Jeff,
The only thing I can suggest is a 'crow-foot' (don't know the technical name)
of the appropriate size. These look like the open end of a combination wrench
with a 1/2" square drive hole instead of a handle. Most tool or parts shops
will have these.
Thanks,
Paul Mostrom
'77 Spitfire 1500
'80 Ford F-100 (Triumph Support Vehicle)
'Black holes, where God divided by zero......'
-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff McNeal [mailto:jmcneal@ohms.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 02, 2000 2:54 PM
To: Spitfire List
Cc: Triumph List
Subject: Hub nuts -- the debate rages on
I spoke with Victoria British today about the hubnuts that I received for my
wire wheel adapters. According to the young lady in customer service who
had standard lug nuts and adapter lug nuts in front of her, the only
differences were:
The standard hub nut looked shinier like chrome and had a longer taper to
the beveled end. Other than that, the depth and width -- the actual
dimensions of the nuts looked identical to her. The case is still open.
I called TRF and spoke to Dave in technical support. He insisted that the
hub adapter nuts are all beveled on both sides and that they have a shorter
thread length than the standard hub nuts. Unfortunately, he had just 12 on
the shelf and offered to back order the rest. No thanks -- and shoot!
I then called Spitbits and spoke to Nigel, who said that the adapter nuts
are indeed shorter in thread length by maybe 3/16", but that only one side
is beveled and that he's never heard of dual beveled hub adapter nuts
before. The shorter depth of the nut sounded sensible and the description
also matches the photo in my Bentley manual of an installed hub adapter.
Spitbits wins the order.
In the meantime, my confidence in Victoria British is shaken by their lack
of knowledge on the subject and will return their (probably) incorrect
adapter nuts for a refund. The scary thing is, up until now, they were
unaware that they might have a problem with what they've been sending out.
When the Spitbits hub adapter nuts arrive, I'm going to closely compare them
with the VB nuts and if they ARE different, I'll interested to see what
Victoria British has to say for themselves.
In the meantime, "Mrs. Jones" goes back on jackstands this evening and all
the VB nuts will be removed from service. Hopefully, I'll be ready to ride
again by the weekend, but I'm going to say a "Hail Mary" or two before I
take any hard corners. In case anyone is interested, the manual specifies
45lb of torque on the wheel nuts.
Best wishes,
Jeff in San Diego
'67 RHD Spitfire Mk3 aka "Mrs. Jones"
http://www.ohms.com/spitfire/spitfire.shtml
P.S. In case I have trouble driving home the adapter nuts with my socket
wrench because of the poor clearance between the hub adapter center shaft
and the nut itself, is there such a thing as an open-ended torque wrench? I
want to be 100% certain to get things RIGHT this time.
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