tough nuts , broken tool

This isnt about a Tour de France bike rider, but my experience in trying to remove a sprinter wheel without the strength of Hercules.

We drive lots of back roads in the West far from cell service and AAA and thankfully have not needed to remove a wheel. Till now.

In trying to troubleshoot a front wheel squeal, I tried to remove the wheel and managed, without using a cheater bar , to break the stock lug wrench with simple brute force. I was even turning it in the right direction! However it was not brutish enough to influence the nut at all. I called the tire guys who installed them and they said they had spec'd them to 150 ft pounds.

So I bought a 1/2 inch breaker bar, 19mm socket and a large Pipe and managed to get them all off with relative ease

The WARNING is ... check out your lug nuts or get a better lug wrench that what comes stock... or else face the risk of not being able to change your tire in an emergency. You'll be saying nuts or worse.

It is always sage advice to pick up a johnson bar and correct socket and leave it in your vehicle. Murphy's law says if you have it, you won't ever need it. You can fit a decent size bar in with the spare tire on most cars. While your in there don't forget to check the tire pressure on your spare.

Spec on steel wheels can be 175 ft. Lbs.

there was a similar post several years ago.

flat tire, trying to change on side of road. lug nuts wouldn't budge. the member called AAA or such and finally got lugs loose.

after reading that, i went out to MY Sprinter to check the lugs hoping NOT to be in the same situation. the wheels were virgin, having never been changed or rotated.

it finally took the stock tire iron, plus a 5 foot length of steel tube to break them loose. I loosened then retightened all my lugs preempting future aggravation.

i was REALLY thankful i read that members post, and saved myself from being stuck on the side of the road somewhere with lug nuts i had NO hope of loosening.

dodger413 said:

there was a similar post several years ago.

flat tire, trying to change on side of road. lug nuts wouldn't budge. the member called AAA or such and finally got lugs loose.

after reading that, i went out to MY Sprinter to check the lugs hoping NOT to be in the same situation. the wheels were virgin, having never been changed or rotated.

it finally took the stock tire iron, plus a 5 foot length of steel tube to break them loose. I loosened then retightened all my lugs preempting future aggravation.

i was REALLY thankful i read that members post, and saved myself from being stuck on the side of the road somewhere with lug nuts i had NO hope of loosening.

Click to expand...

The torque on the wheel fasteners is owners manuall and it's enough to make you want to buy a dedicated breaker bar + socket. If you don't have a copy, you can get one here:

https://sprinter-source.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4286

I usually use an impact wrench.

I've never punctured Michelin LTX load range E tires (three steel belts) on the road or otherwise.



-Jon

Only use the jack pump lever middle rod and the rod with the largest diameter as a wheel wrench extension. Only slide the middle rod as far as it will go onto the wheel wrench. The rods may otherwise bend and be distorted to such an extent that they can no longer be used as a pump lever for the jack.