[DeTomaso] Pantera near disaster

David Nunn dnunn at telus.net
Sun Aug 22 13:37:11 EDT 2010


Julian,

I once saw a rear brake conversion using Wilwood hats where the guy had put
it all together but didn't shim the wheel studs properly. The studs
protruded too far through the axle, so the splines were not fully engaged.
He then tightened the lug nuts with an impact wrench, which stripped the
splines from the studs (due to only having partial engagement), which
allowed the studs to rotate before the wheel nuts reached an acceptable
level of tightness. I'm sure others have made the same mistake and been OK
because they always tighten their lug nuts "lovingly" with a torque wrench.
Most of the time, people would immediately know something was wrong if they
made this mistake because their wheels wouldn't fit up against the axles
properly. 

Also, if aftermarket wheels are correctly hubcentric, the wheel stud's and
lug nut's only function is to hold the wheel against the axle; the wheel is
centered on the axle by the hub and all road forces are taken by the wheel
and the axle, not the wheel studs and lug nuts. That's how Porsche gets away
with using 2" spacers on their rear wheels; even the spacers are tightly
hubcentric. Jack already mentioned how DeTomaso wheel studs don't take side
impacts very well, yet that's exactly what happens with non-hubcentric
wheels. 

Boyd; did you confirm, with Ken, the exact diameter of the hub on his axles
before ordering custom wheels and did the wheel manufacturer machine the
registers to that exact specification? Did you check both items prior to
installation? If it turns out that the hub on the axle is, indeed, smaller
than the register in the aftermarket wheels, all is not lost. It simply
requires a set of collars be made to take-up the difference.




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