Date:         Tue, 7 Apr 1998 10:18:42 -0700
Reply-To:     Mark McCulley <raven@HALCYON.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Mark McCulley <raven@HALCYON.COM>
Subject:      Re: lug nuts--broke a socket--socket strength investigations...
Comments: To: Derek Drew <drew@INTERPORT.NET>, Vanagon@VANAGON.COM
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

At 12:10 PM 4/7/98 -0400, Derek Drew wrote:
>This post concerns a quest for the strongest sockets made--Sears vs. snap
>on, 3/4" drive vs. 1/2" drive, impact sockets vs. regular sockets.
>
>So in the middle of all these posts about the proper tightening torque for
>lug nuts (I think there's been a new factory bulletin issued lowering the
>torque spec to 110ft lbs., by the way) I went four wheeling and broke my
>tire. When I went to change it, I was horrified to find that I could not
>remove the lug nut until after about 1 hour of attempting to do it with a
>star wrench.
>
Were the nuts rusted on or were they just put on too tight? Do you know
whether the nuts were torqued properly last time they were put on? Are you
using alloy or steel wheels? Factory lug nuts?

I rotate my tires every 6000 miles or so (5 tire rotation to get even wear
on the spare and all 4 tires) and if I have a tire shop do it, I always
loosen and retorque all of the lugs to spec. Takes about 10 minutes and
gives me a nice, quick upper-body workout as a bonus. I use a 1/2" drive
Craftsman socket and a 24" cheater bar. I've never had a problem getting a
lug nut off. I've never lost a lug nut. I don't use any anti-seize either.
This is with factory alloys and factory lug nuts.

I speculate that there are two factors that contribute to seized lug nuts:
1. Over-torquing (usually by air tools)
2. Long tire-removal cycle

In other words, if you let a tire shop rotate your tires and then wait two
years before removing any of the nuts, I would expect some of them to be
seized. But this is speculation, as I have no experience with seized lug nuts.

I think 3/4" drive is overill. Something is wrong if it takes that much
force to remove your lug nuts. If you're using the proper lug nuts for your
wheels and you're torquing them to spec, and still having problems, then you
might want to try using an anti-seize compound.

Mark McCulley
87 syncro Westy