http://www.cragarwheel.com/contact.html (Calif) says they changed to unilug in 1968 ? Not sure who /what this Co. is in relation to manufacturing of Cragars, www.cragar.com/ (saying Cragar Industries , Inc. on main webpage) ? But they won't answer their phones . -------------------- In 2000 Cragar wheels was sold out to anybody that wanted it. The Cragar name was kept by the previous owner, and he will liscense the name to anyone who wants to spend the money. www.Cragar.com is the website for the Cragar name, but to my knowledge the do not make or sell any wheels. www.Cragarwheel.com is the website for the company that is currently making the Cragar SS wheels as well as all of the composite wheels and the steel wheels, as well as the TRU-spoke wheels. This is a Carlisle owned company. The Cragar Race Wheel line was sold to Weld Wheels and then was discontinued. At one time, a few years ago, there were 4 different companys making Cragar brand wheels. Brian
I have a wholesaler I deal with in Australia who is friends with somebody high up in Cragar and he has been getting them to do direct bolt fitment in a few or their wheels by special order.(ie lots of 100 wheels) He has been getting the SS and 391(lakester style wheel) in direct bolt (5x 4.5, 5x 4.75 and a few 5x5) Cragar are also now doing a Super Supreme? I think they are just reselling them though. I am also told they are doing SS in all alloy 1 piece in both full polish and satin centre finishes next year, but I am not sure if that is all markets or just for this 1 wholesaler. The unilug(slotted) wheels are illegal in most states in Australia, thats why he had them done.
funny how 1 post can make you feel old. Cragar S/S wheels were not always unilug, somewhere in the early 70's they start with the unilug. now i have to ask this? how many have the Cragar Lug Nut Mug that came with a set of wheels?
when did cragar go away from the custom offset stuff....? i've seen some that were 8" wide with something like 6" backspacing....looked like a 15x4. i had a pair of 16x12's , a hamb'r ended up with those . brandon
#### OK I'm officially reopening MY CASE !!Just for all of you experts out there that thought and doubted the pot metal ring on the uni-lugs !! I'm digging around in the shop today and I happened to run across a box of vintage wheel adapters and in the bottom of the box was a POT-METAL CRAGAR Vari-Lug adapter. Instuctions on ring, match the X to the wheel, and they even put the name CRAGAR on it. Time frame for these at our speed shop was 1975. Now I rest my case >>>>.
Thanks for the heads up PM. Those rings bring back nightmares. I kept those crappie S/S's only about 2 months. I went with Mopar stock steel wheels on the rear and Magnum 500's on the front with the star painted yellow to match the car similar to a 442.
Yep, I bought one of those mugs 3 years ago at a garage sale for 10 cents! It now rests on my workbench, holding pens, a small flashlight, and a tire gauge.
I bought a set of Cragar G/T wheels in 71 and they were not unilug. But......I bought a set of E-T's 5 spokes 6 months later and they were unilug . I would guess early 70's that most went to unilugs.
I worked at a tire store in 73 and sold Cragars. The ones we sold were the Uni Lug not the vara lug with the goofy pot metal ring. Never had a problem with the lugs coming loose. Have also used five sets over the last few years and the same Uni Lug with the offset washers. My Anglia Gasser (real deal car from the late 60's) had uni lug Cragars with no problems.
Cragar emailed me this morning, the guy says that "17's are already direct fit (who cares about "17's?) and the '14/'15's will be "available shortly".
okay-so I have a set of unilug cragar knockoffs (missing the center caps on two but I think the other two say western on the center caps) where can I get the washers I need?
I've seen a number of unilugs and for some reason they would have slots that would fit Ford/Mopar and Chevy patterns, but be too small for the Pontiac/Buick/Olds/etc 5x5"s.
what wheels and sizes are you after? I am in Australia, but with the US v AU dollar it might work ok. We have SS Cragar 1 piece alloy (polished and gray centre) in direct bolt ford 15x7 and 15x8 now (15x6 in 6 weeks)and will have SS in original steel style next week or so in 15x6, 7 and 8. The alloy ones are from $300 Au and the steel ones from $400 au. I guess freight back to the USA may be the killer. check our website, would be glad to help if I can.
S/S 15x4 1/2. I'm not in any hurry to get them, I think you are correct, the shipping would kill the deal.
To the best of my knowledge you are talking about ET unilugs....they are the only ones I have ever seen that would fit three bolt circles 4-1/2 4-3/4 and 5". Cragars had an oval shaped hole that fit either 4-1/2 or 4-3/4 bolt circles, many other companies used this style also. I have a full set of ET's on my daily driver they work just fine.
Lets say that this piece of shit of an adapter is all mangled, cracked etc. Would it cause the wheel to wobble? I have a death wobble i cant trace, it seemed like the front end was out of alignment, but even after aligning it 5 times, each time more preciseley, the steering wheel still vibrates, and after 40mph it becomes unbareable, and scary.... mine are 4lug. Do you think i can find these stupid plates anywhere?
^^ i take it that is a positive answer to my question?? my rear set doesnt have the ring and seems a lot better BTW
I realize this is an "antique" thread that was brought back to life for a uni-lug question but...... Cragar does make dedicated bolt pattern SS's. However they make them with 2 different style lug nuts, the original "shank" style and the new "conical" style. The guys at Carlisle Tire (the current owners of Cragar) told me that they developed the "conical" lug nut style wheel due to numerous complaints of the washers, that are used with the shank lug nuts, leave marks in the chrome on the wheels. Appearently the Billet Heads were cryin' crocodile tears. More interesting news is that currently all of the hoops (rims) are made "in house" in their California factory with only the insert (spoke section) being outsourced (overseas). Everything is in the works to have the inserts made in the U.S. in 2013, making the Cragar SS a "Made in the U.S.A." wheel. Here are my new "old style" dedicated 4-3/4" bolt pattern, shank lug nut Cragar SS's.
You might try here: http://www.akhwheels.com/pages/misc.php?cat=10 Also have you tried another set of wheels, like stock steelies or anything to verify that the vibration is definitely caused by the wheels? Another option may be to toss the ring, use some eccentric shaped washers and see how it works. Check and re-check torque settings on the Cragar wheels frequently.
When you had your front end aligned, did they also check the caster angle? Too much layback on your spindles can cause that death wobble when you let out of the throttle or under braking. Drag cars lay the spindles back for high speed stability, but they're under hard acceleration. If you ever watch a straight axle car after a burnout, the front end can wobble quite a bit.
what size wheel and tire is that ? I thought cragar s/s only went to 10", those look like maybe 12-14", and the tire, I couldn't even guess what size.