I have set of lug nuts that are jammed on nice and over tight. My impact hasn't been able to touch them and I snaped a 3/8 extension with a breaker bar already. Bigger impact or bigger breaker bar? AZ car, no rust issues, purely user error prior to my possession.
1/2" breaker bar, impact socket, improve leverage till something gives. Worst case you spin the stud in the hub and have to drill it out. Odds are the studs/nuts are damaged from the torque and will need replacement. So don't do this to your only running car on a Wednesday night.
Edit: If you haven't got a cheater pipe handy, home depot (or any competing big box home store) sells them all day long in the plumbing aisle, the "black iron" gas pipes are actually steel if you dont want to spring for galvanized.
Stuck fasteners need leverage. Massive leverage needs lots of material to transmit said leverage. Go buy the longest breaker bar you can find, and keep an eye out for a thick wall pipe to go over it.
the handles from floor jacks often make handy cheater pipes.
HEAT! heat it up with a torch, that usually works.
The worse part is that it is on aftermarket offroad wheels on a Durango 6 lug. I can only fit a thin walled 3/8" socket in the wheel recess, 1/2" sockets are too thick.. They also have a deep offset so extension are required. I think I may put on a full face helmet or at least chin guard for the upcoming face plants.
mw wrote: the handles from floor jacks often make handy cheater pipes.
This. I made the comment once that all HF floor jacks come with a free cheater bar. I was not wrong.
Maybe weld a cheap 1/2" socket to a cheap 3/8" socket that fits? The reducer always seems to be the weak point for me.
former520 wrote: The worse part is that it is on aftermarket offroad wheels on a Durango 6 lug. I can only fit a thin walled 3/8" socket in the wheel recess, 1/2" sockets are too thick.. They also have a deep offset so extension are required. I think I may put on a full face helmet or at least chin guard for the upcoming face plants.
Ha!
Seriously, when exerting massive torques, you can usually lift with more force than your body weight. Technique is important so you don't strain anything, obviously, but this is a lot better than faceplants. Lifting/pushing is usually much safer than bouncing on the breaker bar like a teeter-totter of doom.
Bryce
If you need to use an extension and apply a lot of torque, set your jack under the outer end of the extension so you can put all your weight on the snipe.
Kenny_McCormic wrote: Maybe weld a cheap 1/2" socket to a cheap 3/8" socket that fits? The reducer always seems to be the weak point for me.
yup
Or get a HF 1/2" drive impact socket, chuck it in your drill with an adapter, clamp the drill in a vise, grab the angle grinder and ghetto toolpost grinder that bitch down till it fits.
Streetwiseguy wrote: If you need to use an extension and apply a lot of torque, set your jack under the outer end of the extension so you can put all your weight on the snipe.
This is brilliant and I wish I'd have thought of it in the (painful) past.
you can find thin wall 1/2" sockets- the cheap ones are usually like this... i've found that my 245 pounds of manly mass jumping on the end of an 18" breaker bar will break even the most stubborn lug nuts loose..
thatsnowinnebago wrote:Streetwiseguy wrote: If you need to use an extension and apply a lot of torque, set your jack under the outer end of the extension so you can put all your weight on the snipe.This is brilliant and I wish I'd have thought of it in the (painful) past.
I prefer a jack stand for that purpose, the V shape helps hold things better.
If its something under the car and you can orient the wrench to be pushed up, you can use the jack to break it loose with the weight of the car.
can't believe no one has mentioned it yet …
SHOTGUN ftw
Try driving the car for five or ten miles first to generate some brake heat. If they were overtorqued when everything was hot and you're trying to remove them when everything is cold, it will make your job a lot harder.
Get a few cans of this E36 M3 and use at least 1 full one per wheel, preferably after doing a few panic stops to get everything nice and hot. Seriously, I've been very impressed with this stuff.
petegossett wrote: Get a few cans of this E36 M3 and use at least 1 full one per wheel, preferably after doing a few panic stops to get everything nice and hot. Seriously, I've been very impressed with this stuff.
Better yet, Tlthey sponsor the Challenge!!
Take it to truck stop shop with their big arse guns and have them break it loose...
Are you -sure- they're not left hand thread?
IHC, Chrysler and a few others ran left-hand thread on one side of the car back in the day.
I learned the hard way.
Shawn
In reply to Trans_Maro:
I think that ended in the early 70s, and of those cars, a lot of them have probably been converted to RH lugs all around.
torque sticks prevent this. 
Kenny_McCormic wrote: Or get a HF 1/2" drive impact socket, chuck it in your drill with an adapter, clamp the drill in a vise, grab the angle grinder and ghetto toolpost grinder that bitch down till it fits.
I made an adapted 1/2" 17mm socket doing just that so I could torque the lugs on my ms3 a/m wheels.
I found a thin walled 1/2" - 13/16th socket in the back of the garage. Dropped the truck back on its wheels, 3' breaker bar (jack handle) and applied even constant pressure. I would push a couple inches and hold it then couple more inches and hold again. Only had a few actually 'pop', most would start to move while I was holding the pressure on it. Not one single broken stud.
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