Lugnut headaches

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

Don't discount the likelyhood that they are supposed to be this way. It's been 26 years since I had factory lug nuts on the Moose Truck, but I'm pretty damn sure they didn't spin easily when that truck was brand new, and I noticed that on the Scarlet Moose that they ARE still that way.

^^^ AGREED ^^^


The lug-nuts on the SRW 3/4- and 1-ton Fords, be they gas or diesel, were hard all the way from day one; it has not a thing to do with over-torqueing or improper procedures; it's just the way they are.

This impossible lug-nut business started at least as early as 1977, maybe a few years earlier.

Prior to that, ALL Ford 5-lug 1/2-, and 8-lug 3/4-, and 1-ton SRWs had a plain old acorn 1/2 x 20 stud/nut that used a 13/16 wrench.

The hard ones came along with the advent of the 9/16 stud and much bigger nuts requiring the 1-1/16 (or thereabouts) socket.

There might be some magical replacement nut that better fits the threads and spins on easily, but the genuine factory nuts went on and came off HARD the very first time they were put together and will always be so, regardless.

Although I have no way to verify the information, way back in the day, I was told by one of the mechanics at the local Ford garage that a service bulletin was issued explaining that this was normal, and that the nuts actually were of a slightly different thread-pitch than the studs, maybe even metric nuts forced onto American studs.

They have been a constant source of headache to tire shops and garages from day one.

On the SRW Fords, the odd-ball left-hand threaded studs seem to pop up with absolutely no rhyme or reason as to year-model or rear-axle manufacturer; some will have only the left-rear being left-handed; others will have the left-hand threads on both the left-front and the left-rear.

You can have two 8-lug SRW Fords made on the same line on the same day and one will have all right-hand studs, the other will have left-handers on one or more hubs.

The flange-washered nuts on the DRW trucks are an entirely different animal and can be spun on and off with ease; likewise the coined DRW nuts of yore.

 

[cm1hedge]

I just put anti-seize on my studs because I always use impact guns for my lugnuts. Been using anti-seize for years and never a problem yet. I also have a old IR impact so it might not get them tight as used to though.

I don't care for anti-sieze on wheel studs. I have seen it mess up the threads on big trucks. Oil only for me.

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

I don't care for anti-sieze on wheel studs. I have seen it mess up the threads on big trucks. Oil only for me.

I have seen studs/nuts on many BUDD aluminum wheels messed up from the lack of anti-sieze, but never one messed up because of it.

I have diligently applied a generous application of anti-sieze to the studs/nuts of every wheeled apparatus in my possession for many many years with no ill results to date.

 

[f-two-fiddy]

The OEM lug nuts might have been tight from the factory, but the ones on my 85 were *****'d. They would barely go on with an impact. The flared part of the nut deforms and causes them to bind.

I suspect the use of heavy duty impact wrench (16 YO tire jockey's) is the culprit.

I torque Mine to 120 lbs w/anti-seize. Re-torque, after 40-50 miles, and have NEVER had a problem.