I think that this belongs here because many of the people doing things like towing/hauling and plowing may find themselves in remote locations with a blown tire. Here it is;

I just swapped my summer/snow tires on my 2013 F150 and in every case I had to use an 18" breaker bar with me jumping up and down on it...I weight 200 pounds. In 3 cases I had to use a 6' pipe on the end of the breaker bar and I still had to put almost all of my weight on it to move them. If that is not enough I could not get one single rim off of the hub and I tried everything up to a 5 pound sledge and a block of wood hitting directly on the rim....nothing moved. I then got the clever idea of putting the lug nuts back on but backed out 1/2 inch from tight. I then drove down my street swerving violently from left to right and that is how I got the rims to break free of the hubs. Man was I mad. I went straight to my FORD dealer ready to give hell but they told me almost all of the F150's are doing this. They even brought out a mechanic who just did a tire swap on an F150 and he had in his hand a destroyed lug nut that was in 3 pieces. He also said that they us a 1" drive industrial impact to get the lug nuts off.

What bothers me is that FORD knows that there is no way that you can change a tire on the side of the road or heaven forbid change a tire in the middle of no where with a truck full of family.....I now carry a 2' breaker bar and a 21mm impact socket in my truck

Check your nuts, lubricate frequently.

 

Somebody tightened the lug nuts too tight. The dealer's PDI (pre-delivery inspection) technician should have loosened all lug nuts, then tightened them to spec (150 lb/ft on my 2012 F-150) using a torque wrench with capacity over 150 lb/ft.


When tire store employees mount wheels, they usually use an impact wrench to tighten the lug nuts. Many of those employees are mini-wage grunts that don't know a torque wrench from a peacock. If the store uses a torque stick on the impact wrench, the grunt probably doesn't know to check the torque stick capacity. If you use a torque stick, then use one with less capacity than the torque spec. Then use a torque wench for the final tightening to the torque spec. So any time you have any work done that involves removing or installing wheels, you should check the torque on the lug nuts ASAP after you leave the store.


I keep a torque wrench in the F-150 and use it to double-check the lug nut torque on the pickup and any trailer I'm towing. As a result, I've never had a lug nut tightened to the point that I need more than my 18" breaker bar to get it loose.


DO NOT lubricate the lug bolts or lug nuts. Use a torque wrench and tighten the lug nuts when they are dry and free of any lubricant. Don't even use WD-40 on lug nuts. Else the torque wrench will give a false reading and you'll get the lug nuts too tight.
http://t3technique.com/media/pdf/Lug_torque.pdf

 

Use to the rims were centered by the nuts but no longer,had a flat on the rear of my 02 at the back of a WMA dove hunting 1 year,like to have never got the rim off with out kicking it off the jack.cleaning the ring or hub putting some anti seize might make it easier the next time.

 

Yep, Wheels today may be either lug-centric or hub-centric. Ford SuperDuty pickups have been hub-centric since at least the 1999 model year.


Don't lubricate lug bolt threads, but putting some sort of anti-seize on the mating surface of wheel and hub is perfectly acceptable.

 

This is really good discussion and let me point out that I am not doubting anyone's advice or starting an argument I am just passing along what I have learned.

I looked further into dry/wet torque values and yes you do get more force if the stud is lubed BUT it is not considered all that important when done on non-critical components such as lug nuts. From what I can read it seems that lubricating lug nuts is actually a good idea because torquing lubricated lug nuts results in a more consistent force per lug which is more important than over torquing. It also seems that the deviation in accuracy and precision of the average home use torque wrench can be as high as +-25%. I have also found literature that indicates that torquing to 100-125 pounds lubricated would be about equivalent to 150 pounds dry.

I am now of the opinion that dry torquing lug nuts has less to do with accurate clamping force and more to do with the lug nut not backing out.

I had to use a 6' pipe to remove 3 of my lug nuts and I had to jump on an 18" breaker bar to get the rest off. Not to condone lubricating lug nuts but maybe torquing to 150 pounds lubricated is not going to hurt anything and I just might be able to remove the lugs and change the tire using the FORD supplied tire change kit.


Reference;

http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=173061

http://www.automotiveforums.com/t903...ry_torque.html

 

This, in fact most manufacturers of engine torque to yield bolts recommend lubricants for correct torque values.

Nonetheless lug torque is none critical and really is a minimum to ensure the lugs cannot back off.

I have always and will continue to use Fluid Film on lug studs and mating surfaces.

This reduces galling on the threads and corrosion due to dissimilar materials.

Smokey
That article you quoted uses no scientific data and instead notes things like "safe to assume" and "let's say." It is entirely presumptuous.

As I noted, bolt manufacturers recommend lubricant all the time.

Also important to consider is that any minor variance on either the lug nut or stud would change the toque value. For instance, a spec of dirt, a slightly damaged thread, a build up of any crud, etc. As well, consider that the point of torque value is to correctly stretch the fastener to create friction which in turn resists loosening of the fastener.

I would put forth that with the former in mind, any variance achieved due to the use of lubricants is far outweighed by the cleaning effect of said lubricant, the cleaner contact of thread to thread and lack of corrosion on said thread.

 

Had this happen at Tires Plus. I broke 2 sockets trying to get the lug nuts off my VW. Went back to the store, showed the manager the broken sockets, asked how I was supposed to change a flat tire. He gave me "you moron" look and went to work on my car. The air wrench wouldn't budge them. Next came a 24" breaker bar; that didn't work. They wound up getting a tire wrench with the crossed bars and put 2 people on it. That finally broke them loose.

The manager came back somewhat chagrined. I told him I was never coming into his shop again. Now I watch and insist on a torque wrench.

 

Can't say I've had this problem before, but I generally don't use a bar when removing lug nuts. I've got a 3/4" Makita electric impact gun that does a great job of spinning the nuts. I also lube the threads once I've taken the rim off the hub, and have been doing that for the past 10 or so years without any problems, ( two sets of rubber - summer & winter - for five vehicles now )

One thing I would suggest - if you're using a torque wrench you should have it calibrated every year or so. Otherwise you won't know for sure if you're going to 150 ft/lbs or something else when you use it to check.

 

I have always required any shop that is mounting a wheel on my vehicles to hand tighten and hand torque the lug nuts. I then make sure to watch the tech doing the work to ensure they are following the instructions.

 

I used anti seize spray when I had problems. Stuck nuts. Wheels locked to hubs.