lug nut broke in half! Now what?

Jay ne Ohio · **Joined:** Sun Dec 12, 2010 5:49 pm **Posts:** 216

I guess I'm having one of those days! I put new rubber (245-70-16 General Grabbers) on my Inferno Red CRD and everything went smoothly. My Midnight Blue CRD needed some new treads too. 3 wheels went smoothly...... but one of the lug nuts broke in half on the 4th!!!! So the beveled end of the lug nut is still on the stud and holding the wheel on!!!!

Anyone had this happen? I've changed a lot of tires in my lifetime and never seen this before. My first thought is to remove the axle and grind off the head on the stud. But I'm not sure I can get the caliper off with the wheel still on there. Second thought is to use a hole saw that fits over the stud and try to remove the bevel. Might ruin the wheel if I go too deep.

Ideas are welcome.

WWDiesel · **Posted:** Thu Dec 15, 2016 10:18 pm

Dremel tool or air powered die grinder with a 1/8 grinder bit; cut/grind it on both sides till it comes off. Lug stud will have to be replaced... :idea:

Sir Sam · **Posted:** Fri Dec 16, 2016 12:00 am

Weld a larger nut on the inside that is on the old nut? Weld a piece of pipe on and weld a big tee to it?

Front or rear wheel?

joe_ · **Posted:** Fri Dec 16, 2016 3:15 am

When I bought my Jeep, it had some goofy aftermarket wheels with these dumb "Gorilla" locking lug nuts (maybe someone stole the original wheels off it?). It needed brakes and as I was taking off the lug nuts, one of them snapped. I tried drilling, dremeling, chiseling, and bought some wheel lock removal tools. After several hours of messing around with it, I eventually lost patience and just drilled the snot out of the wheel. Then I went and bought a set of used OEM wheels from a junkyard and some normal lug nuts.

You may or may not have luck with a wheel lock removal tool. I didn't quite have enough lug nut left for it to grab on to before the tool bottomed out on the wheel. I tried drilling/demeling six notches in the remains of the nut for the tool's flutes to grab on to, which definitely helped, but I still couldn't get a good enough grip to turn the nut.

GraemeT · **Posted:** Fri Dec 16, 2016 3:37 am

Hi

Ditto on the above - I had two seized on mine, one I managed to drill through the middle and then widen the drill hole until it was fredd, the other I had to drill through the alloy rim as in the above pictures (that rim is now the spare).

The fancy bolt removers like these just cut through the lug nut and you end up with a conical shaped mess still stuck on the rim.

On reinstalling I correctly torqued them up (rather than the gorilla setting from the tyre shop) and have never had a problem since.

WWDiesel · **Posted:** Fri Dec 16, 2016 10:59 am

Be sure and use some Never Seize on all those rusty lug studs before installing you new wheels and lug nuts to prevent future lug nut seizure!!!! :wink:

minisub · **Posted:** Fri Dec 16, 2016 6:26 pm

The nut is fuzed to the rim. Steel nut + aluminum rim = galvanic corrosion. The nut buster might work if you first get the stud and nut cherry red hot to break the bond. Hole saw on the rim and then pipe wrench on the lug might be fastest. As mentioned earlier, make that your 4 lug spare tire.

I keep a film of anti-sieze on the cones of all my steel lug nuts that are on alloy rims as well as the backside of the rims where they contact the drums/rotors.

GordnadoCRD · **Posted:** Fri Dec 16, 2016 9:30 pm

Congrats on getting that drilled off without breaking drill bits!

PZKW108 · **Joined:** Sun Apr 06, 2014 5:23 pm **Posts:** 461

Jay ne Ohio wrote:

I guess I'm having one of those days! I put new rubber (245-70-16 General Grabbers) on my Inferno Red CRD and everything went smoothly. My Midnight Blue CRD needed some new treads too. 3 wheels went smoothly...... but one of the lug nuts broke in half on the 4th!!!! So the beveled end of the lug nut is still on the stud and holding the wheel on!!!!

Anyone had this happen? I've changed a lot of tires in my lifetime and never seen this before. My first thought is to remove the axle and grind off the head on the stud. But I'm not sure I can get the caliper off with the wheel still on there. Second thought is to use a hole saw that fits over the stud and try to remove the bevel. Might ruin the wheel if I go too deep.

Ideas are welcome.

If you haven't find a way to remove the rest of the nut. send me a PM

Jay ne Ohio · **Joined:** Sun Dec 12, 2010 5:49 pm **Posts:** 216

My dad suggested that I put a good nut onto the stud and use the BIG impact to try and snap off the stud. I almost tried it..... Nothing to lose by trying, but I went a different route:

I decided to drill out the stud. It actually went very easy and I had it done in 30 minutes. No damage to the rim. I hit the stud with a center punch. Then started with a 1/4" bit and worked up to 1/2". The remaining nut came out with the 1/2" bit. Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. Here are a few pictures.

Bushman5 · **Joined:** Sat Jul 11, 2015 11:05 am **Posts:** 278

when buddy at work loosened my right drivers side lugs nuts (workplace politics) , and after i hit the freeway at 100 km/h and the wheel banged around, one of the studs broke clean off.

been soaking it with penetrating oil, was going to drill it but am probably just going to get the tire shop to replace all of them.

Jay ne Ohio · **Joined:** Sun Dec 12, 2010 5:49 pm **Posts:** 216

Bushman5 wrote:

when buddy at work loosened my right drivers side lugs nuts (workplace politics) , and after i hit the freeway at 100 km/h and the wheel banged around, one of the studs broke clean off.

been soaking it with penetrating oil, was going to drill it but am probably just going to get the tire shop to replace all of them.

If the stud is broke off, then you just need to punch it out. Remove wheel. Remove caliper. Remove rotor. Remove top spring on emergency brake pads. Punch out the broken stud (I would replace all studs if it was drove with the wheel loose). Insert new stud. Use an impact to seat the new stud (need a few washers and a nut with a square end and open top).

The studs are only $2 each at Autozone and a pack of 4 nuts is $6.

lug nut broke in half! Now what?

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