[VAC] UN-Stuck lug nuts on Aluminum wheels.

[Jerry Flanders <jflanders2@home.com>]

I have 13 of the lug nuts off now, and I think the remaining 23 will fall
into line when I put the wrench to them. I think they were simply very very
tight. 

The nuts appear to be made of stainless steel. I cleaned them up and don't
see any corrosion or damage of any kind to the nuts. The threads on the
lugs appear to have some lubricant on them - when I rub a clean finger
across the stud ends I can get to, it comes away with some dark pasty
stuff. I can't see up inside the hole very well yet, so don't know the
condition of the aluminum, but I don't expect to see anything unusual when
I do.

I had applied Liquid Wrench to one wheel and left it on overnight. This
afternoon, when I still could not budge it with an unassisted X lug wrench
or my air impact tool, I added a 4 foot pipe extension to my 6-point socket
wrench and (after breaking one flex-handle socket tool) they then started
to yield.

After this success with the first wheel, I then applied Liquid Wrench to
the second wheel and removed it's lug nuts without any soak period -
perhaps the LW wasn't necessary after all.

Based on this experience, I will keep a pipe extension and STRONG socket
available in the rig just in case I need it in the future. I believe I
would have been OK on the roadside to do this with the extender IF THERE IS
A WAY TO KEEP THE WHEEL FROM TURNING as I try to loosen the nuts. I think
if the tire had been flat, I would have had major problems keeping the
wheel from turning. Anybody have in ideas on this?


Thanks for all the helpful ideas, guys.

Jerry W4UK