I'm trying to put new wheels/tires on my boat trailer but can't get the lug nuts off. I think they might be a bit rusted on. I've tried Liquid Wrench, etc. Any advice?

Give it some heat with a blow torch.

Bring the boat trailer and the new wheels/tires to Discount Tire. Pay them $20 to struggle them off with their air tools.

Pb blaster. Heat. Impact wrench. Great opportunity to buy a battery one if you don't already have.

Bigger cheater bar and you're replacing studs, which isn't that hard and you may be doing anyway.

There was a YouTube about dripping candle wax. Never tried it, but worked in that video.

Breaker bar + jack handle

Cheater bar, Jack stand to prop it level and a floor Jack on the end of the cheater bar. Hasn't failed me yet.

Like this but with some kind of support on the socket

Seems safe

Well this guy is talking about lug nuts on a wheel and not an axle bolt in a suspended vehicle

impact

WD40 or something similar and heat with a torch. Hit it with lots of heat all at once and all the way around the lug. You are trying to expand the lug faster than you expand the stud. Use a breaker bar on a 1/2" impact socket. You don't need to spend a bunch of money on an impact. You might also want to wire brush the exposed threads if they are really rusty.

Somebody mythbusted the candle wax thing.

WhoopRAB said:

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50/50 mix of automatic transmission fluid and acetone is 4x better than PB blaster or WD40.

Edit, acetone is very flammable if you decide to try hump its method.

The April/May 2007 edition of Machinist's Workshop did a test of
> penetrating oils where they measured the force required to loosen
> rusty test devices. Buy the issue if you want to see how they did
> the test. The results reported were interesting. The lower the
> number of pounds the better. Mighty interesting results for simple
> acetone and ****** fluid!

> Penetrating oil . Average load .. Price per fluid ounce
> None .................. 516 pounds .
> WD-40 .............. 238 pounds ... $0.25
> PB Blaster ......... 214 pounds .. $0.35
> Liquid Wrench ... 127 pounds .. $0.21
> Kano Kroil ........ 106 pounds .. $0.75
> ATF-Acetone mix.. 53 pounds .. $0.10

> The ATF-Acetone mix was a 50/50 mix (1 to 1 ratio)."

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Either this is no longer the case, or other studies/experiments have led to different conclusions.

This guy has found little difference between Liquid Wrench and the ATF/Acetone mixture. He also found not a lot of difference between the other penetrating oils on the market, though the first two mentioned he found were the best overall.



Keep in mind that LW is a brand name and has several lubrication products. I use their White Lithium grease. For this project, get the one he used in the video (assuming they still sell it). They've changed their line over the years and the video is 4 years old.

DO NOT APPLY HEAT TO AN INFLATED TIRE ASSEMBLY

I use 50/50 mix acetone and ATF because I do a lot of reworking of iron equipment that has been sitting for 50-100 years. It's cheap, very effective, and I can mix it on the spot. That coupled with a Milwaukee Impcat wrench and there is not a fastener I can't remove. It's either unthreading or twisting off but it's coming off.

When you guys use penetrating oil, it's not a "squirt it on and grab the wrench". It's a "squirt It on, have a beer, squirt it on, go to bed, then grab the wrench." Kind of deal.

If an impact wrench wouldn't get it we would use a breaker bar and a long pipe on farm implements. Use a 6 point socket.

Sometimes would add a little heat via torch, but you have to be careful!

Jason_InfinityRoofer said:

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When you guys use penetrating oil, it's not a "squirt it on and grab the wrench". It's a "squirt It on, have a beer, squirt it on, go to bed, then grab the wrench." Kind of deal.

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This. Lots of people don't give it enough time to actually do the penetrating part (TWSS protected).

Kroil is what the professional mechanics in the oil patch and chemical plants use, from my experience.

Tow that sucker to RR, we'll get them off

magnumtmp said:

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Jason_InfinityRoofer said:

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When you guys use penetrating oil, it's not a "squirt it on and grab the wrench". It's a "squirt It on, have a beer, squirt it on, go to bed, then grab the wrench." Kind of deal.

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This. Lots of people don't give it enough time to actually do the penetrating part (TWSS protected).

Kroil is what the professional mechanics in the oil patch and chemical plants use, from my experience.

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Don't forget to tap around the part after you spooge the oil on. Vibrations help the penetrant creep into the part.


Squirt, tap, leave. Repeat this a few times throughout the day. Then try to loosen it tomorrow.

Tumble Weed said:

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If an impact wrench wouldn't get it we would use a breaker bar and a long pipe on farm implements. Use a 6 point socket.

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Amen, brother. Even high quality 12 point sockets run the risk of rounding the nut/head in high torque situations.

Years ago I was struggling with a rusted nut on a piece of ancient manufacturing equipment and an old-time millwright corrected me on that point and I never forgot it.

Also, I'm sold on Kroil. It has performed for me every time I've needed it. Buy it straight from Kano Labs and you can usually get a two-fer.

I do love me some Kroil but im stingy with it. Either way, I prefer the smell of it over PB blaster or my ATF/acetone. Lol.

I've tried the ATF / Acetone recently and it works in a lot of situations.

Jason_InfinityRoofer said:

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I use 50/50 mix acetone and ATF because I do a lot of reworking of iron equipment that has been sitting for 50-100 years. It's cheap, very effective, and I can mix it on the spot. That coupled with a Milwaukee Impcat wrench and there is not a fastener I can't remove. It's either unthreading or twisting off but it's coming off.

When you guys use penetrating oil, it's not a "squirt it on and grab the wrench". It's a "squirt It on, have a beer, squirt it on, go to bed, then grab the wrench." Kind of deal.

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So true. Jason always on point with comments. I used LW a while back to loosen an O2 sensor, which everyone knows can be a b#tch to pull. I let it set for a few hours. Wrong! So I left it overnight and it busted loose somewhat easily the next morning.

When I was redoing the differential on my Nissan, I had to repeatedly tighten and loosen a fairly large high torque nut to a pretty high pre-load range.

Turns out a 5 foot section of iron pipe over a 1/2" ratchet makes quite an unstoppable cheater bar if you have room to work with it.

I know first hand it'll snap lugs right off a Honda

Hit it with Blaster or similar a few times over 24 hours. If that doesn't work, you can heat it with a butane torch ( carefully).

If that doesn't work, they do make nut splitters.

Took it to my local car repair shop on Saturday and they were able to get the lugs off with an impact driver. Took him a minute though so they were fused on there pretty good.