Unilugs!

[Tonefiend]

More tales of hackerrey on my newly aquired ride.   The car has Keystone Klassic rims.  Circa 1970s.  They are missing some of the spacers and washers.  Some of the lug nuts are right, and others are not.  Some of the washers have been coned in. When I took the rear wheels off some of the nuts were only finger tight!  It's a real mess.  The amusing thing is a pro mechanic from a legit shop did this! 

Follow some of my posts for some of the other hack jobs they dod to the car. 

Anyway, anyone have any tips or advice about a new set of unilug spacers, washers and nuts? 

Thanks!

[Moparal]

summit, jegs, oreily's , car quest...they have them or can get them. They are common enough

[Tonefiend]

Cool thanks!

[73EStroker]

I would never use unilugs. They are a weak part of the wheel attachment and if they loosen off a bit can allow the wheel to slip on the studs with a good power shot on the throttle. I know this as my last Mopar had unilugs and it happened. Buy the wheels that were made for our bolt pattern only.   

[Moparal]

I've known many people in the past that have used them, and still are with no problems at all.I've used them myself.  When they are the correct ones and installed correctly, they have no issues. But in turn, having a set of correct rims is always nice if you got them.

[duodec]

The main reason my '71 had Mercury Cougar mags on it was that they looked rather like Cragar S/S wheels (still my favorite for appearance) but were made of steel and used conical lug nuts.  I couldn't afford to replace them with Appliance Steel Spoke wheels (shiny, new, no trim rings needed, and supposedly the right hub diameter) at the time but that would have been my choice.  I currently have a pair of 14x6 and a pair of 15x7 Steel Spokes (I need another pair of 15s so I can run proper front brakes).  I don't think they ever made 16" wheels in that model.

My family ran service and parts stores in Las Vegas.  We had folks working there with a lot of experience both offroad and road racing.  Most of them disliked the shanked "mag" wheel lug nuts;  None of them would touch a unilug setup with the oval washer to fit in the elongated log holes in the wheel.  That was good enough for me...

[72bluNblu]

The wheels on my Challenger are unilugs. I hate them personally, its harder to get all the lug nuts going when you take the wheels on and off. Kind of have to hold the wheel in the right spot in order to get the shanks seated right. And the washers have messed up the chrome on the rims. That being said, I bought the car with the rims on it, and haven't had any actual problems with them (other than general annoyance putting them back on). Spare lug nuts are easy to find, I had to replace a couple and got them right off the shelf at the local Napa. It can't possibly be as good as having a single pattern wheel, and with any luck I'll be rid of them soon.

[Tonefiend]

After they did the disc brake conversion <brakes don't work> they didn't have the right amount of rh an dlh lug nuts so they grabbed some conical nuts and used those which crushed the washers in.  I guess the wheels were on and off a few times because some of the spacers were missing and then they just jammed round washers there.  WHen the washers get crushed from the conical nuts they loose their torque. I was a few hundred miles from loosing some wheels!

I am gong to get rid of them as soon as I can afford a new set of rims and tires.  In the meantime I am going to try to find the correct washers and nuts to make it safe to drive.   I have a line on a guy who sells lug nuts and the washers but I might hit NAPA tomorrow. 

[426HEMI]

That is why I have never liked unilug wheels.  Too many things can go wrong for me.  I steered away from them. 

[Tonefiend]

Auto Zone had them.  But they were $5 for a set of 5.  Then the lug nuts cost the same.  Thats $50 total.  I got them off a Lugnutking on Ebay for around $30 shipped and they are chromed. Very nice adn lightning fast!

Now I can at least make the car safe until I can either get a set of OG rallys or old school torque thrusts.