Last Sunday was one of those rare really good late winter days here in the North West. So, I decided it would be a good time to start on Jake the '52 2R 1/2 ton. I figured a good way to start would be to get him up in the air and remove the wheels. Now before I go any further, you gotta remember that Jake had been sitting in a dirt floored shed for the 15+ years before I got him. So Armed with a new can of WD-40 and a decent lug wrench I attacked the wheels. First I gave all the lugs a good shot of WD-40 then went to the driver's side front, put the lug wrench on the nut that was at the 1 o'clock position and twisted. Nothing... So I got a better position and twisted again. Again nothing. Took the wrench off, gave another shot of WD-40 and tried another lug nut. Again no success. Gave that on another shot of WD-40, moved on repeated the process. 15 minutes later all the lug nuts were still securely in place and my wrench had a permanent 45 degree twist in it.
So it was time for the heavy artery. Back into the garage and get a 3/4 inch box end and a hand sledge. I sat myself down on the concrete pad, put the box end on that nut in the one o'clock position and proceeded to beat the bejeebers out of it. After a few good hits, the nut moved. A few more hits and it was moving relatively easily. So I shifted over to a 1/2 ' drive socket wrench with a deep socket and tried to twist. Nothing! Back to the hand sledge and beating. After about 5 minutes the nut was finally off. YIPPEEEEEEE!!!!! I moved on the next one and repeated the process. Two and a half hours and one bashed finger later, all four wheels off and Jake was on jack stands.
Next project is to get the brake drums off. It took three of us REALLY PUSHING to get Jake off the trailer. Three of the four drums are pretty well frozen, so wish me luck.