A frequent complaint heard from new jeep owners is that the wheels seem awfully tight when removal is attempted..

Well.....the answer is pretty simple as long as you remember it .. Originally your flatty came with the left side lug nuts threaded backwards, aka left hand threads. You turn them to the RIGHT to loosen them. Supposedly this kept the wheels from loosening on their own...

Over the years things happen though..like lugs get broken and replaced with right hand ones, drum/hub assemblies get swapped side to side, etc. So check those threads before you bust your gut  or the stud trying to remove those wheels.

And, as always, some patience and your favorite rust removal juice like P-Blaster or Kroil or liquid wrench is always helpful when the rusties have seized things up. Wire brush things shiny bright and use a dab of Never Seez on the studs for reassembly to help out the next guy.

On some vehicles the left handed nuts had a machined in groove around them to identify them as left hand....but I don't think too many jeeps used them. (Its the same thing as left handed acetylene fittings) Good idea, looking at the end of the stud. I left that out...I will usually wire brush the stud if it is rusty and run a fingernail in a thread to see which way moves it away from the nut and off the stud. I guess if you really wanted a foolproof method you could try a known left and right handed nut on what sticks out, if there is enough stud sticking out to do that with.

The PO of my '54 3B had done an almost complete brake job before I bought it. He swapped out all the left hand thread studs for normals. But my '57 Wagon has all the originals. I still have to stop and think before I turn a lug wrench on that one.