Removing locking lug from wheels without key.

iOverland

iOverland

New member
Found a 2000 Runner at the u pick. It has the wheels because no one had been able to pull the locks.

Do anyone have any suggestions on how to remove the wheel without a key. I really want these rims. Thank you in advance for any insight you can provide.

John

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There are tools like this on the market that might work.

https://www.amazon.com/Performance-Tool-M980-Emergency-Removal/dp/B000FTN3KK

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJUUyjJqk5A
 
Remember to have tools to get the lug out of the socket because you just pounded it on there pretty good.
 
In an emergency I've used an impact socket that was close, and beat it on with a hammer and was able to get that to work

Locks are not a great deterrent .
 
4Runner fun said:
In an emergency I've used an impact socket that was close, and beat it on with a hammer and was able to get that to work

Locks are not a great deterrent .
Click to expand...

My truck came with locking lug nuts and the 'key' got lost between when I got it and when I wanted to put 17" wheels on. I borrowed a bolt extractor of the style pictured in the posts above from a professional mechanic friend and pulled all four off in about ten minutes. Locking lug nuts *never* work properly and all they do is annoy legitimate users.

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IMG_5244

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IMG_5262

Some damage to the tool, but that's normal and apparently the Snap On guy will replace it for free.

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IMG_5263
 
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rideexileex said:
Lol annnnnddddd locking lug nuts proved useless.
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I don't agree. Locking lug nuts help keep people honest and might inspire somebody to pass on stealing your wheels and move on to the next rig without locking lug nuts. Any lock can be defeated given the right amount of time and tools. Why lock your car then? Why lock up your house before you leave for the day? It's a deterrent and that's it. When I lock up my mountain bike on my rig when I'm on a trip, I know somebody can either break the lock or saw through my rack, but I'm making them work for it. I put the biggest lock I could find hoping they will figure it's not worth the effort and move on to somebody else's bike that looks easier to steal.

By the way, McGard is the manufacturer for the wheel locks that Toyota offered. I was in the same boat when I bought my 98 and realized I didn't have the locking lug nut key. So, I went to my local dealer parts department and was able to borrow their master kit to figure out which key fit my lug nuts. They didn't let me take it with me, I just did test fitted the different keys in their parking lot. When I found the right key, I went on the McGard website and ordered the key I needed. McGard So, instead of destroying the perfectly good locks on your rig, see if your local dealer will help you out. The parts department employees at my local dealer are very cool people and were the ones that told me they had a master kit and also told me I could order a replacement key from McGard. Even though I pay more for parts at the dealer, I still buy some things there out of convenience and because they can look up hard to find parts that are next to impossible to find on an online parts seller's website.
 
I forget where, but I saw someone say to just over-torque the remaining 5 lugnuts slightly to take the pressure off the lock. Then, you can just spin the lock right off, maybe with some needle-nose vice grips.

I've never tried it, though.
 
AntleredRuin said:
I forget where, but I saw someone say to just over-torque the remaining 5 lugnuts slightly to take the pressure off the lock. Then, you can just spin the lock right off, maybe with some needle-nose vice grips.

I've never tried it, though.
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This is exactly how thieves got around them when these locks were popular. The owner doesn’t want to overtorque the lug nuts for a very real fear of damage but the thieves just want the wheels and don’t care. If you overtightened them enough, you could spin the ‘lock’ off by hand, no tools.

These really were just security theatre, not actual security.
 
mtbtim said:
I don't agree. Locking lug nuts help keep people honest and might inspire somebody to pass on stealing your wheels and move on to the next rig without locking lug nuts. Any lock can be defeated given the right amount of time and tools. Why lock your car then? Why lock up your house before you leave for the day? It's a deterrent and that's it. When I lock up my mountain bike on my rig when I'm on a trip, I know somebody can either break the lock or saw through my rack, but I'm making them work for it. I put the biggest lock I could find hoping they will figure it's not worth the effort and move on to somebody else's bike that looks easier to steal.
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Except it turns out they aren’t. Insurance companies used to give policy discounts for vehicles with wheel locks. Most no longer do because the supermajority of their statistics show that there is *no* significant difference in wheel theft rate between vehicles with locking lug nuts/wheel locks and vehicles that don’t. So the deterrent factor just isn’t there - in fact, surveys of convicted thieves have shown that many thieves specifically target vehicles with wheel locks, The Club and other such devices for the challenge. This means that these devices are having the opposite effect of what you think they do. The only device most of the insurance companies will give you a discount now with is if you put boots on each wheel that block the lug circle.

When will you be ordering and using those? :P
 
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mtbtim said:
I don't agree. Locking lug nuts help keep people honest and might inspire somebody to pass on stealing your wheels and move on to the next rig without locking lug nuts. Any lock can be defeated given the right amount of time and tools. Why lock your car then? Why lock up your house before you leave for the day? It's a deterrent and that's it. When I lock up my mountain bike on my rig when I'm on a trip, I know somebody can either break the lock or saw through my rack, but I'm making them work for it. I put the biggest lock I could find hoping they will figure it's not worth the effort and move on to somebody else's bike that looks easier to steal.
Click to expand...

I agree with this. No lock proves 100% effective. The whole point is to deter to the point of making the thief give up and go somewhere else. The thief might have the proper tool to break the lock, (ie nut extractor) but may not have the time, patience, or just can't make that much noise.

I'm surprised that new vehicles don't come with more sensitive alarms.
I remember a few years ago there was a rash of Chevy Silverado Texas Edition wheel thefts. Several people in my neighborhood got hit in a one week period.
The owner would come out in the morning to see their brand new truck sitting on bricks. Apparently the thieves just bought the lock keys at the dealer.

That always surprised me, because my wife's '03 Rav4 alarm was so dang sensitive that it would go off if a garbage truck drove by too close. I can't imagine anyone lifting it, then stealing the wheels, then lowering it again without it going off.
 
Car thieves specifically targeted cars with The Club, a device intended to ‘deter’ thieves from taking your car by making it less inviting but instead actually makes it easier to steal:
http://freakonomics.com/2010/06/08/what-car-thieves-think-of-the-club/

Wheel lug locks will also attract thieves, according to some cops I have spoken with. They advertise that you think enough of your wheels to spend money to lock them up (especially if you have stock wheels) - so what are the chances that there is also stuff inside the vehicle to steal whose security is also easily defeated?
 
Spktyr said:
Car thieves specifically targeted cars with The Club, a device intended to ‘deter’ thieves from taking your car by making it less inviting but instead actually makes it easier to steal:
What Car Thieves Think of the Club - Freakonomics Freakonomics

Wheel lug locks will also attract thieves, according to some cops I have spoken with. They advertise that you think enough of your wheels to spend money to lock them up (especially if you have stock wheels) - so what are the chances that there is also stuff inside the vehicle to steal whose security is also easily defeated?
Click to expand...

I don't buy this line of thinking. So, does that mean people with an alarm sign in front of their house are more prone to get broken into because it presents more of a challenge to the thieves or the thieves think there must be some really good shit to steal in the house? Sorry, but I call BS on this. Criminals look for easy targets. Why are they going to risk getting caught making noise pounding a socket or extractor onto a locking lug nut so they can remove it when they can make no noise on somebody else's wheels with no locks. A locking lug nut isn't going to make somebody think the wheels and tires are worth a lot. The thieves know what they are worth at a glance.

Most of us have heard about catalytic converter thefts. The reason why the criminals choose SUVs and trucks is because they can easily slip under the rig due to it's height and disconnect or saw the catalytic converter out. Under your line of thinking, they would choose a passenger car instead because it's more of a challenge due to the fact they have to jack up the vehicle to get underneath it.

Same goes for home burglaries. Criminals will go into the backyard and look for an open sliding glass door or window so they don't have to make any noise to get in. Yes, there are dumb criminals. The jails and prisons are full of them. But, the smart ones have a good system and don't get caught.

So, I guess I should just stop locking my vehicles and my home because it will make me more susceptible to getting broken into. On second thought, no, I won't.
 
I use a cheep 12pt socket and hammer it on. But like posted any stripped bolt extractor socket will work out in the field.


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cheap and easy

just buy a 12 point socket that is 1 size smaller than the nuts, hammer it on and then just use a socket wrench or bar to remove it. i stripped my lock nut key and this is how i removed my lock nuts. cheap and easy, i think i spent $10 max.
 
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