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Sat Sep 20, 2003 8:10 am

I have a stock 79 Bus and for the life of me I can not get the majority of lug nuts off. I have tries a impact gun, lug wrench with extension, even let wd40 penetrate for two days. Per reccomendation I Heated the bolts up then throw cold water on them nothing works. Now two of the bolts are stripped. How can I get these off. Has anyone else had this problem I really need to change my brakes.

Sat Sep 20, 2003 8:38 am

I have the same thing. I bought a $180 electric impact wrench- nothing, next, I bought a big 1/2 breaker bar, but the 1/2>3/8 adapter broke.
I said screw it. I'll wait until I take it in to have something else done to it.

Sat Sep 20, 2003 11:13 am

Get a Big Sledge Hammer and whack the Lug nut squarely on the face of it. May have to do it several times, but they should break free enough to loosen? As far as the Stripped ones go............ ?? I don't know what to tell ya ?? :?

Sat Sep 20, 2003 11:45 am

Try PB Blaster on the nuts for a few days. Let it soak in really good. that stuff helped me out of a few jams where I thought nothing would work. As far as the striped nuts are concerned... Maybe try fileing them down to the next size and get a fresh start on 'em! PB PB PB PB PB PB !!!!!!!

Sat Sep 20, 2003 4:37 pm

if it is driveable, drive to your FNTS (friendly neighbourhood tire shop) and have them crack the lugs loose. retighten by hand to factory spec, then go home and get back to whatever you were doing. as far as the stripped ones, er, how bad are they stripped? if they are completely round, find a large nut with a center bore big enough to wedge tightly over the rounded head, then weld it into place, and get your FNTS to use a RBFS (really big friggin socket.) or, as was suggested earlier, file it down to a smaller size, and wedge a socket on there. good luck.

Sat Sep 20, 2003 7:27 pm

I've a 73 bus so don't know if it's the same setup. My lugnuts were rounded but I managed to get them except one. It just wouldn't budge whatever I threw at it. In desperation I attacked the nut at first with a cold chisel & hammer, at first trying to turn it then just to punish the sh...y little thing, THEN I got the angle grinder out & eventually got the nut off, but wrecked the stud ( of course ). I didn't find out till then that you can buy new studs...just wack the old one out & wack the new one in . Bliss! May not be the same on the 79.
On the 73 you have to take the axle nut off to get the drum off. I was just trying to get the wheel off, not the drum.
Regards.

Sat Sep 20, 2003 7:33 pm

I use a combination of smacking them with the biggest hammer I have like mentioned above ,and soak them for a few days in PB powerblaster.

Sun Sep 21, 2003 8:40 am

wher can I get this pb blaster

Sun Sep 21, 2003 9:45 am

I've found it at Autozone, Walmart...............

http://www.pbblaster.com/display.cfm?p=1661405D-3ACB-43E7-89EFB7A4DF1892A9

Good Stuff !! :)

Sun Sep 21, 2003 10:17 am

Good luck. The best leverage comes from a large breaker bar with pipe extension with no reduction adapters. A little more leverage goes a long way to making it easier.

As far as heating, heat only one face of the nut otherwise you risk softening the threads too much before you try to remove it. No need for cold water. Just heat it up to almost red on one side, get the breaker on it fast and use leverage. Don't worry about creaking noises.

Sun Sep 21, 2003 11:08 am

I am a Aircraft mech and one day when removing a engine I encountered the same problem. I had broken several sockets and spilt a bottle of coke a cola on the bolt when the breaker bar gave way. After waiting around ten mins to get a new socket and returning to work with all sorts of band-aids on my knuckles it came right off. Coke a cola I guess ate all the stuff holding on to the Bolt. You may save some Cash trying it.Good luck!

Sun Sep 21, 2003 12:08 pm

What has worked for me in the past is to heat the nut/bolt, then apply a candle and let the wax pull into the threads from the heat. Wax is an excellent lubricant and cheap. Dave

Sun Sep 21, 2003 12:37 pm

I swear I saw a stripped lug nut removal tool somewhere, but I can't for the life of me find it. Sorry. I use this stuff called Kroil from http://www.aircooled.net it works, and even smells great, like wintergreen freshness. I hear great things about PB Blaster though, so for sure try it.

Sun Sep 21, 2003 1:34 pm

Kroil is great. I'm surprised to see it for sale there because they told me they only sold direct. Two cans were $13.95 directly from Kano.

Mon Sep 22, 2003 9:34 am

I was in the same situation with my 69. I actually twisted the shank on my cross wrench thingee. I tried lube, heat, cold, prayer, cursing, friends with 3/4 in sockets and cheater bars, I even turned green once and picked up the van and threw it. The friendly neighbourhood VW mechanic was able to get them out pronto with his pneumatic impact, wire brush the rust off the lugs, apply a touch of anti-sieze, and torque them back on to 94 foot/lbs. No probs after that.

FYI it is really important to torque the old wide 5 bolt wheels properly. The large distance between the lugs and uneven tightening can cause the drums to warp.

Mon Sep 22, 2003 11:06 pm

Something about those 79 lugnuts I guess, I had the same problem with both of my rear tires. Definitely take it to a tire store and let them do it, that way if they screw things up, it's their dime and not yours :wink: