Pesky things peskying me about!

[Sir-Doris]

So, a couple of days ago while it was nice and dry I decided to go out to the fronty armed with my upper and lower ball joints, coil spacers, braided brake lines, UCA spacers, my new continuity tester and spotlights, 5 liters of oil, an oil filter, a fuel filter, a heap of ep90 for the diffs, 5 more liters of oil for the tranny and gearbox, ramps, axle stands, trolley jack, my shiny new air compressor and a toolbox.

A little optimistic perhaps for a late riser and part-time procrastinator to do in one day but I want the truck to be in top condition for when I meet you folks at the camping extravaganza in a couple of weeks.

I lined everything up, had it all planned in my head and decided to set about the ball joints first, easy you might think, but murphy's law rules and wouldnt you know it. Iv lost my locking wheel nut tool! I then wandered into Halfords (a 50 mile round trip) since that was where I originally purchased the locking nuts from. Couldnt find any that had the same 'key' pattern as mine but bought a new set of locking nuts that were £32.99 down to £5.00 down to £1 which the nice young man at the counter assured me would fit the studs on the frontera. To get the old ones off I also bought a 'locking wheel nut removal tool' £9.99. Not bad I thought. Got home in the pitch dark, had a cup of tea, covered everything with a tarp and decided to tackle everything the next day.

Next day: Went out, lifted the tarp and set about with my wheel nut removal tool. 4 hours later and I have succeeded in removing... wait for it... 1 nut! I just cant get the tool to grip the darn things. A bit frustrated with my progress I decided to have a hunt in the shed for anything which might help the operation. I found a strip of aluminium, a large lump hammer and a stone chisel! Can we see where this is going yet???
It went something like this: Take a strip of aluminium, cut it into 1" lengths, bluetack them to the inside of the nut remover, slide the nut remover over the locking nut, take a short extension bar and pop it into the end ot the nut remover, take the lump hammer and belt the bayjaysus out of it until it wont go any further, take a breaker bar and remove the nut. Then spend another fruitless hour or so removing the mashed aluminium and nut from the removal tool so you can do another nut. Only 2 more to go.

So, to summarise I spent the best part of 2 days (really only one day cause I get up late, drink lots of tea and smoke lots of cigarettes) to remove 4 locking wheel nuts. And why? Because I have absolutely no idea where the key is.

Anyway, Murphy's law dictates that as soon as Iv finished everything tomorrow (weather not withstanding) Il find the key, in the same place I put it everytime I have finished using it like I have done a hundred times before now.

[john (smifffy)]

bet you find it in the last place you look
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moral of the story look in the last place first

[Sir-Doris]

Yup, either that or the garage man who did my MOT nicked it because he lost his

[brachunky]

Weld a nut to the nut and remove

[Drift]

Class

[Sir-Doris]

Funnily enough I thought of that but I dont have a welder. I nearly bought one in halfords but I thought £150 quid was a bit steep to remove a wheel nut! I will get one eventually, from somewhere thats not halfords.

[pidge]

it'll turn up!

[Big Dave]

Yup, either that or the garage man who did my MOT nicked it because he lost his

Hmmm, my lock nut socket went missing after my mot too - but what goes around comes around - I pinched one when i was at my tyre fitters (sorry John)