My engine donor came with security lug nuts and no key. I spent a good chunk of time yesterday online trying to find a key, and had no luck.
It needs six outward facing splines, but a hollow center, and it has a thin circle on the outside to make it difficult to just hammer a socket onto it
Spent this morning at the junkyards looking for an equivalent key, and had no luck.
Gave up and tried welding lug nuts to the outer circle. And got these results.
Any ideas? I'm pretty much stuck at this point, as I need to remove the wheels so I can remove axles, so I can remove the engine. Plus the wheels/tires are decent enough that I could recoup some expenses selling them, so the shotgun method is not appropriate.
I have used these successfully. Drive it on and spin the nut off. Your FLAPS should carry them in several sizes or a set.
I think the thin outer wall is designed to defeat those. At this point, I may still give some extractors a try, but I think I'd need to cut or chisel the wall off first, and hope there is enough left for it to grab. The actual key part is very close to the surface of the wheel
Oh yeah, I picked up the HF 16 piece key set yesterday, and none of them fit. I also own an air chisel, but suspect I'd damage the wheels in the process, and I got rid of my big compressor years ago, so only have a 3 gallon compressor, that likely won't do the trick.
Edit: the one in the picture above is now boogered up bad enough that even if I had a key for it, it won't work, so an extractor may have to be tried.
Shotgun ? Edit - sorry I missed the 'no shotgun' in the original post :(
Either chisel the outer shell off or see if you can find the correct key online, this might be it:
https://www.amazon.com/Luminuti-Small-Spline-Socket-Replacement/dp/B0D7BNXBX5/
Unfortunately, the splines need to be on the outside of the key. Will likely still have to chisel off part of the one above, since I messed it up pretty bad.
It looks like the stud is dished, right?
Maybe just drill down into the stud, with as large a drill as you dare, and just hammer the stud off. It should break where the threads exit the nut, which will be flush with the rim.... should...
Can you get the the backside of the stud? Grind it off from there.
3/4 in hole saw. It'll drill through the stud and cut the lug nut off the stud. I had to do this to my E36 M3ty Jeep Grand Cherokee that had the 2 piece lugs from the factory. I wasted an entire weekend berkeleying with it and the hole saw trick had it off in about 20 minutes.
I second the drill the stud option.
Spoolpigeon said:
3/4 in hole saw. It'll drill through the stud and cut the lug nut off the stud. I had to do this to my E36 M3ty Jeep Grand Cherokee that had the 2 piece lugs from the factory. I wasted an entire weekend berkeleying with it and the hole saw trick had it off in about 20 minutes.
I'm assuming I should be buying a good quality hole saw for this? Not the time for chinesium?
In reply to eastsideTim :
You might be able to get through one with a cheapie Chinese hole saw. If you're doing more than a couple, however, I'd recommend a decent brand. Some of my favorites are the carbide-tipped ones, though I have a few Milwaukee HSS sets that have taken a beating and still keep cutting.
Don't forget that a hole saw requires a lot of torque and will do best with lubricant and/or coolant. I'll often use Tap Magic in the annulus if I'm cutting vertically on a horizontal surface, or hit the edge of the saw with Nikx Stix or Brute Lube wax if cutting outside of vertical.
A high quality 1/2" drill bit will eat right through the stud.
You'll have to replace the stud, of course, but you won't damage the wheel.
Pete. (l33t FS) said:
A high quality 1/2" drill bit will eat right through the stud.
You'll have to replace the stud, of course, but you won't damage the wheel.
I don't think the scrapyard will care if wheel studs are missing 
Wouldn't a 3/4" hole saw damage the wheel? The good quality drill bit suggestion seems prime. I like the Bosch Titanium. If you don't have a set already they're totally worth the $40 or so. Or you can buy them individually but really. Drop the $40 you'll wonder why you never did before. Also don't waste them on drywall a cheap bit works fine on drywall and the gypsum will dull the good bit.
the set I love:
https://www.amazon.com/BOSCH-TI21A-Three-Flat-Applications-Heavy-Gauge/dp/B01JD7V1FS
Reverse thread drill bit, maybe it'll get extracted instead?
I've had to drill out studs before.
OHSCrifle said:
Reverse thread drill bit, maybe it'll get extracted instead?
With this drilling you're actually drilling out the lug stud, not the nut, so you're not going to get the stud to turn.
Here's where it stands
Burned up three drill bit a that were supposedly meant for metal. First two I may have been running too fast, but I was stopping and oiling the bits regularly. I think my first mistake was not hitting the center of the lug with a punch. Once the bit went off center, there was no getting it back in line.
Tried to cut a divot in the lug nut with a dremel, the knock it loose with a chisel. No luck with that either.
Sore right now, so I'm taking a break. Thinking of putting a new disc on the dremel and cutting the lug flush with what is left of the nut, so I can try drilling again.
Toyman! said:
I have used these successfully. Drive it on and spin the nut off. Your FLAPS should carry them in several sizes or a set.
I never should have doubted you, thank you! After the issues I had drilling the lug stud, and my arm being too sore to attempt anymore, I gave up, and ran to HF to get their set. The biggest one in the set was just barely able to fit over the outer ring and grip a little bit of the "meatier" part of the lug nut. With the help of a 2' breaker bar, I was able to remove all of them. The one I mangled the most required a slightly smaller extractor in the set, and caused a very small gouge on the wheel, but it did come off, and where the lug nut meets the wheel is still good.
Took about 5-6 minutes.
I just fought a similar battle on an 09 Focus. Outer part of the two-piece lug started to spin when I was trying to remove it. So I did the following:
- Tried hammering on a smaller socket. Ended up splitting two of my 30+ year old Craftsman sockets, and the thing didn't budge.
- Tried the bolt extractor kit shown above. Broke the end off a 2' breaker bar because the extractors were 3/8" drive and the end just broke off in the extractor.
- Tried the same with a forged 3/8" to 1/2" adapter and larger breaker bar. Broke the adapter.
- Put a big wrench on the outside of the extractor and was finally able to get enough torque on the fastener for the extractor to strip a bunch of metal off the nut but not turn it.
- Tried to get in there with an air chisel to split the remains of the nut from the stud, but there wasn't enough room in the lug hole to get in there properly.
- Burned up a couple of drill bits trying to drill out the center of the stud.
- Ground off the back of the stud from behind and punched it out. The final result:
Two piece lug nuts are the work of the devil.
