My Nuts Are Swollen

[roaniecowpony]

Too late now, but these oem nuts need a good dab of synthetic grease right at the aluminum/metal jonction prior every winter to avoid moisture and salt water to get stuck inside and cause that corrosion swell. Been doing that since the TJ days and never had a single problem.

If you do that, you need to reduce the torque by 20-30%. Otherwise, you over stress the stud.

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[roaniecowpony]

Here's a reason why companies like Snap On make 0.5mm larger sockets. It's because of those terrible lug nuts that have the pressed on SS sleeve. Jeep is not the only one, Ford is a fan of those too.

GM as well.

 

[roaniecowpony]

Rotated my tires this afternoon and ended up having to pound some of my lug nuts out of the socket. My first instinct is to replace them with McGard Spline-Drive but I'm potentially open to other suggestions.

You've been beating your nuts too much.

If the socket is only on the nut half way and you beat it with an impact or twist is hard with a breaker bar, the outer decorative stainless steel shell twists just a tiny amount and deforms a little.

Always put the socket all the way on the nut.

 

[SWVA JLUR]

I also will agree with Gorilla lugs. I haven’t had any issue and their team is great to work with.

 

[Valpo Jeep]

If you thread the lug nut back onto the wheel stud you can typically free the stick lug nut without having to pound on your nuts. Just run em down until they slightly impact then reverse and the nut falls right out of the socket

 

[roaniecowpony]

I also will agree with Gorilla lugs. I haven’t had any issue and their team is great to work with.

So far, I only trust OEM, Gorilla, or McGard lug nuts. With few exceptions, the rest are Chinese crap rebranded to the house name selling them.

Thread specifications have tolerances down to the thickness of a hair. Metallurgy of lug nuts is the wild west. The Chinese stuff lacks controls of the steel alloy and any heat treat. Your jeep has wheel studs that are a high strength steel, heat treated to give great strength and resistance to fracture. Then you put an unknown lug nut on it, that likely is made of dead soft mild steel, because it was cheap and easy for the unknown maker to manufacture.

Your nuts hold your life. Don't cheap out on your nuts.

 

[longfiredragon]

IMHO these OEM lug nuts are crap. I am looking to replace mine soon, most likely gorilla at the same time I get new tires.

 

[Ang1Sgt]

For me I start out with McGard Security Lugnuts on all 5 wheels. I use the rest of the stock nuts till they start having problems and then I have 5 spares to play with “IF” I can remember where I put them….LOL.

Another thing for me, they are Made in the USA right down the road from me in Buffalo, NY so I like to keep my money here. Not sure if I’ve ever seen the Gorilla ones. No one around here stocks them.

 

[jjvincent]

The worst I see would be a Ford Edge. I don't think there's a single one that comes in that you don't have to beat on a socket. There's a Ford Fusion that comes in which needs three different sockets to just remove the LF wheel. I look at these lug nuts as the best theft prevention. It takes a while to just remove the wheel.

At least it's not like the old Porsche days where they had aluminum lug nuts. You had to slather them up with anti seize and hand torque them. Plus, they even made a soft socket so you didn;t mess up the anodize on them. When they came out with wheel locks, you had to use a key to remove the outer shell. Super happy fun time doing that. Then if the lug nuts would snap off, we had a special hole saw with a bushing where you'd have to cut off the taper part of the lug nut that was still holding the wheel on. Mega Super Happy Fun Time on things like a 928.

 

[Jiggs1960]

Rotated my tires this afternoon and ended up having to pound some of my lug nuts out of the socket. My first instinct is to replace them with McGard Spline-Drive but I'm potentially open to other suggestions.

Don't know if you're married, or not, but if you are, you might want to have a talk with her about this problem................could be a severe case of D.S.B.

 

[Pig-Pen]

this has happened to me a few times. they just need a good release.

as i do, i usually state...

 

[Jeffy56]

A few thoughts. In past years, lug nuts lasted the life of the vehicle. I just checked, my old NAPA 7/8" impact deep well socket fits perfectly on my 2018 JLU lug nuts. Don't buy Chinese crap! You get what you pay for! The sloppy tolerances and metallurgy of substandard tools will damage your Jeep parts. I know 130 ft-lbs is the specification. I think it's a bit over done. For 1/2" (12.5 mm) 100 ft-lbs has been the standard for decades. 14 mm converts to .5512 inches. I think 110-120 ft-lbs would suffice, as well as making it easier to change a flat tire.

 

[roaniecowpony]

Appropriate torque boils down to bolt/nut (wheel stud/lug nut) grade and diameter. When you deviate from the specified torque, you change the clamping force.

 

[The Last Cowboy]

Always use a 6 (six) point socket on lug nuts. Always. Do not use 12 (twelve) point sockets EVER on lug nuts. Even the factory lug wrench sucks and will damage your lug nuts. Get a breaker bar or long handled 1/2” drive ratchet and deep a 6 point 22 mm socket, it's easiest to find a deep 22 mm impact socket, as they all have 6 points. You can buy these individually at Home Depot or Lowes.

 

[Industrialwrench]

I didn’t read the thread. Make sure you’re using metric sockets if not already on the oem lug nuts. But either way…Yes change to splines.

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