It's the little things. A tiny uni-lug wheel tip...

This may be common knowledge to most and might just show the depths of my ignorance but...


I had the extreme pleasure of putting the new wheels and tires on the Hel Camino yesterday. This is the first set of "Mags" I've ever owned that are uni-lug.

Sure, I have the nice bullet lugs with the shank that fit in the slot and line everything up but with a hurting back and a bitching knee, I was having a hell of a time getting the slot over the stud enough to get the lug started.

Sad to say, it was wheel number three where it finally dawned on me. Start one lug and pull the wheel up on to it. then cant the wheel and start an opposing lug and pull the wheel onto it. the rest are easy after that.


Like I said, I ain't too bright and there's alot of us out there so maybe somebody just did the V-8 smack to the forehead and I can be of use after all.

 

It's the little discoveries that we find along the way that give us hope.

Good idea.

Along those lines, several suppliers make threaded tubes that screw onto the stud and allow the mag to slide over them during the wheel mounting process.
Two will do the trick.
Once the wheel's on, install the mag lugnuts, remove the guide tubes and install the last couple of lugnuts.

I used to use a crowbar or flat piece of board between ground and tire to lever the wheel up high enough to allow the wheel to go onto the studs.
Alignment could be a pain, but getting a heavy 4x4 or large rear hot rod wheel up using leverage was a help.

Helps too if someone can hold the brakes on when you do the front wheel.
If no one's around to help, a piece of wood between brake pedal and front seat will do it.
Pad the wood as necessary to keep from damaging the upholstery.

One thing that helps the oval style lug hole Uni-Lug wheels is to get a set of the thick Centerline wheel washers.
Those prevent what I call "coning in" of the oval lug hole.

The thin washers supplied by the mag lugnut people are so thin that wheel torque and operating the vehicle will have the thin washer take on a cone-like shape and that will allow the mag wheel's lug hole to wallow out near the top of the oval hole making the next install difficult.
Not to mention the wheel is operating with considerably less torque for retainment than it should have.

There are thick wheel washers available from the wheel washer guy at most car swap meets.
Usually less than a buck apiece.
Not made by Centerline, but they do the job.

 

um yeah, I just did the v8 smack. I've been fighting with unilugs on one of my cars for a while. thanks

 

C9 speaks with wisdom. Some tracks don't or didn't allow unilugs for just that reason. It seems to me that NHRA doesn't allow them either, but it's been a while since I looked at a rulebook. The thick washer is always a good idea.

At one time there were two different kinds of "adaptors", for lack of a better word, that you placed into the wheel when installing, to take up the unneeded space. I sincerely doubt they did much good-they were a fairly loose fit to make everything work- but it did make it easier to start the lugs. One kind had the hole centered, the other, offset. Haven't seen them in years. CalCustom or Rocket, maybe.

 

That is a good point. I have ten of the nice thick chrome washers and ten of the Mr. Gasket type. So, if anyone can help a brother with some washers, please PM me.

 

We've got a bag of old unilug washers at work.

These ones are oval shaped with stud hole offest to one side of the oval.

I've never had a set of unilug wheels but it appears that they fill the hole completely or fit into a recess in the wheel face to make everything fit tight.

I imagine flipping the washer from one side to the other changes the bolt pattern that the wheel fits on.

Shawn

 

Sent you a PM I can probably help you out.

 

So let's see a picture of the ElCamino with the Supremes installed.

Did you get the truck brakes done?

 

Yeah, I got them done. What a whore.


I'd like to find the DOUCHEBAG that designed those rear brakes and wring his neck.


The truck feels odd now, spongy, like it's too soft. Then I realized that after who knows how long with NO rear brakes and about 4 months with a sticky right caliper, the feeling I was experiencing is proper braking.

I think I pumped about three quarts through the system to clean it and replaced the wheel cylinders, calipers, rotors, shoes and pads. It gets expensive real quick. Now the master cylinder reservoir is leaking so I guess I'll go for the gusto after this next check.


I'll get pics of the Elky tomorrow when the truck is out of the way. Oh yeah, I just put new plug wires on and put the MityVac to the EGR and couldn't get a vac. It's supposed to hold vacuum isn't it?

 

Oh yeah TZ,

PM me your addy and I'll drop this door hinge in a standard rate box. It looks real good.

 

Yeh, egr valve should hold vacumm, if not the diaphram is leaking, valve needs to be replaced.(A leaky diaphram is never a good thing!)

 

I used to use a crowbar or flat piece of board between ground and tire to lever the wheel up high enough to allow the wheel to go onto the studs.

Hey C9---Willie from Ventura! About the wheel thing---I do lots of tire and brake work--both at work and home----I use a short flat-blades shovel to lift tires onto lugs---the shovel blade centers the wheel, and ths short handle is perfect for leverage. The body ain't what it use to be!!!

 

I hate unilugs. well i love em but i hate putting them on. i got it down now and i can put them on just as fast as a normal wheel. My big thing i had to get over was tighting them up as i went. once i stopped doing that and learned your new discovery it was all down hill. And since ive had my cragars on and off my Camaro 1000 times in the last month im a pro haha

 

I just had the hex turned off 2 lug nuts and cut a slot across the face of the lug nut. just screw them onto 2 opposing studs, lift the wheel into place and nip up 2 proper lug nuts, whip the 2 modified ones off, and put the 3 final proper ones into place, and your done. Sound a lot more complicated than it is, but I'm sure it will pay off the first time a get a flat in the rain or dark, and it will be a lot easier than busting my arse trying to hold the wheel in place and jiggle 2 nuts on to hold it firm!
Michael

 

IMPORTANT NOTE: I had a set of ET slot aluminum unilugs back in the '70s. After mounting the rims on the car and driving about 20 to 30 miles, check the lug nuts, mine came loose every time no matter what I did. After retighting the lugs they were fine but they always would come loose after the first time.

 

Good thinking.
I got one of those dirt movers around here somewhere.
Sounds way moh bettah than a crowbar.

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There seems to be some confusion about this Uni-Lug thing.
ET wheels with the oval adapter is probably the true Uni-Lug, but the name seems to be applied to all the more-than-one-bolt-pattern wheels.

Here's what I've run into with slot mags:

Wheels with an oval hole that take only a lugnut, no adapter requred.
American - among others (Western is one) supplied this wheel.
These wheels will take 5 bolt patterns of 4 1/2", 4 3/4" and 5".
Used with the thick washers as noted above they work well.
44,000 miles on my 10 x 15 Americans I bought new in 1985.
They were SEMA approved which was a bit of a surprise since I considered the oval hole wheel a less strong design than a specific pattern wheel.

An unknown maker wheel that has an overly large round hole where the shank of the mag lugnut goes as well as a round machined step for a round adapter.
The adapter with offset hole and machined step is probably for a 4 1/2" and 5" pattern.
A 2nd adapter with the hole and machined step in the center appears to be for 4 3/4" pattern.

A wheel made by several of the big mfg. has a Uni-Lug type adapter, but it's larger on the OD of the oval than is the smaller ET style Uni-Lug.
Same deal here with adapters, an offset and a centered one that fits as noted above.

I don't know what the heck rodders with 5 1/2" pattern wheels have to use.

The above is what I've run into with slot mags, but some five spokers may be the same.

There is a wheel out there that appears to take a larger diameter shank lugnut, but they don't seem to be too common.
These are usually drilled for a specific pattern.
You can use these by installing a bushing and a flat bottom lugnut with a washer.
My little brother did this trick with the rear mags on his Henry J drag racer when it was first running.
The main thing to be careful about is to make sure the bushing is shorter than the depth of the mag wheels mounting flange so the flat bottom lugnut pulls the wheel down onto the brake drum/rotor flange properly.

What most of us probably want are wheels drilled to a specific pattern, but if used with a little forethought the Uni-Lug style wheels will work fine and most importantly, be safe.

It's not too difficult to drill - or get drilled - the wheels for a new pattern.
You'll need the solid back mounting flange style here.
There are some mags with hollows cast into the mounting flange and you can't drill these due to the lack of depth for mounting.
Done by the mfg. to save a few bucks in material costs.

I ended up with 4 3/4" pattern (Camaro) rotors on the front of my 31 and the usual Ford 4 1/2" pattern on the 9" rear axle.
I probably shoulda went 4 3/4" pattern when I ordered the Dutchman axles, but went for Ford since I planned to drill the Camaro rotors to a Ford pattern and use 4 1/2" specific wheels all around.
Then I found the Camaro rotors were cast with hollows preventing drilling them for another pattern.
None of which is a problem since I'm running dual pattern steelies.

Nice part about the 31 so far is, the trunk - no rumble seats no more for me - has lots of room so a spare tire will be carried.

I found one 14 x 5 1/2", 4 3/4" pattern slot mag to use as a spare wheel.
It's nice and small, but the bad part is, now that I need a Uni-Lug, I have only a wheel for the front.
Kinda the way life goes sometimes, even so, not a big deal, one more dual pattern steelie will do the job and it'll be a 15" wheel like the ones on the car now.

The pic shows the dual pattern wheel during the early stages of construction.
Dutchman axles are on the car since it was originally slated to go on the lakes.
Believe it or not, those long wheel studs fit under the hubcaps.

You'll also note the body/32 frame gap.
That due to the rear frame horns are holding the body off the frame.
Of interest to some is perhaps where the rear frame horns come out.
To use rear frame horns you'll need to cut them off and lower them about 3"-4" at the cut area.

 

I got to thinkig about some of the "destroyed around the lugnuts" wheels we see fairly often.
A little whining ought to get you a good price on them since most consider them unfixable.

Two ways to do it, but the bad part is you're gonna need a lathe and a mill or some kind of jig setup for your drill press.

You'll also need an end mill for the drilling.
These are flat on the end and won't wander off like a regular twist drill will.

Once the holes are cut oversize, make up some bushings that fit the hole size precisely.
These could be a plain bushing or have a step on top that the mag lugnut shoulder - with thin washer - would seat on.

Either style of bushing should probably be retained by red Loctite or JB Weld.

The stepped bushing would probably be a good way to turn a Uni-Lug style wheel into a pattern specific one.

Nice part about repairing a wheel this way is no additional holes need be drilled into the wheel.