pre- trip report

On 10 Oct 2006 06:15:19 -0700, "Charlie Choc"
wrote:


Joe McIntosh wrote:
Heading out in a few minutes for two weeks in Western N.C. for a little
fishing, Hope to join my mentor Jeff Miller for a couple of lessons before
he ends his two week trip.

Have a good time, Joe. Right now I'm stuck in Moriarty, NM, with a flat
tire and cross threaded lug nut. Hopefully the guys at Larry's can get
it off and I'll continue on my way home from my 8 week journey.

And just a follow-up to this, to all that might have an interest: this
is why I _never_ let tire folks start the lug nuts with pneumatics. If
they don't have a 4-way to spin 'em down, I'll hand them mine. I don't
mind them torque'ing with one, but no starting them with it - it'll
cross-thread before they know it, and there's a good chance they won't
even know it, even they were the type who would fix it if they knew it
had crossed.

And another aside - always carry something besides the dog-leg,
pot-metal-socket-wrench-crap, or other pseudotool that comes with most
cars - either a good 4-way or a breaker bar and appropriately-sized
_real_ socket. If it is crossed, at least you can twist/snap off the
lug with real tools.

TC,
R

wrote in message
news
On 10 Oct 2006 06:15:19 -0700, "Charlie Choc"
wrote:

And another aside - always carry something besides the dog-leg,
pot-metal-socket-wrench-crap, or other pseudotool that comes with most
cars - either a good 4-way or a breaker bar and appropriately-sized
_real_ socket. If it is crossed, at least you can twist/snap off the
lug with real tools.

The best way I know to snap a crossthreaded lug, or urge one along, if you
don't have the appropriate cheater bar, is to put the 4-way on, then put the
car in gear, and roll forward (or backward, depending on the thread) slowly.
The 4-way (even an L-shaped lugnut tool) will catch against the ground, and
twist the lug.

Just be sure the frozen lug is the FIRST lug you remove....

--riverman

riverman typed:
wrote in message
news
On 10 Oct 2006 06:15:19 -0700, "Charlie Choc"
wrote:

And another aside - always carry something besides the dog-leg,
pot-metal-socket-wrench-crap, or other pseudotool that comes with
most cars - either a good 4-way or a breaker bar and
appropriately-sized _real_ socket. If it is crossed, at least you
can twist/snap off the lug with real tools.

The best way I know to snap a crossthreaded lug, or urge one along,
if you don't have the appropriate cheater bar, is to put the 4-way
on, then put the car in gear, and roll forward (or backward,
depending on the thread) slowly. The 4-way (even an L-shaped lugnut
tool) will catch against the ground, and twist the lug.

Just be sure the frozen lug is the FIRST lug you remove....

Now *that's* a great visual!
--
TL,
Tim
-------------------------
http://css.sbcma.com/timj

riverman wrote:

Just be sure the frozen lug is the FIRST lug you remove....

Actually, the 2nd set of wrecker guys sort of wanted me to take off all
the lugs and then drive around and see if the frozen one would break
off - after they had chisled as much as they could - but they wouldn't
really come right out and recommend it. I chose to have it towed to a
shop instead, and I'm glad I did.
--
Charlie...

On 11 Oct 2006 17:48:12 -0700, "Charlie Choc"
wrote:


riverman wrote:

Just be sure the frozen lug is the FIRST lug you remove....

Actually, the 2nd set of wrecker guys sort of wanted me to take off all
the lugs and then drive around and see if the frozen one would break
off - after they had chisled as much as they could - but they wouldn't
really come right out and recommend it. I chose to have it towed to a
shop instead, and I'm glad I did.

Chiseled!? Um, it sure sounds like there was some definite chiseling
going on...if it ever happens again, get a _good_ 4-way and put the
appropriate end on the crossed lug nut and then, there are two ways to
snap off the stud: 1. put the "grab" ends at a slight angle (so it's not
quite parallel to the ground) and see if it will turn. If it will _at
all_ you need to _tighten_ it to twist off the stud (just like twisting
off a bolt by over-tightening it), but if it's so cross-threaded it
won't turn, give it a quick, hard "snatch-and-jerk," pulling one end and
pushing the other. If you have no luck, or know you aren't up to doing
it that way, try method 2: put the 4-way on with the "grab" ends as
close to up and down as you can. Sit parallel to the car, and put a
foot on the lower bar and grab the upper, and see if that will let you
turn it. If not, try the quick, hard snap method. Normal
passenger-vehicle studs aren't don't have that much tensile strength, so
generally, you can twist off/snap off the lug nut easier than you can
cold-chisel it off.

HTH,
R

wrote:

Chiseled!? Um, it sure sounds like there was some definite chiseling
going on...if it ever happens again, get a _good_ 4-way and put the
appropriate end on the crossed lug nut and then,

Hmm. Stuck in a rest area and I'm supposed to go 'get' a good lug
wrench? g The nut was damaged, either by the folks who cross threaded
it or by the 1st tow truck driver, and a socket wouldn't grip well
enough to break it loose - and they tried plenty of different ones. All
good roff advice considered, I'll still call AAA if it happens again.
;-) As it was, I still would have had to drive on the spare (not a full
sized one on my wife's Jeep GC) until I found a place to get a new tire
the next day, so I was probably at least as well off in the long run
not getting it changed myself. There was a tire place (JR's) close to
the repair place (Larry's), and I was able to get a good used tire
pretty cheap, so it all worked out.
--
Charlie...

On 12 Oct 2006 03:33:41 -0700, "Charlie Choc"
wrote:


wrote:

Chiseled!? Um, it sure sounds like there was some definite chiseling
going on...if it ever happens again, get a _good_ 4-way and put the
appropriate end on the crossed lug nut and then,

Hmm. Stuck in a rest area and I'm supposed to go 'get' a good lug
wrench? g

Sure, "get" it out of the vehicle...you DO carry a 4-way and a full
compliment of 6- and 12-points as well as spline-grab sockets in all
vehicles, doncha? Heck, anyway, I sorta figured that the trailernator
was like one of those Transformer robot things that, at the first sign
of trouble, turned into a robotic Manny, Moe, and Jack, and took care of
itself, the tow vehicle, the driver and/or passengers, or lastly, any
fool impertinent enough to mess around with any of the above...

The nut was damaged, either by the folks who cross threaded
it or by the 1st tow truck driver, and a socket wouldn't grip well
enough to break it loose - and they tried plenty of different ones.

Ah...not that it matters now, but for those still watching this episode
of "This Old Tire," if faced with a similar round-off situation and
don't have access to grabber wrenches or spline sockets (and true, few
do), try metric sockets (or inches, if you have a rounded metric
bolt/nut). Sometimes, the other system will have a SLIGHTLY smaller
socket that will get enough to grab (not just limited to tires,
obviously). And with things like lug nuts and other softer/
non-hardened nuts and bolts, hammering on an _impact_ socket can
sometimes work.

All
good roff advice considered, I'll still call AAA if it happens again.
;-)

Call...AAA? Son, you're gonna have hell to pay when this is discussed
at the next Man Law meeting...there are only three acceptable ways to
deal with this type of thing: fix it yourself, beat the **** out of it,
or shoot it deader than dead, dead, dead...."Man Law!"

As it was, I still would have had to drive on the spare (not a full
sized one on my wife's Jeep GC) until I found a place to get a new tire
the next day,

OK, so let's get this straight - you're driving around in what is
supposedly an S _U_ V, but has a friggin' donut spare, you don't have a
full set of tools and cheater or even a 4-way, and you actually belong
to AAA...**** you, choc....

so I was probably at least as well off in the long run
not getting it changed myself.

Yeah, we wouldn't want you to get grease on yer dress or break a nail,
would we...

There was a tire place (JR's) close to
the repair place (Larry's), and I was able to get a good used tire
pretty cheap, so it all worked out.

Glad to here it, and here's hoping the rest of trip is (bad-)
incident-free...and never again let anyone start lug nuts with air.

TC,
R

wrote:

Ah...not that it matters now, but for those still watching this episode
of "This Old Tire," if faced with a similar round-off situation and
don't have access to grabber wrenches or spline sockets (and true, few
do), try metric sockets (or inches, if you have a rounded metric
bolt/nut). Sometimes, the other system will have a SLIGHTLY smaller
socket that will get enough to grab (not just limited to tires,
obviously). And with things like lug nuts and other softer/
non-hardened nuts and bolts, hammering on an _impact_ socket can
sometimes work.

They tried that too, but maybe I can put you guys in touch and you can
have a long manly discussion about you each prefer to get your nuts
off. ;-)
--
Charlie...