Hey All,
I am wanting to do a brake job on my 2007 TL but for some reason I can not get the lug nuts off. I have a 300ft lb cordless impact wrench and still no go.

Has anyone had this problem and if so what was the outcome?

Thanks

 

I'm guessing it was the classic case of some previous jiffy lube tech just sending it with the air impact....

Three options:

- Use leverage with the provided tire iron (or even better, a breaker bar) to break the nuts loose. Stand on/kick the tire iron to do this. This is the easiest option. (Should be obvious but do this before jacking the car up, so the weight of the car is still on the wheel)

- Use this as an excuse to buy a better impact (probably unnecessary, but depending on what brand yours is, the strength could be over-rated)

- Go to home depot and get yourself a MAP gas torch, heat one lugnut up at a time (careful not to hurt the finish on the wheels) and try to break them loose that way.


You might need a combination of some of the above. I'd also buy new lugnuts depending on their condition. Good luck!

 

Don't use the impact wrench use a good old breaker bar with extension (pipe works great)

 

Sure does. Hoping your lug nuts weren't cross-threaded...

 

Thanks all.

I will give these a try.

 

The battery for your impact might be super old and no longer allowing it to put down 300LB-FT.

I agree that a breaker bar will help you. They're just M12 studs..so...a breaker bar and some force will either loosen them or snap them like twigs.

80LB-FT when you tighten them. They don't need to be tightened with the force of a thousand suns.

 

I was standing on the stock lug nut wrench with both feet and it still did not move at all.

My only concern is if I try to hard and break the nut will I be able to get the tire off or if I break the stud and need to buy new studs?

Thanks

 

i mean what options do you got..? Take it to a shop ?

 

Stock wrench + human weight isn't really a good way to judge how tight they are... remember righty tighty, lefty loosey! Some bolts do get stuck in place due to thermal cycles, for example the factory crank pulley will take air guns that need 1000+ ft/lbs to break loose when they are only supposed to be around 185...
If you break the stud, you'll need to replace it. The nice thing is if you take it to a shop, they can do all the work there vs you having to precariously drive on 4 lugs if 1 does snap.

 

You tried with a "300LB-FT" impact and it didn't work.

The stock lug wrench is about 1ft long.
Do you weigh significantly more than 300LB?
If not...why did you think this would work?

 

To make the point more obvious to OP, you would need to put 300lbs of weight right at the end of the factory wrench to match the power output of your impact gun which didn't work. You'd need 2-3 people at the 1 ft mark/end of the wrench! OR you could stand 2 feet from the nut and double your torque from 1 foot!

200lbs @ 2 ft would be the equivalent of 400lbs @ 1 ft.
100lbs at 5 feet would be the equivalent of 500lbs at 1 foot.


"Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world. - Archimedes"

 

I actually got them loose after standing on a breaker bar.

My impact wrench must be loosing power or the battery is going bad because once I got them loose a little it still wouldn't budge them.

Thanks

 

All this talk about impacts and standing on stuff....

Remember....80LB-FT to tighten
1/2" torque wrenches are $20 at harbor freight