The usual problem is not tight enough, in which case the wheel will
chatter against the spline and eventually wear out the spline. I doubt
that you could get it too tight.
1 The wheel is held in place by 2 tapers the first on the hub
behind the spline which mates with the inside of the wheel and the other
on the inside of the nut mating against the outside or the wheel. Make
sure that both tapers are clean and well greased. Contamination causes
a small space and hence a loose wheel.
2 A 2 to 2.5 pound soft faced hammer such as copper or similar
should be OK. The ones the car comes with seem to be some type of lead.
The factory have a spanner that must be 1.5 metres long and they just
lean on it.
3 Do it up as tight as you can. That is until you don't see any
movement of the nut when you belt it and then just a bit more. Don't be
afraid to hit it hard but watch out for fingers and unexpected bits of
bodywork.
4 The nuts are threaded to tighten under vibration, so wiring is
not required. This means they tend to be tough to get off. They always
undo in the direction of travel i.e. LHS of car has a standard Right
hand thread.. (For some reason F1 cars work the other way rhs has right
hand thread, can't say I know why, but they do have safety clips)
Dave Vodden
Plus 4 4 seater
Hampshire UK
----------
From: BradFarr@aol.com
To: morgans@autox.team.net
Subject: Knock off wheels
Date: 08 March 1999 22:27
I have a question that may appear somewhat basic. How tight do the hubs
for
wire wheels need to be? And how does one know how tight is tight enough?
>From
the distant past I recall comments on this list that over tightening can
cause
problems, but how do you judge? By the weight of the hammer you use?
I just removed all 4 wheels to bleed the brakes, and the front locking
nuts (I
have the newer, hex shaped nuts that require the adapter to remove,
rather
than the more stylish 2 eared spinners) appeared to be much tighter than
the
rear. Do the fronts get tighter on their own (from brake heat, perhaps)?
Do any of you use safety wire to keep the wheel nuts on?
Thanks in advance,
Brad
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