65 Short Fleet Small Window Update

[nhr3]

We are out earning truck money for a few weeks. Changing engines on and updating maintenance on a 1972 Gulfstream II special mission aircraft. Engines are brought to us by our friends on the Island. Rolls Royce Spey engine rated at 11,200 thrust horse power. Nice change of pace for a while.

[nhr3]

It has been a while since last posting. Summer has had a multitude of projects that had priority over the truck. I have been driving it when possible and have really enjoyed the experience. Summer has made me very glad I decided on air conditioning. The Vintage Air system has been flawless.

The one problem I have experienced periodically is loose lug nuts. When I decided to go with the aluminum American Racing Outlaw 1 wheels I had a feeling I would have some issues. The first thing I noticed was that the studs on the rear axles were shorter than I would have preferred. Because the wheel at the hub was considerably thicker than the old steel wheels I only had about ½ inch thread engagement on the rear wheels. The fronts, because I had done the CPP disc conversion were not as much of an issue. Because of the possibility of issues I decided to not let the tire shop install the wheels. I had the tires mounted and did the install on the truck in my shop. When I installed I was careful to progressive torque and go to the 80 ft lbs recommended. I re-torqued after the first 100 miles and called it good. At about 1000 miles a friend handed me one of the lug nuts that had fallen off the right rear wheel. I installed the lug and re-torqued everything. I found more lugs loose. The investigation started. What I learned was that the wheels and lugs are conical seat not mag seat. With mag seat the wheel actually sits on a shoulder on the lug nut to center the wheel up. With conical seat the cones on the lugs and wheel hole center the wheel. The conical seat combined with the holes in the wheels being about 5/8 inch I feel is the culprit allowing the wheel to move around and eventually loosen the lugs I imagine this larger hole was to accommodate ½ studs. My truck is a 6 lug with a 7/16 stud.

I thought about converting the wheels to mag seat. This would have required me to bring the wheel holes up to 11/16 and use a washer under the lug. This is an option that I can still do if the route I took does not work out. What I did decide to do was bush the holes in the wheels from 5/8” down to 7/16. For this task I bought, on ebay, some bronze bushings with 7/16 ID and 5/8 OD. I was only able to get a shoulder bushing so I modified them into slip bushings about .620 long and reduced the OD by about .030. This made them a snug fit into the wheel holes (locktite and light press fit). I installed Dorman 610-259 studs in the rear axles (studs have .472 knurl and give me about 1 inch thread engagement with aluminum wheel). And torqued everything up. Hopefully this resolves the loose lug issue. Time will tell.