Well after heeding the advice given on here about ditching the locking wheel nuts due to the common problem of them separating, which just causes the top part of the nut to spin freely when you try and remove them, I thought I better change them. Well I ordered a new set of wheel nuts and the other weekend decided to swap them over. All went well until I tried to remove the last one, unfortunately I was too late as it had already failed. I had a good read of various forum threads and at the end of it I was fairly confident I would be able to remove it. One of the best threads was on the Disco3 forum http://www.disco3.co.uk/forum/topic68161-45.html
The first method I used was cutting a slot in the wheel nut cap and hammering a washer into the slot, this method failed for me when the washer sheared, however according to my torque wrench this was at over 190lb/ft of torque.








The second method I tried once I’d removed the cap was to hammer on a bolt remover, unfortunately this method also failed, again I had over 190lb/ft of torque applied and in so doing chewed up the remaining part of the locking wheel nut quite badly. I expect for most people either of these two methods to work as the wheel nut should only be done up to 98lb/ft obviously mine were way over tightened. Finally I had to drill around the circumference of the wheel nut which removed the cap that clamped it onto the wheel, the wheel nut just spun off then, job done.




One thing in the above thread I think the cutting disc’s that are recommended are a little big at 1 ½”, the ones I used were closer to 30mm and fitted perfectly.
I would just like to reiterate what has already been posted, if you’ve not already done it replace your locking wheel nuts, hopefully before they fail.
On a foot note I was round at a friends a few days later, he’s got a Disco 3 and noticed he had the same wheel nuts, told him he was better off replacing them, again we found one that had failed, this time however when we tried to remove it the cap part just fell off, so we just hammered on the bolt remover and it came off no problem.

When this happens always tighten the nuts either side of the locker to take the pressure off it

Andy. Andy.
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That's a good point and I actually over torques the remaining nuts on my wheel to see if would help, but obviously in my case it didn't. I also spoke with a friend who works in a Land rover garage to see what they do, He said they sometimes get lucky if they remove all the other wheel nuts and go for a gentle drive, they have a roundabout close by and do a couple of circuits of this and come back, he said that if they made sure the top and bottom parts of the wheel nut were aligned and as long as the lugs/ cut outs on the bottom part weren't rounded off they could often remove them this way.

"remove all the other wheel nuts" I don't believe that for one minute, they may loosen them, but they will never remove them, that's just crazy 07,TDV8,Black, Black Heated leather all round, Rear Entertainment with Headpones & Remote, TV, DVD, Pure Dab Digital Radio, Sidesteps, Adaptive Headlights, sunroof, now working fuel burning heater )))

david007 wrote:

That's a good point and I actually over torques the remaining nuts on my wheel to see if would help, but obviously in my case it didn't. I also spoke with a friend who works in a Land rover garage to see what they do, He said they sometimes get lucky if they remove all the other wheel nuts and go for a gentle drive, they have a roundabout close by and do a couple of circuits of this and come back, he said that if they made sure the top and bottom parts of the wheel nut were aligned and as long as the lugs/ cut outs on the bottom part weren't rounded off they could often remove them this way.

 Steve.

mine did the same, rather than spending hours cursing,These guys also do excellent bits of kit for removing any wheel nuts, and if you bob over to Castleford, they will remove then in minutes. for around £15

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Also ditch the nuts with covers for ones without.
See here for explanation
http://www.disco4.com/forum/topic161797.html Visitor from fullfatrr.com
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