6 lug vs 5 lug

[mdg]

which is stronger 6 lug or 5 lug? I know people go to 5 lug because of the greater choice of wheels, but are you sacrificing strenght in doing so. Thanks....MDG

[Project1970]

Given that every 1/2 ton 2WD GM pickup from 1971 to 1998 or so used 5 lugs, I don't think it's an issue.

[ChevLoRay]

I have seen vehicles that had as few as 3 lug nuts (by design from their manufacturer), on up. Chevrolet used 6 lug nuts back in the 20's. I suppose they may have thought that 6 was better than 5, but the cars they built didn't go to 5 lugs until '49. There may be some engineer who feels that 6 is better for the 4WD vehicles. But, I am betting that some bean counter said that there should be standardization and having the same number of lugs on both 2 and 4 wheel drive vehicles is saving X amount of money for the corporation.

When you go to the 3/4 tonners, you have 8 lugs on some vehicles. 1-tonners, ditto.

Basically, my opinion is that the engineers have done their homework and determined that how ever many lug nuts are used to hold the wheel on, will be adequate if all are in-place and properly torqued. You can bet their lawyers would not have signed-off on the production aspects if there was any doubt about their functional abilities.

So, use what you have. I stayed with 6 lugs on my '69, when I converted to discs on the front, because I didn't want to use 2 different wheels. In my opinion, having 6-lug discs on my truck just gives me a unique factor, not necessarily just for strength.

[weasel29gm]

6 or 5 I don't think it matters, its just how much you want to spend.