Thread: Changed the wheels over

Sometimes i think service departments with their rattle guns get carried away. I rotate my tires myself and once had to stand on my wheel spanner too. Jeep wheel nuts have a cap on them and have had them break off after a visit to the dealers for a service. Imagine being stuck in the middle of nowhere with a flat tire and one of the nuts has a cap broken off. For that reason i too bought a Snap-on breaker bar with two socket sizes, one for the original size nut and one for the hex nut under the cap as well. When ever i get a service i ask that all wheel nuts are tightened by hand and not with a rattle gun

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This is a good point about workshops , and rattle guns . I have been with a mate who had a puncture fixed , anyway he had a problem with that wheel . and had to change it . He only had the Land Rover factory wheel brace , we could not get the wheel nuts undone , the wheel brace was twisting before the nuts would let go . So my friends give your wheels some love ! Check you can undo them , put a little smear of grease on the threads , and a little on the outside of the nuts , as they can corrode . You don't wont to be stuck somewhere remote and can't get a wheel off !!.. Jim

My local tyre shop owner has a rule for his workers that no rattle guns can be used to tighten up wheel nuts.
This thread has reminded me I must do a tyre rotation.

Hope my photo attachment shows up.


Standard wheel nut for my Jeep is 19mm and the nut under the cap is 18mm. I ended up buying a breaker bar with 18 & 19mm sockets as sometimes you don't notice they have been damaged and broken off and would hate to be stuck in a situation where I couldn't get the wheel off with a flat.


Has anyone had the cap break off their defender wheel nuts and if so what size is the hex nut under it as am looking to buy a couple of sockets to fit my defender too

In my work ( bus sales) we had a customer try and tell us our wheel nuts were failing. They were cracking at almost 12 months of age. It was found they were using rattle guns with torque settings 3 times the recommended torque and they wondered why they cracked.

Pathetic thing is - if they use Twist Sticks with a rattle gun they'll be torqued correctly as well.

For a small outlay they would never cause a problem.

(Personally I prefer they use a torque wrench)

Originally Posted by grmas1

In my work ( bus sales) we had a customer try and tell us our wheel nuts were failing. They were cracking at almost 12 months of age. It was found they were using rattle guns with torque settings 3 times the recommended torque and they wondered why they cracked.

My uncle who retired a few years back worked as a mechanic at a bus company for over 40 years . They had to torque all wheels nuts on there buses , I believe they still do . Jim

Originally Posted by Tombie

Pathetic thing is - if they use Twist Sticks with a rattle gun they'll be torqued correctly as well.

For a small outlay they would never cause a problem.

(Personally I prefer they use a torque wrench)

Maintenance Manual instructions actually say this.