Lug nut insanity

[sjwelds]

That what I did. I took them off one at a time with the wheel on the ground and followed the star pattern and used a torque wrench to set the proper torque. It worked fine. Post pictures once you have them on.

Did this today finally. Worked great. Glad to have those old crappy lug nuts off my rig!
Old Ones:

New Ones:


You can see the dents in the ends of the old ones. That's what happens when you use a punch to beat them out of the socket after you have them off....

 

[sjwelds]

Here's a pic of an old one, and how the chrome cap is held on:
Little work with a grinder:

And what's underneath the cap:

Anyone want a set of good used lug nuts? OEM Quality! Priced at half of new! I'll even throw the one without the cap in for free! LOL


Hope you enjoyed the pics. My hand shots are free of charge.

Thanks again @ExpeditionAndy !

 

[ExpeditionAndy]

Did this today finally. Worked great. Glad to have those old crappy lug nuts off my rig!
Old Ones:
View attachment 24664
New Ones:
View attachment 24665

You can see the dents in the ends of the old ones. That's what happens when you use a punch to beat them out of the socket after you have them off....

They look great! I am trying to find a set that will fit my 17 because I'm going to make the factory ones go away before they look bad.

 

[sjwelds]

The lug nuts on mine are swollen and over tightened. I just sheared the factory supplied tire iron!! Once you get the chrome off what’s the size of the nut?

A 20mm seemed to be about right.

 

[oldpaddy]

I removed my lug nuts this weekend on my '14 and after I put them back on I see that some are now dimpled inward.
Is there a consensus on which aftermarket lug nuts I should replace them with?
Are those gorilla lug nuts solid?
Thanks

 

[Adieu]

They look great! I am trying to find a set that will fit my 17 because I'm going to make the factory ones go away before they look bad.

Doesn't 17 use the same hub, studs, and stud pattern as the rest of 3rd gen??

 

[sjwelds]

I removed my lug nuts this weekend on my '14 and after I put them back on I see that some are now dimpled inward.
Is there a consensus on which aftermarket lug nuts I should replace them with?
Are those gorilla lug nuts solid?
Thanks

Yes they are.

Edit: there's a link on the second page.

 

[sjwelds]

Doesn't 17 use the same hub, studs, and stud pattern as the rest of 3rd gen??

According to Andy, they changed the thread pitch on the '15 and up.

 

[ExpeditionAndy]

Doesn't 17 use the same hub, studs, and stud pattern as the rest of 3rd gen??

The pitch is different on the 2015 - 2017 than earlier models. I haven't found the specs yet but I haven't looked too hard for them.

 

[ExpeditionAndy]

I removed my lug nuts this weekend on my '14 and after I put them back on I see that some are now dimpled inward.
Is there a consensus on which aftermarket lug nuts I should replace them with?
Are those gorilla lug nuts solid?
Thanks

They are nice and solid and triple chrome plated. The have the 60 degree angle on the bottom to match the factory alloy wheels.

 

[JExpedition07]

Relevant to this thread

 

[ExpeditionAndy]

Relevant to this thread
View attachment 24739

A sawzall would definitely work on that.

 

[Plati]

They are nice and solid and triple chrome plated. The have the 60 degree angle on the bottom to match the factory alloy wheels.

Triple chrome? My first job out of high school was hand chrome plating small parts. First you copper plate. Can polish after that if needed. Then you nickel plate. That gives it the shiny nickel color. Then the final plating is chrome, which is kind of a dull grey without the nickel. We used to thick chrome plate parts for machine shops if they needed to build a dimension back up because they overdid it. Chromium by itself is just grey.

I had a Suzuki TS250K Savage. Cadmium plated anything metal I could remove from the bike. I think Cadmium is illegal now (heavy metals).

 

[mjp2]

Relevant to this thread
View attachment 24739

 

[Ben Ford]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZSDGVGG?tag=viglink23361-20

These were definitely the way to go. Sturdy and they look real clean. I changed all the lug nuts all the way around to do away with that factory mess.

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

 

[Steve Owens]

Go with McGuard. They are solid chrome / stainless. Clean and lubricate the studs. Last lug nuts you will every buy. Have had the same set on my last three Expeditions, change them out when I trade. Still looking good. Easy to remove and finish doesn't flake off.

 

[Plati]

I bought the Gorilla solid steel chrome plated lug nuts & started installing them. $105 for 24 pieces, no tax or shipping. They look great (so far so good) and IMHO an improvement over OEM. Picture at the end, showing one OEM nut I removed is already splitting ... several others look like they're starting to rust inside and have dings from previous wheel shops. Nice improvement.

I chose not to apply any lubrication after reading up on it, such as this article --> http://www.tirereview.com/its-really-all-about-lug-nuts/

I'm just taking one off and replacing them one at a time. Torque by hand / feel ... which might not be the best but so be it. I just lean into it about a foot from nut on breaker bar with 2/3 of my weight so about 160 ft-lb.

I found that my year (2014) Expy is M14x2, 60 degree, OEM is 13/16" hex (** see later posts **) BUT the Gorilla replacements are 21MM so I had to buy a heavy duty 21MM 1/2" drive 6 point socket and will keep that as well as a quality breaker bar in my tire change tools from now on. Hope the tire shops can figure this out also and I may post a sign on the wheel when I have tires rotated.

After I ordered these I found other Gorilla nuts that say STAINLESS STEEL and are advertised as solid one piece so I contacted Gorilla and was informed thats not correct. Those are SS capped just like the OEM - dont want that! Nobody makes one piece solid stainless steel because it would not have the strength in the threads like hardened steel. I bought the best ones I could locate and possibly best on the market. Guy from Gorilla said chrome will rust (most know that) so keep them clean with soap and a brush to prevent rust.

The OEM are about 3/4" threaded from the conical end, remainder has no threads and is thinner walled. Not sure why. The Gorilla are full diameter threaded metal all the way inside.

 

[Adieu]

I bought the Gorilla solid steel chrome plated lug nuts & started installing them. $105 for 24 pieces, no tax or shipping. They look great (so far so good) and IMHO an improvement over OEM. Picture at the end, showing one OEM nut I removed is already splitting ... several others look like they're starting to rust inside and have dings from previous wheel shops. Nice improvement.

I chose not to apply any lubrication after reading up on it, such as this article --> http://www.tirereview.com/its-really-all-about-lug-nuts/

I'm just taking one off and replacing them one at a time. Torque by hand / feel ... which might not be the best but so be it.

I found that my year (2014) Expy is M14x2, 60 degree, OEM is 13/16" hex BUT the Gorilla replacements are 21MM so I had to buy a heavy duty 21MM 1/2" drive 6 point socket and will keep that as well as a quality breaker bar in my tire change tools from now on. Hope the tire shops can figure this out also and I may post a sign on the wheel when I have tires rotated.

After I ordered these I found other Gorilla nuts that say STAINLESS STEEL and are advertised as solid one piece so I contacted Gorilla and was informed thats not correct. Those are SS capped just like the OEM - dont want that! Nobody makes one piece solid stainless steel because it would not have the strength in the threads like hardened steel. I bought the best ones I could locate and possibly best on the market. Guy from Gorilla said chrome will rust (most know that) so keep them clean with soap and a brush to prevent rust.

The OEM are about 3/4" threaded from the conical end, remainder has no threads and is thinner walled. Not sure why. The Gorilla are full diameter threaded metal all the way inside.
View attachment 25947

In that case, shoulda saved 70 bucks and got the Venum wheel lock set

Btw, the OEMs are metric, maybe thats why y'all keep messing them up so fast (not that they aint flimsy shit, cuz they are)


Again, for people who dont wanna venture into the realms of blowtorches and sawzalls:

OEM LUGNUTS ARE MEANT FOR **DEEP** **METRIC** SOCKETS.

 

[JExpedition07]

In that case, shoulda saved 70 bucks and got the Venum wheel lock set

Btw, the OEMs are metric, maybe thats why y'all keep messing them up so fast (not that they aint flimsy shit, cuz they are)


Again, for people who dont wanna venture into the realms of blowtorches and sawzalls:

OEM LUGNUTS ARE MEANT FOR **DEEP** **METRIC** SOCKETS.

Unfortunately after the chrome cap swells and splits on the OEM nuts the metric socket won’t fit over it correctly.

 

[Plati]

Unfortunately after the chrome cap swells and splits on the OEM nuts the metric socket won’t fit over it correctly.

I think that's the explanation. That and the (OEM) "cap part" gets squeezed/deformed making 13/16" socket a better fit for OEM after a few tire changes. Lets put it this way ... 4 year old OEM lugs nuts, 13/16" deep socket slides on and seems about right. That same SK socket will NOT slide on the Gorilla and I HAVE to use a 21MM.

Using a micrometer ... the 4 year old OEM lug nuts read about .819" and the Gorilla read about .823". Thats just enough difference that my SK 13/16" socket wont fit on the Gorilla. I dont think my OEM nuts are swollen, I think they shrunk.

I think I can use the stock tire change lug wrench on my Gorilla nuts ... but I'm not sure I'd want to use it on older OEM nuts?