Spinning lug nut.....how can this be possible?

[wopachop]

Here is a weird one. Went camping and got a flat tire 5 miles from the destination. Dirt shoulder and scary place to try and change a tire.

Start at it. One lug nut is just spinning. Make the decision that the stud itself must be spinning inside the wheel. Fire up the generator and use a cut off wheel to cut the tire off. We limp it 10mph to the place we are camping and plan is to call AAA.

We do. Triple A comes out with his impact. Same deal the lug nut is just spinning. Says he needs to talk with management. Needs a special tool that Napa caries.

They screw us and dont care. Said another technician was coming out but never shows. So next plan is cut off the fancy cover that hides the big nut that holds on the bearing. Plan is to remove the wheel and drill out the stud from behind.

Make that happen and drill away. Did that for awhile until every drill bit i have is smoked. Start asking fellow campers if they have any twist drills and nobody had any.

One guy offered his awesome Milwaukee battery powered impact gun earlier in the day. He came over again and i asked to use it. Sure enough the lug nut popped right off!!

At this point our assumption is all my beating and banging on the wheel stud must have made it stick enough for the impact gun to finally remove the nut.

Now here is the crazy part. What exactly was spinning? We are off road enthusiasts who are pretty familiar with nuts and bolts. We think the outer shell of the lug nut might have been spinning.

When we look at the wheel i dont see any sign of the stud itself spinning around.

How can a socket form around the hexagon lug and spin?

There is free play when i hold the lug nut and twist back and forth. Like 1mm of play.

[MitchF150]

Looks like someone used a 12 pt socket on those stupid tin covered lug nuts..

Had those stupid things on my F150 and I used a 12 pt socket and effed them all up..

Used a 6 pt socket and finally got them off and then got a new set of real lug nuts without those stupid tin covers and I can now use my impact again.. 😉

Good luck!

Mitch

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Like a genuine polyacrylic chandelier or formaldehyde emitting walnut cabinet laminate, BEAUTY NUTS relied upon utterly form over function for sales. The kits I used to see had a grade 0 metal adapter to slip over the beauty nut which of course was also touted as a theft deterrent.

What the manufacturer did not count on was the thieved becming enraged and perhaps setting light to the rig.

[cavie]

Those are cheap intimation chrome lug nuts. Thin chrome cover over standard lug nuts. Remove all of them and install solid chrome nuts.

[JRscooby]

My old Dodge pickup has stainless covers over the nuts. Over time the steel nuts rust to the point the cover expands so the right size socket will not fit. When you go to larger size, the socket will spin without turning the nut. In with my tire changing tools I carry a tool designed to remove rounded nuts, and enough nuts for one wheel. I tried like bell to find solid nuts, but could not match the wheel end....

[DFord]

pigman1 wrote:
Get a Dremel cutoff wheel and cut 2 channels up the side of the nut cover so you can peel the cover off. Do you have a standard nut then showing (metric or standard) left? I've never seen a lug covered with sheet goods that didn't require the cover to be removed before the lug was loosened.
You need to specify what the lug (flat) was on. RV? Make, model, year, Toad? Same, make, model, etc.
RV lugs with decorative covers usually use something like these Cover pullers
to remove the cover.

X2

With a Dremel tool, you don't need muscle - just a little cut-off wheel. I was helping my neighbor trying to get the nut off his trailer ball. We had cheaters 4 feet long - one of us holding the ball and the other trying to turn the nut. We weren't having any luck because the threads were galled and jammed. I got my little Dremel with a cut-off wheel and put a cut on each side of the nut. Then put a screwdriver in the slot and tapped it with a hammer - the nut fell off easily. We should have started with the Dremel and saved ourselves a lot of effort. The Dremel with other attachments but the cut-off wheel gets the most use. It's something I carry with me when I leave home because you never know when you might need it.

[time2roll]

Just move on. Get a new stud and press it in. Get new solid lug nuts for ALL positions.

https://recstuff.com/wheel-accessories/lug-nuts

[wopachop]

newman fulltimer wrote:
Acorn cover was spinning the impact of the gun hit the cover just right to wedge it on the lug and spin it off

Man i had the socket fully seated. Got to think the AAA guy did at first. I guess when you look at the wheel and see the markings the only possible answer has to be the cover spinning.

[wopachop]

pigman1 wrote:

You need to specify what the lug (flat) was on. RV? Make, model, year,

2014 forest river stealth toyhauler. Build quality is horrible i would never ever advise anyone to buy a trailer from them. They dont even vacuum up wood chips after making their insanely horrible cuts.

[newman_fulltime]

Acorn cover was spinning the impact of the gun hit the cover just right to wedge it on the lug and spin it off

[pigman1]

Get a Dremel cutoff wheel and cut 2 channels up the side of the nut cover so you can peel the cover off. Do you have a standard nut then showing (metric or standard) left? I've never seen a lug covered with sheet goods that didn't require the cover to be removed before the lug was loosened.
You need to specify what the lug (flat) was on. RV? Make, model, year, Toad? Same, make, model, etc.
RV lugs with decorative covers usually use something like these Cover pullers
to remove the cover.

[wopachop]

K Charles wrote:
I bet you didn't "beat it on with a hammer" when you got the right socket and it came off.

Ok i like this idea. Vibe with me here. We told the AAA guy to hammer on a tight socket. He went and got his bucket of random sockets. When he started it was his normal setup. Whats the tightest like a 19mm or something?

When i started to remove the tire i got most of the lug nuts off until we hit the spinner.

[K_Charles]

I bet you didn't "beat it on with a hammer" when you got the right socket and it came off.

[midnightsadie]

x2 cheap metal cover spinning.

[JaxDad]

wopachop wrote:
Same with the AAA guy he brought out his set of impact sockets and found a nice tight one and beat it on with a hammer.

That tells the story right there. Despite what my BIL thinks, a bigger hammer is NOT the answer.

If a hammer is required to put the socket onto a lug nut that clean, the socket was WAY too small. This is exactly why the top bit of the faces are rounded off. The socket couldn’t seat far enough (or all the way) down over the nut and there wasn’t enough surface bearing the load. The shoulder of the nut body gave way before the nut came loose.

No mystery involved at all.

[Nv_Guy]

Same thing happened to me. The sheet metal cover was spinning. I was lucky, this happened to be home & I have a large selection of sockets (metric/ SAE/ 6-12 point) I managed to drive a socket (took a couple of trys) over the whole mess that allowed me to get the lug loose. Now, getting the lug nut out of the socket was another story. And even after all that, it still looked pretty good.
I replaced all the lugs on my 5th wheel with solid one piece lug nuts after that experience.