How to Break Off Loose Lug Nuts

Series Summary

If not repaired promptly, a broken lug nut stud can spell disaster for your wheel. Driving on a broken stud can cause the tire to become severely out of balance, creating additional and possibly severe damage to your vehicle. The lug nut stud is what bolts the wheel to the car, and the importance of repairing and maintaining this part is obvious, but it’s not a problem that necessarily requires a visit to your local auto shop or garage. The process is easier than you think, and makes a great weekend do-it-yourself project that will save you money.

In this series of free video clips you’ll get simple step-by-step instructions on how to replace a damaged lug nut stud on the wheel of your vehicle. Expert mechanic Nathan McCullough demonstrates the procedure in easy to follow steps, starting with breaking loose the lug nuts and removing the tire, parking brake cable, caliper and finally the broken stud. He also demonstrates how to clean and install the rotors and wheel assembly, and most importantly, how to check your work for safety.

Video Transcript

"Hi! My name is Nate McCullough on behalf of expertvillage.com. In this clip we are going to talk about the first step involved in changing a broken wheel stud. The first step involved is going to breaking loose the lug nuts and jacking up the vehicle. We will go over the appropriate method of both of those with you right now. Our broken stud happens to be located here on the passenger side rear wheel. I have my favorite lug breaking tool, the standard 4 way if I can figure out what side we got here. Lucky guess. All you need to do in this step is break them loose just like so. There is not particular pattern or order you need to follow when breaking them loose; there we go. All right, you can see we only got 4 to do on this particular wheel because there is our busted stud. Once you've got them loose it is okay to go ahead and place your floor jack. I like to use a hydraulic floor jack just for the time involved in trying to use the factory jack. This hydraulic one is the best thing since sliced bread. Go ahead and tighten down our sealing nut. We are going to jack this up what they call a pinch well. I'll get it up high enough; hopefully you'll get a good look at it. Pick up my jack stand here. Okay. I'm going to jack it up so the tire will spin freely. We of course have the parking brake on so it's not going to move yet for us. Going to place our jack stand and let the vehicle down. Refer to your owner's manual for the proper jacking points on your particular car. Okay, that's the proper way to jack up a vehicle and break the lug nuts loose. "