Tusc

How can I remove a locking lug nut from a socket it is wedged into?

The socket is a 3/8" drive. I've been trying to find anything that size but not much smaller so I can hammer the lug nut out from behind. No luck yet.


Ideas?


Backstory:: I changed oil, trans and diff fluid this weekend. When doing so, I noticed a nail in the driver's rear tire. When I went to have it fixed, I found out I had locking lugs on the car - I hadn't looked previously. I also found out I don't have the key. Dealer doesn't have the keys to sell but will gladly charge an hour or two's labor to fix it, which I skipped. Tire shops are afraid to touch the car. I did it myself earlier by taking a socket of close size and hammering it home. So I got one wheel free and put a new lock piece on. Now I want to get the other three free but will need this same socket free again to do so.

CactusCat

Would something like this possibly work? It's a universal socket that has spring loaded pins to match just about any nut but it might be too large to fit into the hole where the lugnut is located. Just an idea... might not be worth much.

sfc rick

Lay socket on vise, take hammer and smack the sides hard to loosen the wedged lug nut. I always use that on those occasions where it happens to me.

If it doesn't work....buy a replacement socket or visit your friendly Harbour Freight store.

dork

Maybe I don't understand the problem... why not take the socket and fused locking nut to the hardware store and find a big honkin' "60"-penny nail or an SAE 8 machine bolt that fits the socket hole to drive it out? Even a cheap Made-In-China regular drift should work dependably for this task... with a vise and a little bit of a "cave-man" approach, it should come right out.

CactusCat

Sorry, I misunderstood your post. I thought you had a lugnut that you couldn't get removed from the wheel/hub because you'd lost the key. My bad... you could still possibly use my suggestion on the other three wheels though.

ztheusa

Screw a proper sized bolt into the lugnut and pull it out.

Lee DeRaud

Unleash your inner Tim Allen.

Heating the outside of the socket with a propane torch may help the process along too.

CactusCat

You clever devil...

JetMechZ16

Vice, Chisel, split socket.

3sACROWD

I was thinking along the same lines except I was going to suggest theading it back onto one of the 5 lugs from the wheel you removed. So long as you're not going to pound the crap out of the socket, you won't have to worry about the lug and it will be held in place so you have two hands available to convince the socket to let go.

DanSavage

If I were going to split the socket I would use a high-speed (dremel) fiberglass cut-off wheel and enjoy the fireworks show while doing the job.

Tusc

Technically, I guess I could use a socket splitter since the socket has a lifetime replacement guarantee...

...but I'm going to try matching the bolt when I have time tomorrow and see where that gets me. I do also need to finally get myself a vise.

Vetteman Jack

That should work.

Tusc

Solution -- 3/8" chisel piece "perfectly" fits the socket drive hole if rotated 45* Will definitely pop the lug nut out. Will do it tonight. Also finally got myself a vise for the tool bench.

Lee DeRaud

Squeezing the "assembly" in a vise is just going to make it harder to get out. Support it with the next larger socket or an open-end wrench.

bj1k

, but as someone else mentioned run a proper size bolt in it from behind and support it on something solid and it will drive right out.

Lee DeRaud

I'm having problems with that mental image. He's got a single-sided lugnut (solid on one end) jammed part-way into the socket with the open (threaded) end facing out, so there's nothing to thread into from the back (drive) end of the socket.

The bolt trick only works if you thread a long one in from the front, put the bolt in the vise, and knock the socket off the nut, rather than the nut out of the socket. (If you get my drift...no pun intended. ) And that's harder than it sounds, don't ask me how I know that.

bj1k

I'm picturing an open ended locknut with the threads exposed through the socket . Hard to say without a picture.

Lee DeRaud

All the locking lugnuts I've seen (admittedly non-Corvette) were closed-end, with an odd-shaped recess to take the coded key and outside threads to hold the key on while in use. (The key had a rotating collar with matching inside threads.)

Tusc

It was a double open-ended lug nut lodged in the socket. The vise is unrelated to the fix. I lined the socket up over the head of a wrench of about the same size so the nut would fall free after slamming it from "above" or the drive-side of the socket with the chisel head going through. $5 chisel piece from Sears/Craftsman and a $7.40 forged steel Craftsman lifetime guaranteed bottle opener. Why not?

I would have opted for the bolt trick if my first stop had the correct size/pattern on hand, but since I don't have a key for these anyway... chisel/hammer/BAM!

Now I have more scrap metal to melt.