How To Remove A Broken In Half Lug Nut

In my golden days removing and installing vehicle lugs was a fairly simple task.

Unfortunately the era we live in today sometimes presents some unique challenges to say the least.

As for the case here when swapping over to a new set of wheels went horribly wrong!

In this first illustration I had already started down the path of removing this frustration from my otherwise happy life but quickly realized I should back up and take some quick pictures for further D.I.Y. purposes.

The section in hand would be the half of the spline style lug that did decide to thread off without issue from the otherwise undamaged shinny wheel stud that I quickly and unfortunately realized was going to have to go if I was to salvage the wheel.

If the hollow looking stud in the background and metal shavings are any indication whats to come next you got it!

Luckily with a little guidance & few key tools you'll be well on your way to success.

When In Doubt Drill It Out!

The key here was to progressively work my way up in drill bit size to help ensure I drilled out the hole as much in the center as possible as well as make the process somewhat easier dealing with a few layers at a time. Your goal here is going to be to drill to just before where the tapered end of the lug stops and to not shoot out the sides making the next step harder.

Once close your going to be snapping off whats left of that stud so you will want to leave a thin section intact. During the drilling process i did use some WD-40

pretty often to keep the bits cooler and used a slower drill setting with some moderate pressure.

What are The Chances Of That Happening Again!

In this illustration I prove the law of averages to be completely bogus and instead Murphy's law instead decided to show its ugly little face..lol

The good news this time I again decided to take a brief moment and a short walk to express some choice verbs and came back cool headed and ready to document the 2nd round much better...lol

Once drilled out run the broken half of the lug back onto the stud as far as it can go and use a deep socket or (key tool) in my case along with some hammer persuasion to snap the stud off at the lug. After that the last thin layer of the stud that didn't go away needs to be removed more by around 1/8 inch.

Almost Time For A Victory Lap!

We'll we laughed, we cried, we made up some new swear words along the way but its now time to grab yourself a #7 Easy out bit 17/32 and put this mess behind you.

We appreciate you joining in on the journey and hope we helped.

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