[usedtobeayooper]

Curious on the consensus…

I have applied a small amount of anti-seize to the wheel lugs before re-installing tires on vehicles, trailers, etc., for decades. Always. Because I can’t stand stuck bolts. And…. I’ve never had a wheel back its way off.

Yesterday, I removed the wheels from my tandem boat trailer to drop them off to get new rubber mounted, and they clearly did not have any. Those SOB’s were freakin’ on there… pneumatic impact left me down… so it became a breaker bar and extension deal even after an hour soak with PB Blaster. There would have been no way I’d have gotten them off on the side of the road had it became necessary.

That said…. Once I had them off and was cleaning up, my neighbor spotted me with a celebratory drink in hand and wandered over for one of his own. While I was complaining about how the 30 min process ran extra long because of the last guy’s lack of anti-seize, he proceeded to tell me that it should never be applied to lugs. Stuff like: “It will all but certainly cause them to loosen over time”… and “the final torque will be higher than the gauge reads”.... technically the torque part could have a small amount accuracy to it, but I'd argue small enough to be negligible in this application.

So, I googled it just now for fun… inter-webs seem mixed. I see no need to alter my long serving tradition, but I am curious what others have to say… so what’s the consensus? Anti-seize or dry?

 

[onlinebiker]

I have used anti- seize on ALL lug nuts ( or bolts) for almost 50 years on a wide variety of vehicles and trailers and have NEVER had one loosen up on it's own.

But I HAVE broke a stud or two because some lazy git did NOT use it......

 

[oaksrus]

Use it on everything, especially stainless bolts. In the past 50 years I've never had one back off. The stuff is the gift that that keeps on giving though, get it on your hands and it ends up on everything.

 

[Luv2hunteup]

The general rule of thumb is 30% less torque vs dry.

 

[Mark4486]

Use it on everything, especially stainless bolts. In the past 50 years I've never had one back off. The stuff is the gift that that keeps on giving though, get it on your hands and it ends up on everything.

Quick tip for that is to put some on a shop towel and just wipe each bolt or stud before screwing it’s down. This way your not fighting with globs of it on the brush. Something I have been doing for years.

 

[Mark4486]

I use it and have heard the controversy over it but from someone who has wrenched for years like many of you I would rather deal with a bolt or nut backing off then one that breaks. Especially it it a bolt that breaks clean level with let’s say an engine block and you can’t get a drill in there. “Cough cough” manifold bolts!!!
Torque specs on wheel are a bit exaggerated anyways it’s not heart surgery, if they are in the ball park you’ll be ok.

 

[stevieblunder]

I wondered the same thing on this issue, although it's only been in about the last year that I've heard its a big no-no. It had me a little worried untill I realised that I had been slathering anti-seize on lug nuts for at least 40 years. Never had one back off or snap later on because of over tightening. Guess I've been lucky as I've never used a torque wrench either. Always just made them as tight as I could with a 4 way wrench when the tire is on the ground.

 

[Lucky Dog]

 

[Lucky Dog]

I use a little dab of bearing grease.

 

[MossyHorns]

I found out the hard way years ago to never use an big impact to remove lug nuts from a trailer. The stud spun inside the hub and ended up having to buy new hubs. Had to weld the studs to the hub just to get the wheels off.

 

[Luv2hunteup]

View attachment 839552

isn’t that the truth!

 

[kroppe]

Time for a higher capacity impact wrench.

Anti-seize affects bolt tension at a given torque. It does not affect applied torque. Tension relates to fatigue life and bolt reserve strength during impacts.

If you torque lug nuts with a torque wrench, reduce the torque as mentioned above to achieve the same tension.

I would not use anti seize on a car/truck because it’s too easy to exceed the design tension. Yielding the wheel stud, breaking or fatiguing it could produce interesting handling characteristics when least expected (think trike).

All trailers are made with far lower quality components than cars and trucks are. Unless you have replaced hub studs with high quality aftermarket parts, rust will be a reality over a long ownership period. In which case I do use a small amount of anti-seize. Just a dab will do ya.

 

[Scout 2]

I have used anti- seize on ALL lug nuts ( or bolts) for almost 50 years on a wide variety of vehicles and trailers and have NEVER had one loosen up on it's own.

But I HAVE broke a stud or two because some lazy git did NOT use it......

You know those diecast machines that run 24 hrs a day Every bolt on the ones we made have never seize on them. When they came back for rebuilt after many years the never seeize set up hard. I have seen breaker bar with 6 foot of pipe on it hooked to the over head crane used to break some of the bigger bolts loose..None that I know of never loosened up

 

[homebrew87]

I don't use anti-seize, but my grandpa always had one of those old school oil cans filled with straight 30 weight. He would give everything a squirt when putting stuff back together, including lug nuts. When he passed i got the oil can and have been doing the same on all my junk. Seems to help, never had anything come loose yet.

I do use never seize on anything stainless, its a must if you plan on getting it apart.

Sent from my SM-A326U using Michigan Sportsman mobile app

 

[22 Chuck]

My tire guy dont use it.
I used to rotate regularly and used couple drops of oil on each stud. Later got a torque wrench and probably torqued nuts much less that w/out.

 

[piscatorial warrior]

Never seize every time. Just picked up a new tube of it today as a matter of fact.

 

[shell waster]

Lithium on mine for years..never an issue, and loosen my trailer lugs once per year and retighten....oh yeah and repack bearings once every 2 years...bearing more likely to sieze vs blowing a tire imo. Steel +aluminum = headache. We helped a guy one time on the side of the road, luckily we had a propane torch and got his lugs on his boat trailer pretty hot. I asked him if he had ever changed the tires "nope, ain't broke don't fix it, 12 years old"...I wanted to kick him in the rear, 3 kids in the car and you are too lazy to do 5 minutes of maintenance

 

[On Target]

I bought a 1/2" Milwaukee impact last year after breaking a lug nut off my son's neon using a breaker bar and 6' pipe. I was surprised how well it took the rest of the lug nuts off that I could barely budge with above method. I keep it in vehicle with appropriate impact sockets for all lug nuts used. I use a breaker bar or torque wrench for installing nuts back on.

 

[ajkulish]

When assembling the most critical components in your engine, you still oil your bolts. This reduces the amount of friction on the threaded surface and allows you to actually generate more torque when tightening your fastener, increasing the clamp load. Anti sieze actually works similarly, though does not have the same low friction coefficient of oil or assembly lube, so you are likely a lot closer to the factory dry torque recommendations than if you used oil. The thread pitch of fasteners is designed to not back off if properly torqued. This is the case for all fasteners.

 

[Levelpebble Angler]

Im a semi-truck/trailer mechanic and I know I woild be fired if I put anti-sieze on lugs. We do however put a drop of gear lube on the stud before screwing the lugs on. For us we always fo back after the lug gun with a torque wrench set at 500ftlbs. For my boat trailer and personal vehicles I do the same process but with my Milwaukee impact then I go back with my 1/2" ratchet and make sure they are as tight as I can get with that then check it again after the first trip on the road. I never use anti-sieze on threads. Red locktight for permant applications and blue locktight on semi permanent.