I agree, I never really worried about it that much. What finally did it in was having a wheel come off and trashing my backing plate (I have trouble keeping lugnuts tight on these aluminum rims even with a torque wrench to 110 ft lbs) lol. good excuse for an upgrade. sorry for the thread highjackWhere the semi-float would suffer is heavy payloads. Its still a 10.25" ring gear and 35-spline... lots of drive strength for bigblock, diesel, towing, etc.
Thanks for the suggestion but I am single rear wheel, I have cranked my torque wrench up to 150 and now check them a couple days after I put everything together again and usually find 1 or two that work loose. My plan if I start driving the truck again is to switch over to some basic steel wagon wheels. Simple and I like the style.subway, do you have aluminium duallies?
If so, you are aware that the Inner rim must be a steel one?
That might cause your problem of not being able to keep the nuts tight.
Do you lubricate the conical seats on the rim? Aluminum galls severely when faced with high pressure and friction and will prevent you from getting anywhere near the torque spec you think you are getting. When tightening aluminum rims, I always smear a tiny dab of grease or anti-sieze or some kind of lube on the contact face of the lug nut, taking care not to get it on the threads for most applications. Ive been running aluminum rims on my built up F250 for years down the highways and logging trails and never had one loosen up.Thanks for the suggestion but I am single rear wheel, I have cranked my torque wrench up to 150 and now check them a couple days after I put everything together again and usually find 1 or two that work loose. My plan if I start driving the truck again is to switch over to some basic steel wagon wheels. Simple and I like the style.
no I don't, thanks for the suggestion. I should give that a try. I know lubricating the studs can have a dramatic effect on torque and opinions vary wildly on that one. I know lubrication can have a large effect on clamping loads. Enough that I remember talking to a fastener salesman when he was back in college with me. He would show how superior his bolts were by tightening his bolts to a certain spec, then showing how the same grade "other" brand would snap and fail. What everyone missed was he would run his hand through his hair with gel then touch the "other" brand threads. That little difference on a new thread not designed to have lube added would be enough to send it over the edge when pushing the torque specs.Do you lubricate the conical seats on the rim? Aluminum galls severely when faced with high pressure and friction and will prevent you from getting anywhere near the torque spec you think you are getting. When tightening aluminum rims, I always smear a tiny dab of grease or anti-sieze or some kind of lube on the contact face of the lug nut, taking care not to get it on the threads for most applications. Ive been running aluminum rims on my built up F250 for years down the highways and logging trails and never had one loosen up.
Here's one more thing to add to your list. A friend of mine had some fancy aluminum rims on his 1997 F250 with a PSD. He decided to pull a (probably more weight than he should have been pulling with a 3/4 ton) load of pallets of seed to his father-in-law while he was still farming. It was probably about a 4 hours drive to get to his father-in-law's farm. By the time that he got there, the rear wheels had turned slightly yellow from the heat of the load. He had no mechanical issues at all, but was pretty upset since they were pretty expensive rims.At the end of the day, all they do is save some weight but are inferior in every other way that matters to a wheel.
Here's one more thing to add to your list. A friend of mine had some fancy aluminum rims on his 1997 F250 with a PSD. He decided to pull a (probably more weight than he should have been pulling with a 3/4 ton) load of pallets of seed to his father-in-law while he was still farming. It was probably about a 4 hours drive to get to his father-in-law's farm. By the time that he got there, the rear wheels had turned slightly yellow from the heat of the load. He had no mechanical issues at all, but was pretty upset since they were pretty expensive rims.
I forgot to mention that the load was on a goose neck trailer. It was heavy enough that the trailer is now bowed slightly.That is crazy! Hes lucky the bead didnt melt off the rims and blow out on him with all that weight in the truck.
Thats insane, gooseneck trailers can usually handle alot more weight than our OBS trucks can.I forgot to mention that the load was on a goose neck trailer. It was heavy enough that the trailer is now bowed slightly.