Lug nut loosened

[fmfdoc68]

Alright folks, don't want to sound like a sissy, but I'm having an issue that kind of terrifies me when I drive my truck. I've got a 1968 F250 that had stock rims on it when I bought it. The tires were ok, but due to one of the bnds breaking in the tire, I replaced the rims and tires from a 1992 F250. The rims are aluminum aftermarket 16" rims and the tires are 32's I believe, and look to be off-road tires. The problem is that after driving the truck for maybe 30-40 miles, the rear tire came off of the axle as I was turning into a parking lot. To be fair, I tried to use the original lugs and the rims required a deep lug nut. I went out and bought all new lug nuts and replaced them, but I'm having to torque them down almost everytime I drive the truck. I'm really kind of worried that the wheels are gonna fall off again and I don't want it to happen if I've got my kids or wife in the truck. Any suggestions?

[sargentrs]

What kind of shape were your lug studs in? Is it all 4 wheels or just the one?

[fmfdoc68]

The lug studs looked good, if a little rusty. All 4 wheels have a tendency to loosen after some time on the road. I was wondering if the heavy tread on the tires would cause enough vibration to wiggle them loose. I also made sure that they were torqued to 100 ft/lbs when I put them on.

[sargentrs]

Not sure about your particular rims but some aluminum rims require a specific type of lug nut. Some are flat on the end, some chamfered, some require washers, some won't seat with washers. Did you get the specific lug nut for that wheel or check with your local parts store for what the original lug nut for that '92 F250 with aluminum wheels and see if they're different than the one's you have? Checking the Autozone website, there's at least 5 different lug nuts spec'd for a '92 F250. http://www.autozone.com/autozone/parts/ ... wqenZah8ez Might check that out.

[Nitekruizer]

I can't really give any advice on this, but I'm following this thread with interest because I'm having similar issues. I just installed some aftermarket chrome wheels on another project. The wheels specified lug nuts with a 60 degree conical seat. So, those are the nuts that I used. I don't know the actual torque specs should be, so I torqued them to 90 ft/lbs. After driving 30 miles or so, I checked the torque and found one nut on each rear wheel was starting to come loose. The nuts on the front wheels were fine. Next time I drove the car 30 or 40 miles, I checked the torque on all of the lug nuts again and found one or two loosened nuts on each rear wheel, again the nuts on the front wheels were still tight. So, I'm curious as to what is going on too.
There is one thing that I thought of that may be a factor, I don't know. The original factory wheels on this car were hub-centric and the aftermarket wheels are lug-centric, as most aftermarket wheels are. I'm thinking about trying hub-centric rings with these wheels to see if they help. Now, with our trucks, most of the factory wheels were lug-centric so, I can't see that being an issue, unless the wheels that you are using require hub-centric rings.
Just a thought

[fmfdoc68]

Not sure about your particular rims but some aluminum rims require a specific type of lug nut. Some are flat on the end, some chamfered, some require washers, some won't seat with washers. Did you get the specific lug nut for that wheel or check with your local parts store for what the original lug nut for that '92 F250 with aluminum wheels and see if they're different than the one's you have? Checking the Autozone website, there's at least 5 different lug nuts spec'd for a '92 F250. http://www.autozone.com/autozone/parts/ ... wqenZah8ez Might check that out.

I made sure that they had the conical seat on the end of the lug nuts and they were deep sockets to match the rims I put on. All of the lug nuts offered on the Autozone web site were too shallow to fit on these rims. I didn't know if there were plastic or rubber washers that could be put on to hlp seat them properly.

[sargentrs]

I did some research on the hub centric vs lug centric scenario and while it mostly pertains to balance, it could be part of the overall problem. If the wheel is not centered correctly, it would cause undue stress on the lugs/lug nuts. Maybe you need these? http://www.jegs.com/p/Detroit-Wheels/De ... 3/10002/-1 Just throwing stuff out there

[48prerunner]

Did the holes in the wheel get ovalled out from the loose lugs? Check to see if the cone of your lugnut matches the cone area on the wheel. If not, they will come loose since there is little surface area between the lugnut and the wheel. If they have been run loose may not have enough interference left to stay tight.
There's cone taper and ball taper. Stamped steel wheels will take either. Alloys will need their correct taper to be 100% correct.

Another thing, if nuts have come loose off the studs one time or more, the threads of the studs are compromised. Did you check the studs coming out of the hub? Is there rust or something giving you a false torque reading, so the lugs are not fully seating? For peace of mind you might want to think about replacing the studs on the wheel that came off.

With aluminum wheels you want to torque run them a bit then retorque them because of the heat cycles, really a good idea for any wheels. But I know my sister lost her bronco wheel back in the 90s cause the shop screwed up.

[Nitekruizer]

I've got a 1968 F250 that had stock rims on it when I bought it. I replaced the rims and tires from a 1992 F250. The rims are aluminum aftermarket 16" rims.

These are not Ford rims, do you know what brand they are? If the company that manufactured them is still in business (and still makes these wheels) they probably have a website and may have some information on it about what type of lug nuts to use. Could be worth a try if you haven't already.