Lug nuts on demountable wheels

[Nunsio1]

Does anyone use a mild locktite product on wheel lug nuts. I always check mine before driving, I find one or two slightly loose, less than a 1/8 turn. Just trying to keep things safe. Thanks

[DanTreace]

Loose might indicate a rim bent or out of balance. Or the rim bolts and conical nuts are thread worn.

Once snugged, the nuts should remain tight without adhesive.

[Oldav8tor]

John,
Mine remain snug - I only torque them to about 25 ft-lbs. When I've put little sharpie pen marks on them to look for movement they never move. Like Dan says, maybe something else going on.

[Craig Leach]

Good for you we should check them every time we go for a drive. I dont use anything to lock the wheel nuts, that will make it hard to check & tighten them. Is it the same nut every time? If so I would recomend you check to see if the bolt is stretching. It may be about to fail. If they are original now would be a good time to replace them. I find a couple loose every once in awhile and they where new when I replaced the tires.
Craig.

[Rich Eagle]

I just tighten them reasonably tight with the spark plug/lug wrench. Dry, nothing added to the threads. In 57 years I don't recall any ever coming loose. these are cleaned originals as well as the new reproductions. Checking them would be wise.
Rich

[Nunsio1]

Everything is new.. wheels,bolts, nuts, tires w/ balance beads. Thanks for the info

[John kuehn]

Don’t use an impact wrench on Model T lug nuts ! Tighten good and snug with your spark plug wrench and that’s all you need. If you use a break over with the correct socket or a common 4 way lug wrench a good snug down is all you need. If they get loose something isn’t right. I’ve never used and lock tight or whatever but to each his own.

[CudaMan]

I've been fortunate in that I haven't had any issues with demountable wheel lug nuts loosening. I do check and snug them a few times after replacing a rim.

If you have Ford or Hayes style rims where the lugs are part of the rim and the nuts are conical on the back, do not tighten down the nuts to the point that you bend the lugs. There will be a gap between the lug and the rim when the torque is correct (see first two pictures).

If you have Kelsey rims with detached lugs and flat-back nuts, then the lugs do make firm contact with the rim and the raised notch on the inside of the rim (see second pair of pictures).

In either case, mild thread locker certainly won't hurt, IMO.

[Allan]

Kelsey 88 rims and loose lugs can lead to loose nuts. If there is any movement between the lug and the rim, the land on the rim wears. This wear can lead to the lug not tightening down on the worn land, and the nut can back off.

Allan from down under.

[RichardG]

we should put on a pilot's hat before taking off with our t--a walk around -and -oil check- water check -extra gas check -tools check- wheel lug nuts- check- lights- check-tire pressure, -were tooling around in a 100 year old, and playing around in today's traffic we need every advantage,i know this sounds foolish --but your the one that needs to look out for your safety-no one else is going to, take care of that old lady, she will reward you with years of pleasure,

[david_dewey]

If we are talking about the late Ford wire wheels, there may be a problem with your lug nuts. If you look at an original lug nut, the threaded portion doesn't start for about 1/4" in from the end of the lug. This is because the stud is not fully threaded to the very bottom. Reproduction lug nuts were made with threads all the way to the end, and they will tighten on the stud, and not the wheel. Easy enough solution is to put the lug nuts in a lathe and turn the threads off for about a 1/4" in. Perhaps current production is done correctly, I haven't purchased any in some time. I don't have a picture of this, but I intend on taking one soon, as I recently bought a bunch of parts and both styles were in the parts. The model A folks solution to this problem was to provide flared washers to put under the nuts, as someone thought the wheels were worn at the mounting holes! A case of not understanding the engineering. . . .

[david_dewey]

Here's a photo of two "new" lugs, however they are more than a few years old, but are two slightly different styles, and an original lug, showing the recessed threading.

Lug nut threads 2 forum.JPG (17.18 KiB) Viewed 4454 times

[Allan]

Mark, on or Canadian sourced Kelsey loose lug U shaped clamping pieces do NOT contact the outside of the felloe, unless,

a. The feet on the U shaped lug are worn, allowing it to go further on to the wheel bolt.
b. The land on the rim on which the short leg of the shaped lug has been worn, allowing the lug to go further on.
c. both the lug and the rim are worn.

Kelsey loose lug rims wedge onto the outer lip of the felloe. It is this wedging effect whicha llows the transmission of driving force from the wheel to the rim. If the lug was to be hard against the felloe, there may well be no tension in the assembly to maintain the wedging effect. With worn feet on the lug, worn lands on the rim, and lgs hard against the felloe, the rim cold well be loose on the wheel.
The same goes for fixed lug rims, except that these wedge on the wider inner land on the wheel felloe. The lugs stand off the felloe somewhat, unless the rim has been loose and it and/or the felloe is worn.
The wedging of the rims on their correct felloes is what must be maintained for any mix of components. It works for some mixes, but not others.

Allan from down under.

[Allan]

David, those lug nut do not look like any model T lug nuts I have seen. The wire wheel nuts with which I am familiar are considerably deeper. The taper is wider than the hex, making a shoulder on the nut, and the outer end of the hex is machined back onto round for a bit.

Those nuts, as shallow as they are, may well bottom out on the end of the stud before they apply any clamping force on the rim.

Allan from down under.

[david_dewey]

Allen,
My bad, I should have noted that those are Model A lug nuts, I didn't have T ones to photograph, BUT the T ones have the exact same thread features, because the T lugs are made the same as the A ones. And, as I've said, I don't know if the current repros have the same error, but it is worth checking them out, just in case.

[Rich Eagle]

Model A's were notorious for loosing lug nuts and wheels. Usually the left rear.
Not so with the 30 x 3 1/2 setup.

[david_dewey]

Since a few of you were not happy with my using Model A lugs in my example photo, I dug out some model T lugs, although I don't have any modern versions to photo, so here are genuine Ford lugs showing the same recessed threading.

T lug nut threads forum.JPG (12.08 KiB) Viewed 4191 times

[Allan]

David, I take your point about the thread starting somewhat deeper in the lug nuts. My concern with the A model nuts was that the length of thread in the nuts would not be as long as a T nut, and so it may bottom out on the stud before engaging on the hub centre.

Allan from down under.