs on my wheels. I got sick and f**kin' tired of mechanics over torquing or cross threading the lugs. And if they ever need to rotate my tires, I give 'em the lug key, stand there and watch.
Great video. I had this exact thing happen to me after the dealer worked on my SRT. I tried all the same techniques you used including trying to drill it out. Nothing worked. As a last ditch effort I even tried to weld a large 3/4 bolt onto the end. First try failed. Rewelded it, and second try broke the lug nut more than it was and worse yet, even though I had something protecting the wheel the heat was close enough to cause some melting. Urge. So fail x 2. With a hammer and chisel the nut was finally freed. Stud was destroyed but wheel finally off. I was really mad. However, I managed to repair the damage with some sandpaper around a snug fitting socket. Took a while to polish out but did make it unnoticeable.
I never would have thought watching Ray remove a over tightened nut would be this interesting.
Seeing that last lug nuts come off us super satisfying Ray good job very good job
Here's a possibility.....I had this happen several times on a Nissan Altima with aluminum rims.
The damn fool wheel installers, after mounting new tires, would drag the wheel over he studs and shave some aluminum into the stud threads. When you install the nuts they'd give no indication of any cross threading because there was none. They'd install just fine and torque properly. The issue was when you removed them they'd lock up exactly as you see in your video. The key is....don't try to remove the nut. Instead, just torque the damn thing tighter until the stud breaks. You'd be surprised at how little it really takes. Then it's just a matter of installing a new stud. Do not get caught up thinking that nut removal is the only way.
I always watched the tire shop on the nut removal at tire change time and caught them slamming the rim back and forth, wallowing out the hole. They replaced the rim with new after I pitched a fit. This is why I'll never have alum rims again, steel wheels only.
Problem is, the dealership jacked up the lugs and they couldn't be used.... He really had no choice than to drill them out.
9/10 times the effed up lug nut can be removed without drilling or breaking the stud.
At carvana, I was a go-to guy for this.
The only real reason is if the stud is stripped, or the splines came out of the hub.
GREAT JOB! Your perseverance is unmatched!
May a thousand years of lug nuts rain down on the man who perpetrated this disaster! Good job on the repair!
I would be doing a victory dance after that last lug nut. Great job 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍. You have much more patients than I have with that.
I was thinkin' the same thing
mayhaps a little celebratory drink
The guy has the patience of Job.
Well done, well done indeed. Dealership should be ashamed they don’t have anyone competent enough to do that. Would be nice to know the back story on how they got so tight when the other 7 were just fine.
I once cross threaded a wheel nut. But I pulled it off before it was too tight. Someone just said, why is this so much harder then the rest, and just kept going with an impact. I had to watch this to the bitter end since you took the time to save this car.
The car says thank you. Nice job, Ray! I love the phone ringer in your facility. As it was ringing, somehow in my mind, the ringing started saying, "Rainman Ray" LOL Another lug for ya! Have a great day!
Ray, I loved the lug nut surgery ! Been there done that. I enjoyed this one alot! This proves you can do the impossible. You remind me of my son working ! Love it when you mock the shop phone ringing !
I had a similar problem with the nuts on my 2015 Jaguar , the dealer whanted a fortune to make good including a new disc! So thinking sideways I took a good holesaw with the internal diameter 1 or 2 mm larger than the stud, drilling carefully I cut right through to the opening in the wheel. The nut was then loose and could be taken out with two fingers, the remaining thread on the stud came off with small pliers. The wheel was undamaged and pulled off as normal, all that was needed was replacement nuts! The whole effort took 10 minutes for 2 nuts. I hope this helps and saves a lot of drilling and chiselling
Sixty years working in tool and die shop I got to remove many broken taps and bolts. A tap is hardened tool steel, take it to a machine shop that has EDM.
But if you can drill it, it is loose (turning) in a tapped hole you have a chance of backing it out or off. Don't even think about using easy-outs, they make very unsecessful fishing sinkers. Get out your file collection, a small adjustable and your smallest ball peen hammer. Remove the handle exposing the tang, select one that just enters the drilled hole, tap the flat end with the hammer just enough to bite the 4 sharp corners into the hole (too hard will expand the bolt) adjust the wrench to fit the file's thickness, press downward on the file and rotate the broken part out.
The same could have been done with the 1 thread remaining lug nuts with the file's opposite the tang end if the width of the file fits. If not sacrifice the file by reducing the width on a grinder providing a slight taper to provide the corner bite.
Once I had a dealer snap the stud, but instead of replacing it they silicone the lug nut to look like it was attached.
That my friend is a Lawsuit !! My lawyer would have had a field day with that one !!
@@MrLew1965 You would never prove that !
@@btcbob11392 What's there not to prove ?? The dealership silicone attached a wheel nut onto an existing bolt !! Pictures / Video after the work was done would prove lots !
I was GOING to make a smart comment but I’ll be honest I’m thoroughly impressed. I thought that would’ve been easy but after you described 5.5 hrs into it... I feel the pain.
Something strange happening with the audio where it was pulsing intermittently, but great work on the lugnuts!
I believe it was so he didn't get copyrighted for the background music.
@@redblueflame_x3 Could be.
@@redblueflame_x3 Pure delight for a short while when the crap was muted.I wouldn't even consider working in that place with that going on all day .
I was wondering if it was just my phone that was doing that for some reason.
@@karlhrdylicka Absolutely LOVE me some classic rock.
Put a strap around a spoke of the wheel and a 2x4 have someone push on the other end of the 2x4 against the back of the drill to put more leverage and pressure on the bit.
Left hand drill bits are perhaps the greatest ever invention.
I suggest when you drilled out; instead of 2 hammercuts at 180* degrees, cut 3 hammercuts at 120* degrees, you can continue manual hammering.
Well done mate, we had a similar experience with a set that were cross threaded we packed the area with dry ice let it cook ,freeze and off they came .
Mighty impressive work! How frustrating that they were cross threaded by laziness.
My friend, what you need to be using is a set of LEFT HAND drill bits. Lug nut removes itself on the bit when you get enough metal out. 2 hour job with them, maximum
Had to do the same thing on my mother in law's 15 Cherokee... Last shop down the road overtorqued the lug bolts... Had to drill out like 5 bolts. What fun that was... Bought all new solid steel bolts for it and threw out the rest. Perfect now
It's a shame for a Dodge dealership to have such great technology and tools but could not be able to extract a lug nut. Rainman Ray you earned my respect
Had to do this myself recently.. tyre fitters have no idea of the trouble they cause.. why they cannot reduce the torque or tighten by hand. great work and video
Terrible thing to say but I enjoyed watching YOU bust YOUR knuckles and stuff doing just what I would have done. I am getting too old to enjoy the success of beating problems like this. Good on ya!! My only negative was when you had them pretty free. I thought I would have used the chisel like a huge flat blade screwdriver and placed it in the notches you cut and twisted the darn thing off like a screw. I "think" that equal pressure from two sides would have helped to loosen it quicker. Just a nit to pick. I am impressed. NO way could I have stuck it out that long without totally losing it. Thanks for letting me watch!! I did enjoy it.
(From a millwrong point of view) If a guy thought he'd have to do these with some degree of frequency, he could construct a steel plate jig that could clamp onto the wheel. There would be, say, a 2" hole that could generally align with the bastard nut. Use a Hougen (or similar) magnetic drill with a 7/16" annular cutter. This cutter will go right through the threads of both the nut and stud, and won't touch the hole in the wheel. Would take less than 5 minutes to set up and cut through the depth of the nut. A Hougen is about a grand, so it would take a while to pay for itself. They're cool tools.
Annular cutters are awesome. Used some in the machine shop to remove waste material before milling, I like your idea.
Awesome work dude. You did a great job! 👍👍You deserve 2 for all your hard work!
For drilling metal, an old waste oil can, a magnet and a simple turn valve can be very useful.
Hang the can off the side of the car by the magnet. Lower the hose to where you're working, clamp it and open the valve to a slow drip.
I used to have one I made for just under $30. Used small alligator clips to hold it near my work (piece of 10AWG solid copper wire with an alligator clip on both sides), you can clamp or wrap it on something nearby then just grab the nozzle with the clips to hold it.
Then open the valve just enough to get a slow drip.
It's not free, but neither is it expensive. And it has probably saved me a few drill bits by allowing me to keep them cool while stabilizing with both hands.
Sadly, I no longer have this old can and haven't made a new one because I haven't been doing as much metal drilling.
i had the same thing on my SV6 Holden (GM) but i only spend 28 min on 2 lock nuts. I carefully heated up the locknuts with a small flame and not damaging the wheels and they came of easy
Use less speed and more pressure. You can't use too much oil. Set up a drip or find a minion to feed oil. Keep the bit sharp. I usually start with a large bit to get a good centre.
If you have the hang of it, an easy 10 minutes each studs this size.
Practice makes perfect!
My Dodge dealership was able to do this job with no damage, a good tech like you can achieve good results. .. was on one wheel and 4 lugs. I brought my Charger into a tire shop to have a nail taken out, turns out they had to replace the tire and over torqued the bolts with an impact. I have the 4 lugs a nylon tie as a souvenir and still have the nail on my keychain
Yeah I was hoping you showed the other side too. Thank you.
TBI use to do things like this, but now I can only watch. Thank you for helping the day be a bit brighter.
I’ve had to deal with same problem when tire dealership cross threaded a couple studs one from each side on the front on my Nissan truck, to make it even more enjoyable to replace the front studs on this truck requires pulling wheel bearings not enough clearance to simply hammer old ones out and slide new one in, rear wheel studs can be but not front go figure lol
Like all of your videos - as an amateur mechanic its great to see a professional at work !
Only thing i would do differently… Pay you to do the job! Nicely done!
Had this experience with my sons 2010 Lacrosse. I was able to use a new sharp chisel and get through the aluminum cap leaving a clean steel lug nut one size smaller. Those I was able to remove with a breaker bar and pipe. Might have just got lucky. Still very time consuming sitting on my garage floor.
Nice work.. have you ever tried left handed drill bits? I think I saw a decent set from Matco.
I was taught that quick raps with a hammer was better for loosening stuck nuts. (Keep your minds out of the gutter). These lug nuts were probably not ever moving again but try short hard hits on the handle. I am so impressed with your patience because my video would have been five hours of bleep, bleep, bleep. F bomb nightmare.
PS… I cant help but laugh every time the phone rings and you say “doo da doo”. Keep up the great videos and have a great day.
Being a machinist for 35 years, I can really appreciate your struggles. Removing seized fasteners is one of the least enjoyable tasks I can think of, beaten out only by broken tap extraction. You're lucky the previous removal attempt didn't include drilling by someone who only had high-speed drill bits. Carbide is the only thing that will drill through a hole that burned up a high-speed drill but carbide is difficult to impossible with hand drills.
He needs LEFT hand drill bits. Carbide bits are too brittle for this hack work.
@@RRaucina Reread my comment carefully. And, left-handed drills wouldn't have done anything to drill out a lug stud, they are straight knurled and pressed in.
@@pedrowhack-a-mole6786 The left hand bit will remove the lug nut at some point in the process. One could drill right hand at first and then left when reaching the area of the lug nut. You can watch him spin the nuts to the right in the video, with the drill. Then he uses pliers to turn it left. Mechanics need left hand bits for many other stuck nut and bolt apps. Could use EDM if the $$ justified it.
"Reverse machining" made me laugh rather hard. Thanks for sharing the frustration. I've had 8th hand vehicles ad nauseum, and occasionally find some stupidity like this. I've never seen them this stuck and destroyed though. That was wild. I might have considered welding a suitably sized bolt to the inside of the nut with just enough length to have the head just above the nut so you could grab it with your impact. The vibration of impact might have made it let go more easily. I don't imagine the heat would have damaged anything, and it might also have helped it let go. You would have needed to shield the wheels from the spatter though; I'm always working on vehicles so old the spatter might be an improvement. :P
Heating would have Destroyed the Clearcoat Finish on the Rims . Welding in another Bolt MIGHT have worked , though . Again a risk of damaging the Wheel however . IF there was Rubber Paint available to protect the Wheel , definitely a viable option .
guess you haven't seen Ray welding bolts on other jammed up fasteners before? Ray made the right call on this buggered job.
not a job I would ever want to encounter .thanks for the great video of a nite-mare repair
Suggestion: diamond coated drill bits. Not as expensive as you might think.
Concern/reminder: Be careful of the drill bit jamming. If it breaks it can go flying like a .30 caliber. Or, the torque feedback through the drill can break your wrist.
Question: " clean with solvent..." Is the solvent brake parts cleaner??
Thanks for the videos. Not only are they informative, but they are entertaining as well.
An old machinist told me a trick on stuck lug nuts like this, im shure you have a ton of experience on doing this, but next time try only drilling maybe half the diameter of the threads, those are prob like 12mm thread, so lets say like 6mm hole. The thread will colapse when you remove about half the material. Ive had good luck doing it like this, and if it doesnt work you still have to keep drilling anyway. So try next time giving a a good twist when you get a decent hole started. You will be supprised how well it works at releasing the clamping load of the thread...without actually drilling it all the way out
Eric O would be Proud of that Air hammer Turning Action Ray
9:13 turning the lug nut to the beat! haha nice job ray
@Ray I've done this very same method to remove a lug nut that was cross threaded and seized on my vehicle. Through my efforts I even managed to strip the splines on the wheel stud, so I had to drill it out in a similar manner.
Additionally I've had to remove wheel lock nuts on the same vehicle after I misplaced the key for them. For this I used a piece of steel pipe that I welded over the nut. I know you have openly stated that you're not a welder but that could have been a possible solution for your job too. Well done on s great job.
I like your methods. One tip is before using any drill, make a little drill bushing. Make the OD of the bushing fit snugly inside the nut and the ID fit the first drill you plan on using. That way, the first hole is in the center of the stud. The other drills will follow pretty true with the first hole. Also grease the threads when pulling the new stud into place. Not oil.
And be sure it is a left hand drill bit.
Good job sir. I must say I like watching your channel. Long time subscriber here. Have a good night and your sir, have a nice day
That's a lot of drilling work..should be a higher hourly rate! Crazy how hard the caliper bolts came out as well, thought for sure they were also crossed threaded. That scratch in the rim was minor compared to how it could have turned out in the hands of a hack mechanic which seem to be a dime a dozen.
Pro job 👊🏻👏👏
Lug nuts on Dodges absolutely suck. A friend of mine is a single mom and I always do things for her and one of those things is working on her car. See I was told after getting new tires of that on the passenger side he had bad ball joints and they quoted her ridiculous amount of money to fix it. He asked me if that was something I could fix and I said yes. As I was taking off the wheel there is a very thin piece of tiny metal that is over the working end of the lug nut. I ripped two of them apart. Since I had to pick up parts I stopped and got new lug nuts that I destroyed. Came back with everything together and I looked up what the wheels are supposed to be torque to.
A year later she needed breaks this time I knew the wheel was torque correctly and so were all the other ones since I made sure of that. This time around almost every lug nut on the front end had that cheap metal come off. This time when I went to the parts store I picked up a set of four-wheel but not that were aftermarket. They looked pretty similar to the ones I removed and the bottom was the exact same. So putting everything back together I use the better lug nuts.
When she needed front end work again two years later this time not a single problem with the lug nuts. After messing with her car the first time I noticed the same trend on all the dodges that they have. Most of them discovered it after having flat tires and not having the right tools to fix the problem on the side of the road.
Now I don't know from 2020 on if they are still using the same lug nuts. I haven't touched anybody's car that was newer and nobody has called me asking for help.
I'm telling everyone if you have one of these dodgers you really might want to think about getting your lug nuts off now before you are on the side of the road and have to have your car towed to a service center. A set of four lug nuts is not very expensive especially compared to a visit to the shop. Just make sure you torque them for whatever the factory setting is.
You might want to invest in some left-handed drill bits, during my years in maintenance they helped me a lot ,during the drilling process the nuts, screws, etc sometimes let go and back out.
I like the way you used both channels to get this job to video for your viewers.
I had a '65 Dodge A-100 pickup with left-hand threads on the driver's side (all Mopars did prior to 71). When I went to get new tires I made sure the service writer put that information in big bold letters on the invoice. No issues thankfully.
A loong time ago my friend was helping me rotate tires on a 65 Valiant. He was of the righty-tighty and lefty-loosey school of threads. Unfortunately he was on the driver's side and had two lug studs twisted off before I got him stopped and re-educated on Chrysler lug patterns. He was so dang strong he did not really feel them ripping off till they fell on the ground. Best dang friend a person could possibly want!! Knowing him has brought me a LOT of joy and wonderful memories.
Those are the jobs that make the Service Manager really nervous. He has to explain why it cost $500 for 3 studs and nuts :)
I had an issue similar done to my vehicle. The mechanic I took it to decided to continue to tighten them until the studs broke. That's how he got them off, then put new studs in. It worked. Some tire monkey screwed me but at least it was fixed. That was at least 25 or so years ago and I verify lug nuts are torqued correctly ever since. I bring my torque wrench down to the tire shop.
Hard to fathom why those nuts were cross threaded. Somebody was ill taught! Bloody glad my mechanic father taught me better some 50 years back, 'cause I haven't cross threaded one in the following years, and I have been / do swap winter to summer to winter every year. Also know to re-torque after the first drive.
I don't know if it's laziness or trying to beat the flat-rate clock but every time I have been around wheels being removed then re-installed, never have I seen a torque wrench used in shops around here. It's always the whine then rap of an impact wrench. My lugs are 90 lbs. When I get home, each lug is cracked loose, one at a time then properly torqued.
When you have idiots putting your wheels on your vehicle, anything is possible. Once, after getting my two year old Toyota Rav-4 back from the dealership from my last "Free" tire rotations, I was curious if that shop actually used a torque wrench on the lug nuts. Answer...No. I ended up loosening all of the lug nuts with a breaker bar. All of the lug nuts had different torque. Two of the lug nuts required me to put a pipe on the handle of the breaker to loosen them. Even standing on the handle 9f the breaker bar couldn't loosen them. That means if I had a flat on the road, the stock lug nut wrench wouldn't have been able to remove the lug nuts. Another time many years ago, I bought tires from a local Pep Boys. I told the service rep to tell the "mechanc" to torque the lug nuts to 85 ft lbs. And no higher. As I watched from the waiting area, I watched the shop guy using an impact wrench to tighten the lug nuts. I approached service rep and told him to tell the shop guy not to over tightene the lug nuts because I didn't want the rotors to warp. The service rep said that the shop guy wouldn't do that. After all four wheels were on, the shop guy went around with a torque wrench on all of the lug nuts. I could see that he wasn't bringing the nuts up to torque, but simply checking that the nuts were at least up to the requested torque value. You have idiots like these guys with no common sense. If you want it done properly, you have to do it yourself. Since then, I purchased a tire changing fixture and a wheel balancer. Saved a lot of money since then doing it myself.
Thoroughly enjoyed your torture. Thanks Ray.
Admire your patience & perseverance good job, well done.
Last time I ran into this kind of seized lug, my neighbor was a truck driver and I had free access to his garage. That air chisel saved the day.
Getting the drums off afterward was another story. Hammer one side, then the other, over and over, prying all the way. Took several hours and was dark out by the time I got them off.
Since then, no real lug issues. I tend to my vehicles too often to have them. In other places though, old rusty bolts snap off all the time.
On the first try, when you pounded on the socket and stood on the wrench , why did you not use your impact???
Which drill bits did you use tries a similar thing mine either snapped or blunted which was nice
NIGHTMARE Job . Well done . Patience pays off .
I went through the same issue on a dodge I removed the cap used a flat face threader, turned short bolt in as far as I could then used my small welder with 1/16th rod and welded and used my Milwaukie impact and it came rite out was due more to the heat expanding the nut to get to break free but having something to grab onto with impact also helped
The difference between a grease monkey and a mechanic.
A grease monkey over tightens the lug nut.
A mechanic fixes the mess-up.
And what were the autopsy results? Why did the nuts get stuck on the stud?
See the kid helper was just getting you prepared for this job 🤣.. You should put the lug nuts in the owners glove box with a note saying Stealership couldn't get them off properly
Moral of this story: don't use cheap hollow lug nuts and invest a few dollars in a torque wrench. It doesn't have to be a fancy one because even the cheaper ones get to within a few percent accuracy. A beam type torque wrench works well. Read the instructions on how to use if there's a pivot point on the handle and store in the case when not in use.
Ray why don’t you use REVERSE drill bits when trying to remove damaged/broken wheel studs and bolts etc
When you go to the larger drill bit put your drill in low gear, as the size gets bigger you need to lower the RPM. Just a tip from a machinist.
awesome video of overtorqued lug nut. that was great how you drilled out the stud to remove the nut
Nice work! I had a set of HF impact sockets that I would use a rose bud on for just an occasion 😉