Cannot remove McGard wheel locks
JK Enthusiast
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 328
Likes: 0
From: London, ON
I have had serious aggravation with locking wheel nuts, and wheel nuts in general...
The first time was after having tires rotated 'for free' while other service was done. I needed to remove the wheels to install the lift. The tool broke on the first wheel...
We thought of and tried everything - welding on a nut, pounding a socket on, cutting a groove, voodoo magic, whatever...
Ended up taking an air chisel and cutting off the outer rim on each locking nut. Then grabbed the angle grinder and ground flats on the top and bottom of each nut - enough to get a large adjustable wrench on each nut.
Repeat 3 times, and a fourth time for the spare! Three hours spent removing wheels! I saved a couple of the nuts as a reminder. Bought new locking nuts and hoped it wouldn't happen again.
Just a few days ago I wanted to swap out my AT's for the MT's. Got three of the wheels off and for some reason one regular nut on the fourth was incredibly tight. I torqued all of the wheels on myself so I knew they weren't impacted on. Leaned hard on the breaker bar and spun off the outer cap of the nut, stripping the nut inside! Conveniently, the compressor was down so I couldn't use the air chisel. Ended up drilling through the nut and stud with a cobalt 3/8" bit, then stepped up to a 1/2" bit. Pulled the other 4 nuts off and then pulled and pried on the wheel and broke the lug bolt. Never, ever going with locking nuts again. Never, ever using the two-piece lug nuts - the ones with the thin decorative cap material over the nut. Only going to use solid lug nuts.
Lesson learned. But dang, I'm a slow learner!
The first time was after having tires rotated 'for free' while other service was done. I needed to remove the wheels to install the lift. The tool broke on the first wheel...
We thought of and tried everything - welding on a nut, pounding a socket on, cutting a groove, voodoo magic, whatever...
Ended up taking an air chisel and cutting off the outer rim on each locking nut. Then grabbed the angle grinder and ground flats on the top and bottom of each nut - enough to get a large adjustable wrench on each nut.
Repeat 3 times, and a fourth time for the spare! Three hours spent removing wheels! I saved a couple of the nuts as a reminder. Bought new locking nuts and hoped it wouldn't happen again.
Just a few days ago I wanted to swap out my AT's for the MT's. Got three of the wheels off and for some reason one regular nut on the fourth was incredibly tight. I torqued all of the wheels on myself so I knew they weren't impacted on. Leaned hard on the breaker bar and spun off the outer cap of the nut, stripping the nut inside! Conveniently, the compressor was down so I couldn't use the air chisel. Ended up drilling through the nut and stud with a cobalt 3/8" bit, then stepped up to a 1/2" bit. Pulled the other 4 nuts off and then pulled and pried on the wheel and broke the lug bolt. Never, ever going with locking nuts again. Never, ever using the two-piece lug nuts - the ones with the thin decorative cap material over the nut. Only going to use solid lug nuts.
Lesson learned. But dang, I'm a slow learner!
Thread Starter
JK Enthusiast
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 191
Likes: 0
From: Shelby Twp., MI
After my experience, I decided not to put any locks back on. I also used a dab of anti seize on each lug and put some between my wheel and spacer to make removal easier.
Thread Starter
JK Enthusiast
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 191
Likes: 0
From: Shelby Twp., MI
I have had serious aggravation with locking wheel nuts, and wheel nuts in general...
The first time was after having tires rotated 'for free' while other service was done. I needed to remove the wheels to install the lift. The tool broke on the first wheel...
We thought of and tried everything - welding on a nut, pounding a socket on, cutting a groove, voodoo magic, whatever...
Ended up taking an air chisel and cutting off the outer rim on each locking nut. Then grabbed the angle grinder and ground flats on the top and bottom of each nut - enough to get a large adjustable wrench on each nut.
Repeat 3 times, and a fourth time for the spare! Three hours spent removing wheels! I saved a couple of the nuts as a reminder. Bought new locking nuts and hoped it wouldn't happen again.
Just a few days ago I wanted to swap out my AT's for the MT's. Got three of the wheels off and for some reason one regular nut on the fourth was incredibly tight. I torqued all of the wheels on myself so I knew they weren't impacted on. Leaned hard on the breaker bar and spun off the outer cap of the nut, stripping the nut inside! Conveniently, the compressor was down so I couldn't use the air chisel. Ended up drilling through the nut and stud with a cobalt 3/8" bit, then stepped up to a 1/2" bit. Pulled the other 4 nuts off and then pulled and pried on the wheel and broke the lug bolt. Never, ever going with locking nuts again. Never, ever using the two-piece lug nuts - the ones with the thin decorative cap material over the nut. Only going to use solid lug nuts.
Lesson learned. But dang, I'm a slow learner!
The first time was after having tires rotated 'for free' while other service was done. I needed to remove the wheels to install the lift. The tool broke on the first wheel...
We thought of and tried everything - welding on a nut, pounding a socket on, cutting a groove, voodoo magic, whatever...
Ended up taking an air chisel and cutting off the outer rim on each locking nut. Then grabbed the angle grinder and ground flats on the top and bottom of each nut - enough to get a large adjustable wrench on each nut.
Repeat 3 times, and a fourth time for the spare! Three hours spent removing wheels! I saved a couple of the nuts as a reminder. Bought new locking nuts and hoped it wouldn't happen again.
Just a few days ago I wanted to swap out my AT's for the MT's. Got three of the wheels off and for some reason one regular nut on the fourth was incredibly tight. I torqued all of the wheels on myself so I knew they weren't impacted on. Leaned hard on the breaker bar and spun off the outer cap of the nut, stripping the nut inside! Conveniently, the compressor was down so I couldn't use the air chisel. Ended up drilling through the nut and stud with a cobalt 3/8" bit, then stepped up to a 1/2" bit. Pulled the other 4 nuts off and then pulled and pried on the wheel and broke the lug bolt. Never, ever going with locking nuts again. Never, ever using the two-piece lug nuts - the ones with the thin decorative cap material over the nut. Only going to use solid lug nuts.
Lesson learned. But dang, I'm a slow learner!
JK Freak
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 648
Likes: 0
From: Ann Arbor, MI
My dealer put locking lug nuts on my Jeep. The sales guy said they usually don't do that for orders, just the ones that are going to sit on the lot. I wish they had given me the lug nuts they removed so I had an easy option.
Thread Starter
JK Enthusiast
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 191
Likes: 0
From: Shelby Twp., MI
Originally Posted by bstpierre
My dealer put locking lug nuts on my Jeep. The sales guy said they usually don't do that for orders, just the ones that are going to sit on the lot. I wish they had given me the lug nuts they removed so I had an easy option.