Apparatus for loosening vehicle wheel lugs

A support apparatus for removing lugs from a vehicle wheel comprises a U shaped base member having a central rod rotatably coupled between the upstanding arms of the U via coaxial apertures in each arm. A T shaped section is located between the upstanding arms and is rigidly secured to the rod. A large lever arm is selectively inserted into the T shaped section to enable a user to develop a large torque while resting his foot and hence, applying his full body weight to the base of the U shaped member which is resting upon the ground when a force is exerted upon the upstanding lever arm. Once the lug is turned, the lever arm may be removed and the user has access to the rotatable rod to further rotate the lug so that it may be completely removed from the wheel.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to apparatus for loosening of wheel nuts or lugs on 
a vehicle wheel and more particularly to an adjustable support apparatus 
capable of providing a great deal of torque to facilitate the removal of a 
wheel lug or nut from an automobile or other vehicle. 
Anyone who has ever repaired a flat tire or removed a tire from an 
automobile knows the difficulty in imparting a sufficient force by using a 
conventional lug wrench to "break" or rotate a wheel lug. The problem even 
becomes more difficult for those persons who are physically weaker than 
average individuals, such as females and so on. 
As is known, a conventional lug wrench used to loosen wheel nuts is of an L 
shaped configuration having a handle portion of a sufficient length to 
provide a mechanical advantage to enable a user to develop a fairly large 
torque with a given imparted force. In these devices, great care has to be 
taken so as to not twist or pull the wrench so that it disengages from the 
lug and hence, may cause injury to the vehicle or to the user. 
The prior art is cognizant of such problems and hence, there are a 
plurality of patents which attempt to obviate the problems by providing 
support devices which serve to increase the mechanical advantage and tend 
to provide greater stability to the apparatus, as will be explained. many 
such devices are not amenable to be used with automobiles as they cannot 
be easily stored in the trunk of the vehicle due to their size and 
construction. Other devices are extremely difficult to manufacture as they 
are relatively complicated and hence, present difficulties both in 
construction and in use. It is, of course, understood that many such 
devices relate to the removal of wheel lugs or nuts from all types of 
vehicles, including trucks and so on. 
Typical of such prior art techniques is the apparatus depicted in U.S. Pat. 
No. 2,447,919 entitled ADJUSTABLE SUPPORT issued on Aug. 24, 1948 to A. F. 
Teigen. This patent discloses a wrench shank which is secured to a slide, 
which slide is mounted on a support stand for vertical movement. The 
patent discloses a clamping structure which will clamp the mechanisms to a 
tubular base member. 
U.S. Pat. No. 2,960,895 issued on Nov. 22, 1960 entitled WRENCH SUPPORT by 
G. Richards depicts a relatively complicated mechanism which is adjustable 
and includes a wheel base arrangement having three transverse arms and is 
particularly adapted for use in a terminal facility such as a garage and 
so on. 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,097,550 entitled LUG WRENCH SUPPORT by H. H. Johnston 
issued on July 16, 1963 depicarrangement having three transverse arms and 
is particularly adapted for use in a terminal facility such as a garage 
and so on. 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,097,550 entitled LUG WRENCH SUPPORT by H. H. Johnston 
issued on July 16, 1963 depicts a jack type assembly which is vertically 
adjusted to permit an outer supported end of a lug wrench to be elevated 
and adjusted. 
Other patents such as U.S. Pat. No. 3,730,027 entitled ADJUSTABLE TRUCK 
WRENCH SUPPORT issued on May 1, 1973 to D. M. Rohn depicts a jack like 
stand for supporting the shaft of a lug wrench, which apparatus includes a 
pair of telescoping tubular members mounted on a foldable base assembly. 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,832,917 entitled A DEVICE FOR LOOSENING WHEEL NUTS OR LUGS 
OF AUTOMOBILE WHEELS issued on Sept. 3, 1974 to F. Feith depicts an 
upstanding rod like member with a support base having a slidable collar, 
which collar can be vertically positioned by means of a thumb screw 
adjustment. 
As one will ascertain by a perusal of the above noted patents, such devices 
are relatively complicated, difficult to operate and adjust, and many are 
not suitable for containment within the trunk of a vehicle, as they are 
large and cumbersome to operate, use and store. 
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved apparatus 
particularly adapted to loosen wheel lugs, while providing a simple and 
economical configuration capable of affording a large mechanical advantage 
to thereby enable a physically weak individual to remove a lug or nut in 
an extremely reliable and efficient manner. 
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Apparatus for loosening and removing vehicle wheel lugs comprises a U 
shaped base member having a first aperture located on a first upstanding 
arm of said U and a second coaxial aperture located on said second 
upstanding arm of said U, a central rod member rotatably positioned within 
said apertures, said rod extending from one side of said U and terminating 
in a socket member adapted to coact with said wheel lug, a lever arm 
coupled to said rod between said upstanding arms and adapted when pivoted 
to rotate said rod to impart a large torque to said socket member with 
said base of said U shaped member positioned at an angle on the ground to 
provide a support for the foot of a user when pivoting said lever arm to 
enable said user to apply his body weight to said base when accessing said 
lever arm.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a typical vehicle wheel or tire 10. As 
is well known, a tire such as 10 may be associated with an automobile, 
truck or other type of vehicle. The tire 10 is mounted on the vehicle by 
means of conventional lugs 12 which are positioned peripherally within the 
rim 11. 
The lugs 12 are conventionally emplaced upon the threaded shafts associated 
with a vehicle wheel and are tightened by the utilization of relatively 
large forces. It is, of course, known that after extensive use, the nut 
becomes more firmly engaged upon the stud and hence, is extremely 
difficult to remove. 
As will be explained, in order to facilitate the removal of a lug as 12, 
there is shown a wrench support device 20 according to this invention. The 
device 20 consists of a U shaped base member 21. The base member 21 has a 
rotatable cross bar 22 which is coupled via a T connection to a large 
lever arm 24. The lever arm 24 is removably coupled via the T connection 
25 to the rotatable cross bar 22. In this manner, a user can impart a 
large force on the lug which is to be removed. 
The U shaped base member 21 serves a dual purpose. The user, in exerting a 
force in the direction of arrow 30 of FIG. 1, may grasp the lever arm 24 
with one or two hands and place his foot on the base portion of the U 
while doing so. In this manner, a large torque is provided which enables 
the user to easily break or turn the lug and hence, aids in facilitating 
removal of the same. The lever arm 24, as will be explained, is typically 
about 36" long and approximately 5/8" in diameter and is fabricated from a 
strong structural material such as steel. 
Referring to FIG. 2, there is shown a front view of the wrench assembly 20. 
As can be seen, the U shaped member 21 has a bottom base section 32 which 
rests upon the ground as shown in FIG. 1. The base section 32 is 
approximately 6" long and the entire member 21 may be fabricated from an 
integral steel U shaped member or may be formed as a composite structure. 
The member 21 has two apertures as 33 and 34 coaxially located on the 
upstanding arms of the U structure. A central rod 22 is rotatably 
positioned within the apertures 33 and 34 and is surrounded by a first 
outer pipe section 36 which may be welded at both ends of aperture 34 to 
the base member 21. 
The rotatable rod 22 is coupled to a conventional hex head socket 40, which 
socket is selected to accommodate the typical lug or nut associated with a 
vehicle wheel. The rod 22, as seen in FIG. 2, is directed through 
apertures 34 and 33. A portion of the rod as directed through aperture 33, 
is also surrounded by a short length of pipe 37 and is rotatably retained 
within aperture 33 by means of a locking nut 38. 
Centrally located about rod 22 is a T shaped section 41. The T shaped 
section 41 constitutes a tubular section 42 which is rigidly coupled to 
rod 22. The lever arm 24 is removably inserted into section 42 by means of 
a screw thread or by a slip fit. A rubber covering member 43 surrounds the 
tubular section 42 at a suitable distance to enable a user to easily 
insert or remove the lever arm 24, as will be further explained. 
FIG. 3 depicts a side view of the apparatus 20 shown in FIG. 2. The width W 
of the U shaped member is approximately 3/16", while the height H is 
approximately 16" and the U shaped member 21 may be fabricated from 1/4" 
steel stock. 
As can be seen from FIGS. 1 and 2, the U shaped member 21 is tilted at an 
angle when the hex head socket 40 is coupled to a lug 12 associated with a 
vehicle wheel 10. The operator, by emplacing one or two feet on the base 
32, now provides a force in the direction of arrow 30, which serves to 
loosen the nut. The operator can then proceed to loosen each nut on the 
wheel assembly in the same manner as the U shaped base 20 is completely 
adjustable. 
It is further seen that any nut can be completely removed from the wheel 
assembly using this apparatus. Hence, once the lug is loosened, the 
operator may then remove the lever 24 from the T section 42 and grasp the 
rubber covered projection 42 and rotate it in a direction to completely 
remove the nut from the wheel. It is, of course, understood that once the 
lever 24 is removed, one can easily rotate member 42 without interference 
and hence, completely remove the nut by a multiple rotation. 
Referring to FIG. 4, there is shown a similar configuration as that 
depicted in FIG. 3 with the U shaped base member 21 in partial section. 
The same reference numerals have been retained to depict similar 
functioning parts. 
In this embodiment, the rod 22 as directed through aperture 33 terminates 
in a socket configuration 50. Hence, a user can mow emplace a conventional 
ratchet type wrench 51 within the aperture 50 and serve to rotate the hex 
socket 40 as coupled to rod 22 by conventional ratchet operation, thus 
completely removing the lug nut from the wheel. 
It is understood that based on the above described operations, there is 
never any interference with the ground or the automobile in completely 
breaking and removing a lug nut from a vehicle tire. 
As is understood, the rod 22 may be fabricated as two individual rods which 
are welded together after emplacement of the surrounding piping sections 
by a conventional weld as weld 55 shown in FIG. 2. 
As should be clear, the unit 20 is extremely compact as the base member 21 
is relatively flat and hence, can be easily stored in the trunk of the 
vehicle after the lever arm 24 is removed. 
The unit is extremely simple to operate as there is no critical adjustment 
mechanisms or mechanical skill necessary to employ the unit. The units 
depicted in FIGS. 2 and 4 are each capable of removing a nut after 
overcoming the seating torque. The operation is extremely simple, while 
the mechanism provided is extremely reliable to use and fabricate. A user 
can completely remove or break the seating torque associated with a lug, 
while standing completely erect and hence, there is no particular strain 
imparted on the back muscles of a user, as would be present in prior art 
devices. The U shaped base frame, besides providing a foot support to 
enable greater torque, serves to stabilize the unit by the U shaped member 
digging into the ground and hence, providing a uniform support on uneven 
ground or ground covered with snow and so on. 
It is, of course, understood that the sizes of the unit can be varied, if 
necessary, to accommodate any type of vehicle and hence, to accommodate 
various size automobile rims and so on. By aligning the hex socket member 
40 with the lug, the U shaped frame is automatically positioned and 
adjusted due to the manner of coupling the same to the rotatable central 
rod 22. 
It can thus be seen that the above wrench apparatus is designed to 
facilitate the removal of lugs from vehicle wheels and to provide an 
extremely high torque to fully unseat such a lug, while enabling an 
operator to access the rotable rod to completely remove the nut from the 
wheel stud. 
It should thus be apparent to those skilled in the art that the invention 
has great utility and many alternate configurations and embodiments should 
become evident upon reading this specification and hence, all such 
modifications and alterations are deemed to fall within the spirit and 
scope of the invention as defined by the claims appended hereto.