How to Tighten Lug Nuts without Torque Wrench Easily

Let’s Start the Scavenging, Shall We?

You might be thinking, what is there to scavenge? Well, since you do not have a torque wrench, you can use some simpler or less accurate tools to get that job done.

One of the first things you can use is the traditional cross-bar wrench. Almost every vehicle owner has a spare cross-bar styled wrench.

Let’s do this step by step –

• First, you need to keep in mind that you don’t over tighten the lug nuts, which might cause some issues with the lug studs; you’d have to replace them afterward if you do over-tighten it.
• You should make sure you tightened the nuts enough because you don’t want your tires flying off while driving; that situation sounds unpleasant.
• Make sure you put the vehicle on the parking brakes so that you can work on the tires without worrying about your car trailing away.
• Since the nuts should be tight to open, you should fit the cross-bar wrench on the nuts securely. Then try turning it counter-clockwise with both your hands or standing on the right side to loosen the nuts.
• But in case the nuts are too tight and standing on the nuts is not working, you should try to bounce up and down on the right side of the cross-bar wrench.
• After the nuts are finally loose, replace the tires as efficiently as possible. But here comes the crucial part; you need to tighten the nuts properly using that cross-bar wrench.
• Since you’ve done the replacements, you should fit the wrench over the nuts again and tighten it with your hands. Make sure that you don’t keep it too loose.
• Tighten it as needed, not too much while making sure that you adjust the nuts each time you tighten it. Finally, pull on the cross-bar hard, and assess if the nuts are adequately secured.

Something to keep in mind that tightening the lug nuts with hand can’t be as easy as it sounds. If you’re not confident in how much strength you can exert on tightening it, try standing on it.

One turn should be enough to tighten it up properly, and you’re good to go. It’s way better to have a tight lug nut than a loose one since a loose one is too risky.

Another Approach – Breaker Bar

The usage of an extendable breaker bar is another great way to tighten the lug nuts as it uses the same techniques as the cross-bar wrench.

Using similar methods, we go step-by-step –

• Since you already know that you need to make sure you don’t over tighten the nuts, you should try to measure how much force you’re exerting on the lug nuts.
• First, extend the breaker bar as much as you can, set it up on the nuts, use the same standing method to loosen the nuts, and start replacing the tires. Keep in mind during that to keep the bar extended.
• Since you can exert more pressure to loosen the lug nuts with the extended length, it requires much lesser strength from your side.
• But still, if it is not enough, you can slightly bounce on the right side of the extended bar and turn it bit by bit counter-clockwise. This method will eventually free the lug nuts, and you can easily take it out.
• Now comes the critical part, when you’re tightening the lug nuts after the replacement, you don’t want to keep the breaker bar extended. If the breaker bar is in its shortest length, it will allow you to apply less strength.
• In the end, you turn it counter-clockwise, and the shortened length will allow you not to over-tighten and cause stripping of the threads on the studs.