My truck went into tricycle mode today.

[Begle1]

Why did my lugnuts decide to all fall off at 65 miles per hour on the freeway? Are these rims incompatible with the stock hubs and lugnuts, or was I the victim of stupid wheel monkey/ sabotage/ seriously absent-minded wrenching on my behalf?









I got these aluminum rims back in May sometime; they came with crappy rubber, so I bought new rubber from a tire shop and had them swap rims for me. I've driven 1,000 miles at most since then, probably closer to 500; for the last two months it's been sitting in my driveway while I installed my new turbo. I sure don't think I ever loosened them or took off my tires during that time; I didn't even realize until I was on the side of the freeway that I needed a low-clearance socket to get to the nuts, and I don't imagine that would've surprised me if I was the one that loosened them up to begin with...

Pretty amazing how well these things handle on only three wheels, if ya'll haven't had the opportunity.

[RSWORDS]

Alum wheel need to re torqued after a hundred miles or so from installation.... As you have found out....

[Begle1]

You don't say?

I've seen those funny two-piece lugnuts on aluminum wheels, never heard the re-torque thing though.

[Richie O]

Yup, I have had 2 aluminum ones over the years fly off. Re torque is a must.

[Tacoclaw]

I tried one of those Chevy PYO wheels on my truck while I had it down for the twins. Didn't really like the offset, so I put my old wheel back on. Got the twins going, and take it out for multiple 80+ mph runs and about 2 weeks of cruising.

One day I backed out of a parking lot, crossed a set of railroad tracks(not the only set I'd hit over this period of time) and withing 100 yards I could feel my truck vibrating like crazy. Pulled over and every lug was loose on that wheel, took about 6 turns to get them seated back up.


Sucks that it caught your fender...

[ellis93]

On the 2wd,the studs shank sticks out maybe 1/8 of an inch. The factory steel wheel has a raised lug seat,that avoids contact with the stud shank, that most aluminum wheels don't have. Mine did this to me twice in one week before I looked at the back side of my aftermarket wheels and seen what was up.

[Hansen01]

i have also been on the side of the road tightening lugnuts with pliers on my aluminum rims never had it fall of yet tho, also never had the back ones come loose, just the front ones, which make sense, i check them 2ce in the same week after i put them on and then just on occasions after that

[chrislib]

When I put alloy`s on mine I re-ck`ed the torque several times, wrench clicked for the 1st 2 re-torques by #3 they were tight and stayed that way. I`d re-ck them every 100 miles or so with a torque wrench till you find they stay snug.

[cougar]

I've never had that happen. What am I doing wrong?
I did have a "C" clip break on an old Chevy rear end. Interesting watching my wheel and axle pass me.

[ahale2772]

ive been there, rust between the alum rim and hub...

sucks chasing your wheel down the highway

[PToombs]

Aren't those aluminum rims supposed to have the nuts with the long shoulder to fit down inside the rim to help center it and have more threads on the stud? I think we were discussing this at SOP, but I can't remember who all was talking about it. Maybe Philip, Ike, Jon....?

[ellis93]

Mine are acorn lugs and the wheels have the acorn seats. I had one set of keystone classic wheels,on a 77 1/2ton chevy,that took the shank style nuts with washers,a good looking wheel but a terrible bolting system.

[CumminsPower59]

Pete, it was me, as I lost a left-front five days after buying my truck, then running aluminum wheels with short 9/16" studs, the wheels were too thick for the lug nuts to fully capture the threads...that's why I went back to steelies for now...

[Hansen01]

Pete, it was me, as I lost a left-front five days after buying my truck, then running aluminum wheels with short 9/16" studs, the wheels were too thick for the lug nuts to fully capture the threads...that's why I went back to steelies for now...

mine was both fronts came loose at the same time,lol (and no i didnt forget to tighten the fronts, drove around more than a week afor it happened lol)

[collegekid]

blue loctite helps keep em on there, or put anti-seize between hub and wheel to keep it from junking up