K so i was wheelin with my buddy and we went up some trails that most trucks wont go. They were mainly atv trails but ive seen some jeeps and old broncos up there too. Anyway we found a new trail that went around the mountain and as im going over this very rough road, mainly just rocks, i here the dreaded whoosh whoosh whoosh sound coming from my right rear tire. My heart sank. Ive never had a flat before, especially not way up on the mountain where the closest tiny city is ten miles away. a city so small that main street is comprised of a conoco on one side, a chevron on the other... nothing else. Anyway, its just a flat right? how hard can it be? im not an idiot, i can change a tire. Ive done brakes n stuff so i had to take the wheelse off and put em back on. Four lugs come off fine, last one wont budge. These lug nuts , by the way, have some stupid metal jacket that brakes off very easily and if they do, then you all of the sudden have the wrong size lug wrench. The jacket came off, but i have no choice so i use the wrench anyway. still wont budge. I get a cheater bar. Nothing. We ended up walking the ten miles to call my friends dad to bring his acetylene torch. He burned off the lug and my rim is pretty dirty but thats about it. Now why am i telling this story??? The spare tire has a locking lug not on it. You cant get it off with anything but the actual goofy key that ive never even seen or heard of, or get out the cutting torch again. So the point is... just know that you have that stupid locking nut thing and that the rest of the lug nuts like to break so that you have the wrong size wrench and you gotta round the nuts to get em off.

 

Ooooooopsssssssssssss

 

The lock for the spare tire should be the same as the door key.

I had a locking lug nut set at one point. When I was trying to rotate the tires I sheared the pattern off the head of one of these lug nuts. I'd never use them again. It took an impact chisel to remove it.

 

My spare is locked with the door key as well

 

My spare is held on with 3 lug nuts same size as the 1 on the wheels.Best bet is to carriy a 4way lug wrench with you and a good bottol jack.

 

Get rid of them OEM ford lugs. They will always do that. Yes they look pretty and all when they are brand new but they will leave you in the same situation when you least expect it. You gotta get the solid aftermarket lugs. I got my lugs from Pep boys. They are a bigger size but SOLID. You can find them anywhere that sells automotive parts. Never have to worry about that metal jacket comming off again.

 

any ideas how much 23 lug nuts cost??? havent been to the store to check it out yet so im just asking.

 

I got my lugs 7 years ago. Back then it cost 60 bucks. These were the biggest most solid ones I found. I'm sure you could find them cheaper if you looked around some. I hate to see ya buy some Ford OEM lugs to end up in the same situation.

 

i had that same problem with the OEM lugs when i had a flat and was removing the tire, or thought i was going to, and we had to use a chissel and hammer and i ended up putting a notch in my wheels from it slipping, but after that happened we replaced the lugs i only bought 20 bc my spare is hooked up special, anyways and it was 15 per wheel so about $60 but they were solid and i havent had any problems at all anyways i recomend replacing them becase 4 came off great and that one didnt

 

i must be getting luck y with my BII lugs...i've never had ANY of the jackets on my OEM lugs break off, but when they do another size on the 4-way lugs wrench fits it...i have the original locking lugnut on my spare and the key to go with it...it's never given me any problems in the 4 times o've had to use it (blowout from hitting the side of a bridge, metal shard, nail, valve stem). the OEM lugs from ford are $2.00 a pop here in New Orleans.


my story is: remember to tighten all lugs

i was rotating my tires and could swear that i tightened up all lugs in the front. 2 days later i was driving my g/f at the time to get some lunch. kept hearing a bumping, but only when i was accelerating or letting off the brake. otherwise, no noise. i stopped and got out twice to check things out and never noticed that the lugs on my front driver side tire were gone. about a mile later the same corner of my BII hit the ground at 25 MPH and started scrapping the ground. my tire kept going on down the road and crossed traffic (i was in the left lane, it went right), went down a side street and stopped on a curb, still standing! i had put a hole in the brake dust shield and sheared a stud off of the rotor, and that's it. i was very lucky i hadn't decided to take the interstate to lunch. please please PLEASE remember to tighten and them recheck all lugs. then check them again 2 days later just to make sure.

-Aaron
arkain

 

ok new question... should i get a new set of lug nuts, or just get a star wrench for when the jackets bust off, or both?

 

i'd say both...be better in the long run

 

Yeah I ditched those stupid factory lugs... I got tired of trying to take those things off. New lugs cost me about 2.40 a piece which comes to about 48 bucks for all of em. They look pretty nice too.

 

trip to the junkyard $5 for all 20

 

were they chrome?