Lug nut issues?! Self-loosening and broken nuts?

[BajaHubby]

Has anyone had problems with lug nuts loosening themselves on their Baja?

When we drove ours home from Colo. a few years ago I noticed a few were loose on one wheel when I gave the truck a good "once over" check when we got home. I assumed maybe the detailer at the dealer had removed the wheels to give everything a good cleaning and hadn't quite tightened them up. I snugged them up and never gave them another thought.

Now for the second time since then I've found loose ones again. This time on the same wheel (left, front). The previous time I don't recall which wheel it was. Maybe we just need to find a new tire shop, but I'm beginning to wonder.

Also, we recently had a flurry of broken off lugs. When we had the tires rotated and balanced in April, the tire shop reported that 3 lugs snapped off (some while loosening, some while tightening). They replaced all three since it happened while they worked on the truck, but within a week another broke off (I don't know if it was one they replaced or if it was one of the remaining two that head not been replaced). The tire shop swears they only snug the nuts with an air ratchet and use a torque wrench for the final torque.

[BajaHubby]

I should mention that all four broken lugs were on ONE TIRE.

[eodbaja]

i had issues like this on my g35. i pretty much broke off and replace all of my lugs. never had the loosening problem.

[bajamudd]

It sounds like the shop you're going to doesn't know what they are doing. Lug nuts and studs should not be breaking or loosening like you are explaining. Every couple hundred miles it is good to go around and retorque them as an extra precatiounary, but they shouldn't be loosening on their own. The only times mine have been loose, is because the garage or shop forgot to torqu them after snugging them with the impact gun. And if they are breaking while loosening, it means they were over tightened or crossthreaded and tightened.

[1stBaja]

FYI have an 05 with 200,000km. recent trip to Arizona and back, heard 1 lug go thru the wheel well at speed..thought a rock, in Reno passenger sees another lug fall off at slow speed. Recovered the nut and part of the lug was still in it. At the garage replace 2 lugs, test others and another one snaps off...replace 3 lugs. Figured the overtightening by previous owner. Get home and replace the other 17 remaining lugs. Done properly with torque wrench. 2 months later switch from winters to summers and 2 more lugs snap off in the nut. 5 months later and so far so good. Don't know what to say but be careful. Rims were all true..no wobbles.
No issues with self loosening but something weird with the lugs and nuts.