Help! Stripped lug nut

If the hex part is what's stripped you can usually get a socketthat is just slightly smaller than the original size and pound it on the nut. Usually this is done by getting the next closest size metric socket for a non-metric nut and vice versa. Remember this will more often than not ruin the socket. The other option is to take an old socket and grind the plating off (or use an impact socket) and weld it to the nut. This is not always possible depending on your rim type.

Chris

try going to the auto store-i've seen a locking nut remover there before. kinda works like the "pounding in a socket" idea. else, try the local garage-i lost my locking lug nut key a while back and had a guy at a garage take them off.

You could try to split it with a cold chisel...

grind some edges on it and use a big wrench?!?!

I don't think those can stand the torque of twisting off a nut/bolt at

Craftsman has a tool refered too as a "nut buster" No pun. Harbor Freight sells one too. It goes around the nut and cuts it in half.

One other trick besides the beaten on socket, etc. that might work is to take a sharp cold chisel and set it just inside where the points on the nut used to be. If you have enough left, you can usually start the nut with a few healthy blows from your trusty BMFH. You may have a probblem getting the chisel on the nut squarely if the rim interferes. It wouldn't work at all on mine - the nuts are recessed inside a well.

I haven't any experience with them, but Sears sells what looks like an inside-out easy-out -- a socket with spiral grooves tapering inward. It looks like you pound the thing onto your rounded nut or bolt head and back it out.

Thanks for all of the advice. I had already tried pounding on a smaller socket, but unfortunately that didn't work. The nut is recessed into the rim, so it's hard to get at it.

The gator-grip(socket with nails in it) was garbage. I put it on, and with very little torque managed to destroy it.

Snap-on(and others) sell twist sockets. They have reverse cut grooves so that they grip harder when torque is applied. Seems like just the thing.

Thanks for all the help.

Will

In news: snipped-for-privacy@ll.mit.edu, William Pughe from was injured because:

Last time I had this, I used my Dremel....just be careful, but it works like a champ.