A spare tire is very much important to reach your home safely, when your regular standard tire damaged on your mid-journey.
They are normally smaller and lighter compared to standard wheel tire of your vehicle. As you won’t use this spare tire every day, so it is very much needed to save it from theft.
To make it safe, you have to use a lock and keep your key safe as well. You may use one of them between locking lug nuts or wheel nut, whatever you want. But unfortunately if you lost your tire lock key then what will you do?
Maybe you don’t have the scope to go to a garage. For overcome this situation, I am here to give you the ultimate solution about how to remove a spare tire lock without a key.
Steps: Remove Spare Tire Lock without Key
1. Collect the Required Tools:
Before getting started to remove spare tire lock, it will be helpful to gather required tools to easily access when you need those most. You need the following tools during remove spare tire lock from your vehicle.
- Wheel lock removal kit
- Heavy rubber mallet
- Car’s lug nut wrench
- Punch/ screwdriver
2. Park Your Vehicle On a Leveled Surface:
During the spare tire removing process, you have to strike the tools in a manner that may cause your truck to rock. To safe your vehicle from unwanted accident, it is very much needed to park your truck on a leveled surface.
Attach a parking brake on your vehicle to decline roll ability while you remove the spare lock without key. You can also think about using blocks on the truck tires so that it ensure more security.
3. Strike the Tool
Stuck your removal tool well in the wheel lock and hit its end with a mallet. As you continue to smash it, you will see the removal tool teeth digging into the wheel lock.
4. Loosen the Lock of wheel
Now it’s time to loosen the wheel lock with a lug nut wrench. For rotating the removal tool counterclockwise, you need some extra effort.
5. Rotate By Hand
As you loosen your wheel lock, you can open it easily by using your hand. However, it will be hard to release the removal tool from the wheel lock as it is already stuck.
6. Detach the Lock
Now you are at the final stage of your spare tire removal journey. In this stage, you need to remove the tool that stuck on your vehicle wheel lock with a screwdriver.
After entering the screwdriver into the removal tool, you need to continue to strike its end by using a rubber mallet till the wheel lock get out.
If you use locking lug nuts to lock your spare tire and unfortunately lost your key, then how to remove locking lug nuts without a key?
How to remove locking lug nuts without a key?
The lug nuts are used to hold your wheel to the car, and sometimes you need to remove them to change a tire. It is an easy task if you have the key, but what will you do if lost your key.
There is no need to worry, just follow the following steps, and you will be able to remove locking lug nuts easily.
1. Don’t give up, search your key
Are you sure that you don’t have your key? I recommend you to search your key again before start striking your vehicle.
You should check your old tool box and every little storage cubbies of your vehicle. Maybe you get your key and safe yourself from a lot of work.
2. Keep Ready Your Required Tools
To make your job easier, it has to ready your necessary tools. The following tools are needed to remove locking lug nuts.
- Hammer
- Breaker Bar
- A new lug nut
- Torque wrench
3. Find the socket that will close to the lug nut socket
If you try your best to get the key, but you don’t get it, then a regular socket will be hammer onto the locking nut and use brute force to move it.
To do this work perfectly, you have to manage a proper socket that will be best fitted with the lug nut.
Probably, the locking lug nuts are quite soft compared to a socket and that is why you will continue to hammering the socket onto the lug nuts till then it snugs.
Although, the socket size is not a matter but is recommended to use a twelve-point socket compared to a six point socket.
The advantage of a twelve point socket is that it will provide a better gripping than a six point socket that will remove the lug nuts easily.
4. Using a hammer, break that socket onto the lug nut
A regular hammer can do it easily. You need to simply whack the socket on the lug nut strongly until it is solidly in place.
If you want to maximize your efficiency and avoid destroying your socket, use the hammer at a straight angle.
5. Apply leverage
There is no need to worry about splurging a breaker bar, as it is just a metal rod that can connect the sockets.
It is recommended not to use a torque wrench as a breaker bar for this work. If you are inexperienced of using a breaker bar that it is better to understand about its working procedure before.
Since, this metal rod is around 6 to 8 inches long, so it will permit you to impose a lot of pressure on the object as opposed to impose pressure by using your hands.
6. Check the stud damage
At this stage, you need to inspect your vehicle wheel stud that you are seeing after the lug nut off. If you see wheel stud are ok, then you need to just replace your lug nut with a new one.
It will be better to follow the instruction manual to torque it down properly. In addition, if it (wheel stud) damaged entirely, then you need to do a little bit of hard work to replace it.
7. Get out your desired lug nut from the socket
You can follow the ways below to get out your lug nut without damaging your wheel socket –
- Although it is not the safest way, even may occur something unwanted, but you can be done this job by striking the socket on the ground and apply force as much as you can.
- Using a screwdriver into the top of the socket and strike it to the locking lug nut. This way is not very efficient way to remove the locking lug nuts.
- Simply reconnect the lug nut and the socket with your vehicle wheel stud and tap it carefully with a breaker bar or hammer from the side.
Can I put bigger tires on my Toyota Tacoma?
The answer is yes, if you want you can add large site tires on your Toyota Tacoma, but there is no advantage to putting bigger tires. However, if you want to decline your Tacoma vehicle fuel mileage and the expense with less braking, then you can add bigger tires.
It will be better to use a quality tires such as cooper, michelin, continental and so on. Although, those tires are expensive but much more worthy.
In Conclusion:
Do you know why a spare wheel is important? It is necessary because you don’t know when the tire will burst, and you need to replace it to continue the journey.
It is true that the spare wheel won’t be in use regularly, and that is why you need to keep it safe. To save it from the thieves, a locking lug nut can help you entirely.
But if you lost your locking lug nut key, then what will you do. I am certain that you know this because you are reading still now.
Yes, by following the steps that explained in this article, you will do this job done easily.
