Lug nuts stuck......

junkyard junky

Senior Member
Working on a 46 ford 1.5 ton truck. Pulled the right front wheel off with no problem. Tried the left front and all 5 won't even budge. I was trying to turn them clockwise. The studs are left hand threads indicated by the L in the end of the stud. Tried a lug nut on the left rear wheel and it came off alright. Tried tightening the nuts a little, working them back and forth. Sprayed them down with PB Blaster because that is all I had at the moment. Any tricks or ideas? Hate to break a rose bud out... Already busted a 1-1/2 inch socket.
 
I tried a Dewalt electric impact and nothing happened. Used the 3/4 inch drive socket on it. Then used the 3/4 inch racket on the socket with a piece of pipe. Nothing.
 
When I was a wee lad and my dad was hauling milk cans with his 1957 F600 with Budd wheels, he used the wheel wrench with a six foot pipe and stood on it to get the lugs loose. The rear duals had a long nut with threads on the outside that held the inside wheel on and the nut that held the outside wheel threaded onto the inside nut. When I got old enough, I jumped on the pipe to get the nuts loose. You are working on the fronts, so a little easier. Some heat with the blue wrench and a longer pipe and they should come loose. You've already figured out the left hand thread part. Good luck.
 
i would heat only one flat of the nut with the cutting head, not the rose bud. dull red, then a long pipe on a big truck 4 way, or better socket. heat the whole nut and they start to gall, and it takes so long that you have heated the stud too
 
Be careful I know on my 1.5 ton the pains of getting that lug nut to spin. I got the remnants of the stud and lug nut when I put the pipe and wrench to one of them. I would go with the try and tighten a hair loosen a hair I had to do that the first time mine came off.
 
1-1/2" slug wrench works on front bud wheels. Its a box wrench that is short with a beefed up end that is square. You hit it with a sledgehammer.
 
Sooo which one are you going to be????

Using a slug wrench is normally a two-hand or two-person operation; one hand or person swinging the hammer and the other one holding the wrench in place.

Copied from 19Fordys' post.
 
Sooo which one are you going to be????

Using a slug wrench is normally a two-hand or two-person operation; one hand or person swinging the hammer and the other one holding the wrench in place.

Copied from 19Fordys' post.

One person can manage it. Usually one smack and it breaks loose. The wrench will stay in place.

Ive taken a lot of them off this way.
 
Word of warning if you heat the nuts dont forget to remove the valve from the tyre and let the air out ! a small increase in temp will send the pressure thru the roof and that big black donut will turn into a bomb with out warning
 
In the early 1960's when I first started working on trucks I did not have an impact wrench, so I bought slugging wrenches for the nuts. I still have them somewhere.


Bruce
 
You need to heat the nut red hot then immediately quench in cold water. Do this a couple of times and the nut will unscrew easily.
Been there done that
Vic
 
You need to heat the nut red hot then immediately quench in cold water. Do this a couple of times and the nut will unscrew easily.
Been there done that
Vic

Every experience I have with removing stuck nuts or bolts is that you want to unthread them while they are still hot. Generally they stop turning when they cool down again. Sometimes it doesn’t take much heat for the nut to expand enough to unscrew. Just my 2¢.
 
And I thought this thread would "go south" quickly when I saw the title . . . actually learned about a 'Slug Wrench' - never knew they existed!
 
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