Question on Locking Lug Nuts

[Sunshine Rivera]

So, Im assuming you found all these other cheaper prices after the fact? I guess the reason why I'm saying I would've called around first to get some prices is because it seems like you just settled for the one you called which was pretty high.

Yes, I called a couple tire shops and most said they don't do road service. Tire Kingdom suggested I call this guy. I was on my way to a dr appt. & was going to be late. This dr won't see you if you show up 15 min late and all I could do because it was lunch time was get their voice mail. I was panicked that I was sitting on the side of the road, late (possibly losing my appt) & and I failed to ask him how much he would charge. Yes, that was on me. But it still doesn't give him the right to gouge me!

 

[Sunshine Rivera]

The last time I had the truck towed the towing company told me before I ever hung up how much it would cost for the call and how much per mile. THAT is an honest business!

 

[corneileous]

Yes, I called a couple tire shops and most said they don't do road service. Tire Kingdom suggested I call this guy. I was on my way to a dr appt. & was going to be late. This dr won't see you if you show up 15 min late and all I could do because it was lunch time was get their voice mail. I was panicked that I was sitting on the side of the road, late (possibly losing my appt) & and I failed to ask him how much he would charge. Yes, that was on me. But it still doesn't give him the right to gouge me!

Oh ok, I was just curious. And he shouldn’t gouge but sometimes that’s just the name of the game I’m afraid.

I think for next time I’d look into a good roadside assistance program and made sure I got the wheel lock key back from the road call guy instead of relying on them to do their job and remember themselves. Of course, if you win judgement in your case, disregard most of what I said but if you don’t, hopefully you won’t, I wouldn’t do anything involving repair until a lawyer is contacted if you run into this again so you don’t get further stiffed. Good luck.

 

[Sunshine Rivera]

Thank you Corneileous. Thanks for all your wonderful help. It will make a difference. Merry Christmas!!

 

[corneileous]

Thank you Corneileous. Thanks for all your wonderful help. It will make a difference. Merry Christmas!!

You're welcome and hopefully I didn't come off too harsh as that wasn't the intent...lol. Can't be too careful these days as there's some crooked people out there anymore it seems like.

 

[fulltimerart]

My dealer told me that all techs there have a set of the special sockets or keys so they don't have to go thru your stuff to find yours to do a rotation. Of course that is for factory or dealer lock-nuts.

 

[corneileous]

My dealer told me that all techs there have a set of the special sockets or keys so they don't have to go thru your stuff to find yours to do a rotation. Of course that is for factory or dealer lock-nuts.

The dealer’s probably just like any other shop that has those special sockets with the left-hand threads in them that you would use to remove a heavily stripped nut that pretty much works opposite of the same principle as those easy outs where you drill a hole in the stud, pound the tool in it and basically turn the tool lefty Lucy but the threads on the easy out actually twist deeper and harder on the stud you’re trying to remove which would make sense being that she said she was charged $300 to have the old nuts removed and the brand new nuts put on.

 

[Marshall]

I have never used mine, truck sits in garage all the time, I think I still have the set of a 2009 as well, but I am a long ways away. I have a set of customs wheels with ice tires that use a different socket
You Florida people will not now WTH I am taking about ,LOL.

 

[corneileous]

Even though they are still defeatable, I’d much rather have my locking wheel nuts on there as opposed to not having them at all because they do still act as a deterrent. But actually if you look at one of those locking wheel nuts from Mopar, I like that they’re not completely flat on the sides of the nuts which would actually make it rather difficult and finding the right size plane socket to hammer on there or even one of those tools I talked about and even then, there’s also a steel band that’s not even part of the lug nut itself that wraps around the side of it so, even if you were able to hammer something on there, that steel band isn’t going to grab the lug nut so I’m kind of curious what the dealership had to do to remove those off the OP’s truck.

 

[Marshall]

I would think that a dealer could just order a socket for these trucks. All the different trucks would use the same type of lock would they not , or are they like door keys, every on different? I could see that being a pita. I will have to go out to the shop and check the 2 sets I have .

 

[yomanne]

Here are a couple screenshots showing the equipment listing from the website https://fcacommunity.force.com/RAM/s/equipment-listing

I also have a 2014 Ram and my listing is six pages long. Locking lug nuts are listed in the Options section and don't show up until the last page. I just tried the website again to make sure it still works. It does.

My locking lug nuts (and keys) are in a drawer. Too much hassle and I seriously doubt anyone would want to steal my wheels.

Good luck.

 

[62Blazer]

I'm not trying to bash the OP by any means, but a few comments:
Locking lug nuts are not a big deal. It's one of those things that keeps an honest person honest. Every tire shop I know of has a set of locking lug removal sockets which you can get for $25 off Amazon. I would say any AAA or other road service company has a set on their truck at all times because there is a good chance it will be needed. It also does not take much longer to remove a locking lug than a standard. Not sure why you would need to go the a dealer to have them removed regardless of where they originated from as the removal process is the same.
Regarding the cost of the road service......if a shop says it will cost XX amount for a service and you agree to it there is no "unreasonable" about it. To be honest $150 doesn't sound outrageous as in my experience most mobile services charge around that amount minimum especially when in an emergency situation (where you don't schedule an appointment ahead of time).

 

[LouM]

The $150 for emergency road side service is high but not really unreasonable.
$300 to remove 5 lugs and replace them is.
When I traded my 15 in for my 19 the locking lugs were still in a plastic bag in the glove box,
I'm not sure if the 19 has them in the truck or not, they certainly are NOT installed.

 

[corneileous]

The $150 for emergency road side service is high but not really unreasonable.
$300 to remove 5 lugs and replace them is.
When I traded my 15 in for my 19 the locking lugs were still in a plastic bag in the glove box,
I'm not sure if the 19 has them in the truck or not, they certainly are NOT installed.

The Mopar lugnuts themselves are only about $50-$55 depending on where you buy them and even though I have no idea what the shop’s labor rate is, being that she had no key because the crackhead service call guy lost it, who knows what all the shop had to do to remove four wheel locks without the key and like I was saying yesterday on how the locking lug nuts for these Rams not only have a rounded shape aside from the flat shape most other locking lug nuts have and on top of that, they have that steel band around it. I really don’t even know if the typical wheel lock removal tool even worked in that situation. But since all this occurred at the dealer, I think it’s safe to assume that most of us know that anything at the dealer’s not gonna be cheap.

 

[67440dodge]

Even though they are still defeatable, I’d much rather have my locking wheel nuts on there as opposed to not having them at all because they do still act as a deterrent. But actually if you look at one of those locking wheel nuts from Mopar, I like that they’re not completely flat on the sides of the nuts which would actually make it rather difficult and finding the right size plane socket to hammer on there or even one of those tools I talked about and even then, there’s also a steel band that’s not even part of the lug nut itself that wraps around the side of it so, even if you were able to hammer something on there, that steel band isn’t going to grab the lug nut so I’m kind of curious what the dealership had to do to remove those off the OP’s truck.

Air chisel

 

[corneileous]

Air chisel

Wouldn’t an air chisel be just asking to mess up a wheel?

 

[huntergreen]

Sunshine, might I suggest joining trippleA. Might have saved a big headache.

 

[McDigger]

I got my locking lug nut socket for my recently purchased 2020 Scat Pack. Didnt come with vehicle, finding out later. A company called McGard makes them for a lot of companies. Went to their website mcgard.com. Sent a couple good pictures of the locking lug. They compared it, found one to match and shipped it within a few days. All for less than $17. Fit perfect first time. If not would have had to pay for postage to return and send another etc. Good pictures are a must. Hope this helps someone.

 

[DILLIGAF]

First thing I do with locking nuts is remove them and throw them in the trash.

 

[ACEd]

I have locking lug nuts on my 2014 Ram Laramie Longhorn. I had to have a tire changed. The service man who came out failed to put the key back where I kept it with the jack & handle. When I realized it I went to their place of business to ask for my key back. He said he mistakenly put the key on the bumper and it must have fallen off when I took off. Of course, after searching, we couldn't find it. (Not sure he just didn't keep it) Anyway, I told him I wanted it replaced. I called a few tire shops and they said since it was Original Manufacturer's Equipment they couldn't touch it. I would have to take it to the dealer. So I did. They charged me $288.86 to remove the old locking lugs and replace with new Mopar locking lugs. The owner of the service shop has refused to pay for the new locking lugs. I now have to take him to small claims court. Since I bought the truck used I don't have the Monroney but I found one on line. It doesn't list the locking lugs as an OME. It does show a Customer Preferred Package 26K and I am wondering if the locking lugs are in that package. I need to try to let the court know that these, in fact, were original MOPAR parts. My attorney states that if they were Mopar parts then I am justified to require the shop owner to replace with Mopar parts. Like item for like item.

Where can I get any further info on the old locking lug nuts. Hopefully some of ya'll will have some suggestions. BTW, I'm a Ram Girl and thrilled to find this forum!! Thanks and Merry Christmas. Sunshine

I think you may be missing a point - the $288 was apparently for parts and LABOR - the majority of it is probably for labor particularly if they had to cut old locks off to replace. And that labor would be pretty much the same whether they are MOPAR or aftermarket and you would pay labor anywhere except dealer who screwed up. The PARTS = locking lug nuts would probably be about $50 either way. Not sure why any tire dealer refused to deal with removal as unfortunately lost keys is not an uncommon problem.

As to Original Equipment or MOPAR Accessory or Aftermarket, the cost of the locks should be about $50. The factory locks are made by McGard and are available from MOPAR under a special part number, but are pretty much identical to those you can buy directly from McGard or Amazon or any tire dealer.

It would be uncommon to find wheel locks as Original Equipment on Monroney sticker - maybe a dealer adds sticker if there was one, but there will be no record of that. Its most likely a dealer add or item purchased by previous owner. My dealer added locks as standard practice, but it only showed up on purchase docs as $99 dealer installed addon which I thought was reasonable - had a different dealer quote $499 for same locks on new truck.

One thing I would do ASAP if you now have new locks is to register with McGard and purchase a spare key - there should be a small card with locks to do that.

PS - your problem may be with the $288, particularly if they were MOPAR or MOPAR factory Accessory locks - my son who works at a tire dealer says they have a set of about 20+ McGard keys that fit most locks and better still, car dealers have a set of keys for their recent factory accessory locks (since about 2015 maybe earlier) - hence the unique McGard number for factory locks vs generic McGard of same size. If dealer had a key and did not have to cut off you probably got overcharged for labor by dealer. And even if they cut off, $200 + for labor seems high.