I started to rotate my wheels a few days ago. The left rear came off easily using my DeWalt 20V 1/2" drive impact gun. The right rear lug nuts however would not budge. I resorted to my 24" breaker bar and they were on TIGHT! Just as I was thinking ... "something is going to break" ... that's what happened. The keyed socket snapped and rendered itself useless. I now had one wheel off and three wheels plus the spare that I could not get off.
I had a flat in my right rear tire repaired back in May. I went back to the tire store figuring they over torqued my wheel and to ask them for "help"! They said they always snug wheels up and torque them down at 110 ft. lbs. I always torque mine to 100 ft. lbs. but figured what they did wasn't that bad.
Their advice was to buy some cheap 12 point sockets, pound them onto the locking lug nuts with a 5 lb. sledge and then remove them using my breaker bar. I wasn't too sure about this but they were right!
I bought one 19mm (3/4" is the same) socket for $5.99 and had the first one off in about 3 minutes. I went back to Princess Auto (cheap tools) and bought 4 more sockets. The young girl at the cash said (condescendingly) ... "you know these are all the same ... don't you?". I told her I was on a NASCAR pit crew and she bought it.
The guy at the tire store told me this happens all the time and the best thing to do with locking lug nuts is to throw them out, which is exactly what I did.
BTW - the only lug nut I could remove from the socket was the spare. The others are in there for good.
While I'm at it, if you can get a tire dolly like the one below they are well worth having. I saw it at Princess Auto for about $80 and said ... "no way". I wasn't sure if it would work and figured I could make one for less if I wanted to.
A few months later they were on sale for $15! I guess a lot of people figured they would work. Any way, they are great for jockeying tires around your garage, driveway, etc. When putting wheels on simply lift the handle and rotate the tire to line up with the studs. Works great!
I had a flat in my right rear tire repaired back in May. I went back to the tire store figuring they over torqued my wheel and to ask them for "help"! They said they always snug wheels up and torque them down at 110 ft. lbs. I always torque mine to 100 ft. lbs. but figured what they did wasn't that bad.
Their advice was to buy some cheap 12 point sockets, pound them onto the locking lug nuts with a 5 lb. sledge and then remove them using my breaker bar. I wasn't too sure about this but they were right!
I bought one 19mm (3/4" is the same) socket for $5.99 and had the first one off in about 3 minutes. I went back to Princess Auto (cheap tools) and bought 4 more sockets. The young girl at the cash said (condescendingly) ... "you know these are all the same ... don't you?". I told her I was on a NASCAR pit crew and she bought it.
The guy at the tire store told me this happens all the time and the best thing to do with locking lug nuts is to throw them out, which is exactly what I did.
BTW - the only lug nut I could remove from the socket was the spare. The others are in there for good.
While I'm at it, if you can get a tire dolly like the one below they are well worth having. I saw it at Princess Auto for about $80 and said ... "no way". I wasn't sure if it would work and figured I could make one for less if I wanted to.
A few months later they were on sale for $15! I guess a lot of people figured they would work. Any way, they are great for jockeying tires around your garage, driveway, etc. When putting wheels on simply lift the handle and rotate the tire to line up with the studs. Works great!