Tight Lug Nuts!

[Crithpy Critter]

Originally Posted by cutter

Dang. It must be a Studebaker.
Don't feel too bad, Stone. Our heads all have bones in them.

oh - but I think you meant mentally deprived.

well, some of us are depraved, and some deprived, but all of us are not as smart as John Kerry

[moe1942]

Originally Posted by Shade Tree Welder

if'n y'all not out makin' mistakes, then you must be sittin' on your ***....

Ron, hate to tell ya son, but that accent will gitcha busted here.. It's all y'all..

[RED caddy]

Hey Ron, I learned that 10 % rule as a pup too, at the knee of a crusty old BTCM, passed it on to every pup that would listen too, I still use it, hope it's right... RED

[kbs2244]

I think I learned the "leftside is right hand, right side is left hand" rule on a 1957 Plymouth.
But I have always been afraid of lubing lug nuts since I had a rear wheel almost come off with a car full of kids. It was wobbling enough that I stopped to see what was wrong. Good thing I took off the hub cap. I had worked on the rear breaks the day befor and lubed the studs before mounting the wheels. It was less then 50 miles and the wheels were almost off the car!
Has nobody had this problem with lubed studs?

[midmosandblasting]

My understanding is it had to do with the direction of rotation of the wheel .That way as a car went forward the wheel rotation would not assist the losening of the lug nuts. Any of you older guys got a different idea.I believe that to be the explanation given by one of the old wheel design engineers .He was in his 70's in the 70's .We used to keep the old hands on retainer for those wtfh cases.Now you are a liability .

[cwgrizz]

Mid,

Your explanation is correct. The lugs on Fords, Chryslers, and many others had a left and right hand threads. The left hand threads were on the left side (driver's side) of the vehicle and the right hand were on the right side (passenger side) of the vehicle. The theory was that as the vehicle went forward the rotation of the wheels would keep the lug nuts or bolts tight.

By the way I don't think I am one of the older guys, but hey I guess I am getting there.

Take care,

[midmosandblasting]

Yea but I am still young enough to have only owned 1 of the vehicals with this idea.I don't know what older is anymore. Heck Lw claims to be 104 and still working every day ,and we have neils that has shown some very beautiful work.

[kbs2244]

So, I guess I got which side is which wrong?
Maybe because they don't do it on cars anymore. When everybody when to power wrench’s, they got the bolts tight enough that somebody decided it wasn't going to come off by itself. And besides, the kids at the tire stores kept stripping the threads when they forgot to reverse the wrench.
I do believe the big trucks still do it though. Some of those lug nuts are pretty big and could build of some rotational inertia.

[moe1942]

Originally Posted by midmosandblasting

My understanding is it had to do with the direction of rotation of the wheel .That way as a car went forward the wheel rotation would not assist the losening of the lug nuts. Any of you older guys got a different idea.I believe that to be the explanation given by one of the old wheel design engineers .He was in his 70's in the 70's .We used to keep the old hands on retainer for those wtfh cases.Now you are a liability .

Bingo. Also if the stud isn't marked there are always enough threads showing to figure it out. And remember, if you put the nuts on with an impact what are you gonna take them off with on the side of the road.

[Sberry]

That was one of my points earlier, just cause someone puts them on with an impact it doesn't mean screw them as tight as they can get them. They still need to run with the proper torque. I will agree that the figure is closer to 10% with the sauce on them but thats kind of the reason for the right oil and as was said, messy, and I am a clean mechanic.