How to Jack Your Car & Break Loose the Lug Nuts

Series Summary

Your car is a complex machine made up of simple machines that have many different parts and processes that must be checked for breakage, leaks, and wear. One such part is the brake rotor. Properly working brakes are obviously essential to your driving safety and they should be checked periodically and especially if you notice problems with them. Problems with the brake rotors can be caused by wear due to prolonged use, and also long periods where the car is not driven. Would you like to know how to diagnose brake problems and learn how to replace the brake rotors on your car? Then learn for free online from one of our experts.

In this free video series learn how to inspect and replace your car brake rotors from, professional mechanic Nathan McCullough. Learn auto repair steps to replace your brake rotors such as jacking the vehicle, removing the tire and placing the jack stand; how to inspect the brake hose, brake calipers, and rotors; machining versus replacing brake rotors; how to clean the wheel hub; how to install the brake pads, caliper; and how to install the brake rotor.

Video Transcript

"Hi! My name is Nate McCullough on behalf of expertvillage.com. In this clip we are going to talk about the proper way to break the lug nuts loose on the wheel and the proper jacking techniques to get it up in the air. If you were to jack the vehicle first and get the wheel off the ground and then attempt to break the lug nuts loose, due to the differential action in the transmission this wheel will just free spin on you. So what we are going to do is use the static weight of the vehicle and the frictions supplied by the ground to hold that tire still while we break the lug nuts loose. This is my preferred dual of 4way. It gives you good leverage and it has multiple sized lug nuts on it, good leverage and it has multiple size lug nuts sockets on so they work pretty much on every vehicle out there. Let's find out which one we've got here, there we go. All you have to do is break them loose in this step. There is no specific pattern that you have to break them loose in. I generally go just right around in a circle. Okay, the lug nuts are broke loose. This right here is a 2 ton hydraulic floor jack. It is my preferred tool as compared to the vehicle's supplied scissor jack. This is a lot sturdier and it is a lot safer to operate due to the way it is made. It is a much heavier construction. What we are looking for underneath the vehicle is called the pinch well. This vehicle has ground affects on it being that it is a GT. These are those lower pieces here. The pinch well is going to be located directly behind there. What a pinch wheel is, is one of the main structural parts of the body. It is two stamped pieces of sheet metal pinched together and welded with supplies of the structural support for this side of the car. There is one also on the driver's side. You can see the jack is slotted just like so and will swivel. You are going to want to align this swiveling pad with the pinch well so that the pinch wheel sits just like that; place our jack underneath here. Some vehicles will have it noted with an arrow or it will say jack here. That is going to mean they want set right there as opposed to back here, that will help with balancing. This one is not labeled so about a foot back from the fender is where you are aiming for, insert the jacking tool and begin jacking it up. Okay once the wheel will free spin, you've got it off the ground far enough and you are ready. "