LOCKING WHEELNUT REMOVER

Most modern vehicles come with Alloy Wheels either as standard or as an option. This is all very nice but there will inevitably come a time when you need to get the wheels off and you realise you cannot find the key for the locking wheel nuts. Usually this will happen at the most inconvenient time, like when you get a flat tyre or when you've taken it in for a service and the keys are miles away in the garage at home. The most annoying time is when you 'know' you've put it somewhere safe but now cannot find it.

This is becoming a more frequent problem to used car buyers as the key often gets mislaid during change of ownership. You might not even realise that you had locking wheelnuts at all until you try to get them off, many locking nuts have covers over them to make them look like a standard nut.

Until now there have really been only two options; contact the dealer to try and obtain a replacement key or hammer an undersized socket onto the nut and remove it with a ratchet. The first can be expensive and takes far too long, the second even more expensive as you will need to buy a complete set of new locking nuts and a new socket to replace the one you've just broken!

These NEW Locking Wheelnut remover sockets from Japan are made from chrome vanadium (see also the Land Rover Prop Shaft Tool from the same manufacturer). The impact grade, 1/2" drive sockets have a left handed tapered thread and come in seven different sizes. All you have to do is screw the socket onto the locking wheelnut until it 'bites' then attach a 1/2" drive ratchet and loosen the nut. Now I know that sounds easy but a little bit of hard work is required as the socket bites into the nut enough to get a good hold and allows you to apply enough force to get it off.

We tried the sockets on both a Land Rover Discovery and a Mercedes 'M' Class. In both cases the nuts were removed with no problems. Re-attaching the nuts was just the reverse of removing them. The socket had gripped the nut tight enough to just reverse the ratchet and tighten the nut. When it was tight enough the socket started to loosen and came off. We checked how tight the nut had been replaced with a standard wheel brace and we could not tighten it any further. The only noticeable downside was that the sockets can damage the nuts a little as they 'bite' into it before loosening them. Whilst this was not extensive and did not mean they needed replacing it would not be advisable to use the sockets on the same nuts repeatedly.

We would always recommend getting the security of the locking wheelnut checked as soon as possible or temporarily replacing it with a standard wheelnut until you can obtain new locking wheelnuts.

AVAILABLE NOW! from the Difflock 4x4 Multi Store

Back to TOOLS index

If you want your products featured here, please send us details to info@difflock.com