roadPilot

Heat is the only way to go for me.

Had a vehicle with lug nuts that were so stuck (rusted), I literally bent a four-way (standing on it) trying to get lugs off. I tried all kinds of things before that (e.g., penetrating oil, WD-40, etc.).

Once my buddy told me to hit it with heat, they came off like butter.

Ricky K

Another Question, will heat help get the stud out for replacement....?, Thanks

David Hineline

Righty tighty lefty loosey, it had to be said.

SpencerPJ

What would heat do to those that have the pvd coated chrome wheels?

Napalm

Yeah I don't put heat on lugs with AL wheels and all new cars have AL wheels. That hammer trick above - wacking it can help and I do put some penetrating oil on them like PB blaster or etc. KROIL if you can get it.

onestout

I antiseize all my lug nuts and on the F150 they are torqued to 150 ft./lbs., never had an issue getting them off. I invested in a nice cordless electric impact, makes swapping tires out quick and easy and should be able to break about anything loose. Steel lug nuts and AL rims really don't like each other....not as bad as a steel wheel bearing and AL control arm but they can get some corrosion and come off hard, hence the reason to keep them lubed up.

TGP

That torque spec is a dry specification. Once you add an anti-seize compound, it reduces acts like a lubricant so the actual clamping force on the stud is higher for a given torque setting. Numbers vary by the type of anti-seize, but the numbers that I have seen indicate that torque should be reduced by 25% to 30%, sometimes up to 40%.

You may not have had any issues to date, but there is a possibility of stretching your wheel studs past their yield strength. I put anti-seize on some wheel lugs (typically those where the stud is exposed to the elements), but I always drop the torque on those lug nuts.

FordGate

If you use anti-seize, you are torqueing them higher than 150lbs. You should always torque dry. It "might" not hurt the lugs, but there is typically only about a 10% variance with the max clamping before part failure.

Big Ed 1

Yeah ,when I mentioned heat it was for the shock bolts.

onestout

The spec. is for a lubricated joint that does not require additional lube on the line. The nuts will have RP on them, the bearing and studs will have RP on them, and the studs are coated with the friction reducing coating. Adding lube to the assembly is not going to change the torque spec. needed, just keeping it closer to factory with the RP and coating being gone/worn off.

Lube also will not cause 150 ft./lbs. to be more than 150 ft./lbs, it will just get my joint closer to an actual 150 instead of say 140. Ford has done a lot of testing on this and is well aware of what is going on in this joint, applying lube and torqueing to spec. will not cause an issue in a properly designed joint.....and a lot less issues than a non-lubricated joint.