Black Lug Nuts

[goblues38]

Swapping out to black lug nuts has to be one of the most underrated mods out there! Not sure why they don’t come this way from the factory.
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Agree...but the real reason to do this is because the factory lug nuts suck and will swell.

 

[goblues38]

I keep a torque wrench in the truck with the correct socket and extension

same...minus the torque wrench....done it enough I know the feel

 

[Broken Wrench]

Thanks for the part info. I see that Amazon is selling sets of 4. to confirm, the key is the exact same ?

Can't find torque specs for the lug nuts in the manuals. anybody know what it is or where the info is?
Thanks

Yup, same key for all, keep the item number at home and you can get a replacement if you lose it. I torqued them to 150 ft lbs.

 

[blwn]

Be careful with those keyed Gorilla lug nuts if you ever have anyone else work on your truck. This guy had them break (apparently from being over torqued)...

Not much accomplished today with family over for xmas and all that goes with that. I decided that since I had only attached two of the four wheels, I might as well test the other two and see what my total scope (problem) looks like. Well, here is the recap: Wheel #1 - 0 broken lug nuts, wheel #2 - 1 broken lug nuts as discussed in original post, wheel #3 - 3 broken lug nuts, wheel #4 - 5 broken lug nuts. So since yesterday i have gone from 1 broken (sheared) lug nut to a total of 9. Thing are not looking good. Oh, I also busted a twelve point socket that I was using on the key socket for the lug nuts. I guess the breaker bar/pipe combo was too much for it too.

First pic shows broken nut next to one that is not broken. 3rd pic show the first one that i already tried to drill out unsuccessfully (hard to see in pic, but two holes in the broken nut, opposite sides of bolt). You can also see the small test hole in the end of the bolt that i test drilled to confirm feasibility of drilling. 4th pic is the last wheel with 5 broken nuts (groan). And the last pic is just my collection of broken nuts.

As you can see, when the nut breaks, the outside portion screws off and reveals some of the threads. None of them were cross threaded. On the 15 that did come off in one piece, they were also very tight, but once they came loose they screwed off easily by hand. I think my problem is some combination of over torquing and a weak design.

Almost forgot...I tested the second two wheels with my torque wrench at 250 ft-lbs (maximum value for my wrench) and none of the nuts would turn to loosen. IOW, they required MUCH greater than 250 fl-lbs to remove (breaker bar and section of pipe and still had to get on it).


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[maxr]

just ordered the mcgard w/ locking nut and a 1/2" 22mm non-marring deep socket

 

[GreatAvalon]

just ordered the mcgard w/ locking nut and a 1/2" 22mm non-marring deep socket

Did the McGard 64074 work out for you?

 

[maxr]

@GreatAvalon - No. I returned them to Amazon. clearly not a exact replacement of the factory ones. The socket of the mcgard is smaller, shallower then the factory ones and do not set as deep into the wheel. I even measured them with my digital calipers and confirmed the difference. can't remember what it was but it was not insignificant i.e. not like .01 or .1 but X.0 more

I really don't notice the lug nuts that much so have not tried to locate exact replacements in black.

 

[GreatAvalon]

@GreatAvalon - No. I returned them to Amazon. clearly not a exact replacement of the factory ones. The socket of the mcgard is smaller, shallower then the factory ones and do not set as deep into the wheel. I even measured them with my digital calipers and confirmed the difference. can't remember what it was but it was not insignificant i.e. not like .01 or .1 but X.0 more

I really don't notice the lug nuts that much so have not tried to locate exact replacements in black.

Thanks for this info.

So you're saying the taper part of the McGard is smaller where it sits on the taper'ed part of the wheel lug hole? Which parts did you measure? Sorry - I don't have the McGards so having trouble envisioning if you mean the tapered part or the hex head a socket goes onto.

 

[maxr]

Correct. The tapered/rounded portion that recesses into the wheel. Was not a good fit it did not recess as deeply as factory. To me the very minor cosmetic change is not worth nit having the same fit

 

[GreatAvalon]

Correct. The tapered/rounded portion that recesses into the wheel. Was not a good fit it did not recess as deeply as factory. To me the very minor cosmetic change is not worth nit having the same fit

Gotcha. Thanks again for mentioning this. Seems like an important area to be correct haha. I ordered mine but will return them when delivered