Love them Volkswagon Mopars!! I know my '50 plymouth has 'em! Fun the first time you try and take the wheel off and you didn't know they were like that huh!!
Friend of mine just got an early '50s Mopar. Do I remember this correctly ? Right hand thread on the Passengers side.(Like everything else) Left hand thread on the Drivers side.
From the very beginning ,Dodge may have been different ,But Chrysler and Plymouth have always been left and right hand thread .
Busted 2 studs & 1/2 my knuckles on an early 60s Doge going for the rims. The engineering was sound, to stop the lugs from loosening up due to inadequate tightening. The bad part was they never told anyone!
The bolts on Plymouths have a L or a R on the head of them. L for left hand threads and R for right hand. Some people cut the guide pins from the Plymouth hubs to use different wheels. Makes putting the wheel on and aligning the bolt holes with the holes in the wheel while trying to hold the wheel on the lip on the hub hard to do.
Why would anyone have to tell you they changed something when they never changed it, it was designed that way when they first started building cars? It was only much later that they changed to all right threads.
You think left hand lug nuts are bad. I found a left hand spindle nut on a 59 Buick last summer. That was the reason the drum was still there, someone else had taken the cotter-key out but couldn't figure out how to get the nut off.
ive got a 68 dodge Charger, its got em too..i always thought that the little pentastar on the lower fender on the side of the left hanned threaded studs was a reminder..always worked for me, aint broke one yet.
I did quite a few wheel changes in the early '60's just remember, when facing the wheel, doesn't matter what side of the car always turn the crossbar to the rear in other word Dr side spin to the back of the car (clockwise) on the Pass (counterclockwise)
1930s & 40s Willys and Hupmobiles too - oh yep and Alfa Romeo into the 1970s - seems like it was pretty common practice.
Dodge Dart break job. Been there. Had the impact on them going wtf? Guy I worked with yelled out wait a sec this is a F'ing Dodge! We looked and some had been broke off and replaced and it was all screwed over. Some were left to tighten some were right hahaha
When I was young, I had a date to go to the beach with a girl and her parents. We had a flat and I offered to change the tire and used every muscle I had in my body to get the lugs loose, while the father stood there and laughed. finally he picked up the lug wrench and easily loosen the lugs by turning the other way.
My 55 Olds has them. I took a Sharpie and wrote on the wheel in big letters "LEFT HAND THREADS" so I would remember.
It was a small thing the engineers did for safety sake to cause the lugs to have a self-tightening action if I was taught correctly. This is the same principle used on knock-off wheel fasteners. Something about orbital rotation but I'm no engineer. I guess later on they figured it's wasn't worth the extra trouble just like everything else bottom-line. Costs a lot more to make pieces that don't interchange.
My 63 Dodge Panel truck has them. I was funny watching my son try to take them off. After a while I told him to turn the 4 way the other way. He looked at me like I was crazy at first, then caught on.
A lot of big GM cars had that set up in the 50s/60s. My Pontiac 8Lugs are L/R. You sure want to make tire shops aware before they turn some kid loose with an impact.
I've had the left rear wheel part company on Fords and Chevys, even big trucks, but never a problem with a Mopar or Cornbinder.
Racecar knock-off hubs are the same way, only it is the right side of the car that uses left hand threads. Knock forward to loosen, back to tighten.