%^@F^%!@F@ tires stuck!!!

my boss told me before i had a chance to mess up on the 52 chrysler i was working on although had it been my car he probably would have just laughed and watched me suffer

 

It can be a interesting if you miss the "L" on the end of the stud or if your dealing with left handed mag nuts were you can't see the studs...

I worked for this asshat that was one to remind you how he'd been working on this or that longer than you were alive. Even though he had trouble doing the simplest of things and could not name any car other than a 67-69 Camaro correctly, the guy was really proud of himself and sure he knew more about everything... I'll never forget him nearly destroying a pair of eight lugs on the left side of a 61 Ventura. He wouldn't listen and just kept trying take them off the wrong way. My buddy and I took an hour lunch, came back and he was still at it, spraying them down with Blaster and heating them up with a torch. When he finally took a break to borrow a longer breaker bar we pulled the wheels off and put the lugs back on. The hardest part of that job was trying not to laugh, as this type of thing got to be common, after all that he still tried to take the lugs off studs the wrong way when he came back. What was really sad was when he got to the Magna-Cruise and the vaccum tri-power.

 

And that is why everyone should carry a left handed monkey wrench in their trunks . They work great on left handed lug nuts. trouble is they don't sell those wrenches anymore so keep an eye outfor them at your local swap meet. Prices very but the high dollar ones have a set of directions legible, they read 1, pick up wrench 2, turn left . the directions are on the handles but after they are used a while they wear off.

 

Just friendly info. Buick used bolts and torque tube till 60, in 61 they finally went to open driveline and studs w/ lug nuts.

 

Internationals up to a certain year had 'em too... Oh, yeah...and Citroen...

 

Which makes Henry Ford the only manufacturer that didn't take part in the idiocy.

 

Had a Ford pickup from the 1980's with them too.

 

I've got a few early 60s Mopars that still have all their original studs, and I never let anyone near them with a rattle gun - if I need to get tyres fitted I take the rims off the car myself, so nobody gets a chance to break anything!

 

Some of those brown trucks still use lefty's too.

 

Rolls-Royce traditionally had handed lugs. Wonder if the Germans kept that feature?

 

Not exactly true, Some of their full floating rear ended pickups had them.

What was fun was to swap sides with the hubs when doing a brake job, meant the next shop or even the next guy in the shop to work on it, was gonna have a helluva time....

 

Yep ... "SINISTRO" on the LEFT ... "DESTRO" on the RIGHT ... them EyeTalians have a different word for everything!

 

I always thought it was funny that right is dextro (dextrous, dexterity) and left is sinestro (sinister, evil). Just shows you what people thought of lefties (like my mom)

One of the many names we kicked around for a now-defunct band I used to be in was Dexter Sinister and the Vicious Mood Swingers.

Ok, I'm officially off on a tangent... back to regularly scheduled programming.

 

He simply left the H out of THAT.
Not a new nickname, just quick emotional typing, you how worked up a lug nut will get ya.

 

Yeah... some ASS swapped drums side-to-side on the front of my Chrysler, so now I have one of each on both sides. Cute.

 

one rule i have used is to try to tighten a nuta little before removal as it sometimes will break it free making removal ezier

 

He's done THAT, for sure!

 

Tighten a little = makes it easier.
Tighten a lot = it will just fall off in your hands.

And, are all youse guys reading "sinister" on brake drums that might actually be spelled "sintered"? As in sintered iron?

 

I think all of the nuts on the Dodge Democrats are to the left, aren't they?

 

A friend had a 59 Cad with left and right hand studs. Last year I found a 59 or 60 Buick, don't remember which, with left hand thread on the left front spindle. That was the only reason the drum was still there. Someone had tried to get it off and didn't think about trying it left.

 

I'll take that bet, Bruce. My 68 GTS, 63 Newport, 69 Dart all have the original studs. Maybe I'm lucky???

 

I ended up putting a '56 Plymouth rearend in my '55 Dodge when my diff wore out, Dodge used left and right lug nuts, and Plymouth used left and right lug bolts. So now every wheel on my '55 Dodge has a different lug setup on it.

 

Nope ... Alfa Romeo (or Alpha Romero in some parts ) drums clearly have the Italian word SINISTRO cast on the left drum ... and the Italian word DESTRO cast on the right drum (see pic in my post above).

... and the guys are correct ... the English word sinister has latin roots ... and means "on the left, unlucky"

 

On the bright side when you go to put them back on you know which way to go, that way they bolts wont keep falling off when your trying to tighten them....

sorry had to do it. I did the same thing and my pops watched me do this for over 30 minutes...sweating, cursing (i was like 14) and just pissed. If there is anything he taught me is how to really curse at cars and motorcycles....

 

This place cracks me up!

Yesterday (@12:31 PM) 53 Tuck N Roll starts a thread to figure out how to remove a couple of stubborn rims on his 1958 Olds ... two minutes later, yorgatron answers his question ... and @ 3:50 PM, 53 Tuck N Roll reports back that his "issue" has been resolved.

A day later, and us HAMBers are still at it ... discussing other cars with left-handed axle/hub threads and going off on all kinds of tangents ... and that HEMI32 guy that brought up an O/T "furrin car" (with "SINISTRO" brake drums) ought to be banned from the H.A.M.B. !!!

 

What was fun was to swap sides with the hubs when doing a brake job, meant the next shop or even the next guy in the shop to work on it, was gonna have a helluva time....[/quote]


And its funnier to watch the "brainiac" in the shop snap a couple off the right rear with an impact going full reverse before he figures out somebody swapped drums. Saw it on an early 80's F350. Laughed so hard at the guy breaking studs I didnt have the heart to tell him that it was one of his "buddies" at the same shop that did the wheel cylinders a few weeks earlier.

 

Well, generally the furrin car would be banned, but this one skates in under codicil 58 (B), revision 7.5: "Any vehicle carrying more than 12 square feet (.07 hectare) of finned aluminum surface shall be adjudged..."

 

I still have one drum with the left hand lugs. Just to mess with me everynow and then.

 

Studebaker did it too. Back in "the day" of what we now call vintage road racing, Knock-off wheels (wire or solid) were pre-eminent. The threads on the driver's side were left hand so that if you braked suddenly, the KO would tighten rather than loosen. Inertia rules. Look at most sports cars from the 40/50/60s with KO wheels - you can see on the 'wingnut' which direction to turn. Some "wingnuts", however (mostly the ones in gas stations) had no clue, and would either beat on the KO with the wrong kind of hammer and/or try to turn those LH threads the wrong way until somebody whose synapses were not being sacrificed to the bugzapper would come along, take the weapon out of the dehorn's hand, and proficiently remove said KO.

"wake me up early, be kind to mah dawgs, and teach my children to pray"

dj

 

I found out the hard way too.... This was on my 68 sport satellite. I was a smart ASS kid in a tire shop and figgered turn about was fair play. I would only do it now to someone I know, and then rush in to save 'em..