1949 Dodge, Righty loosey, lefty tighty?!?!

Ok, I admit I don't know everything but always thought I knew a little about everything. Turns out I learned something new today. The '49 Dodge Coronet I picked up had a flat so I decided to put a different wheel on it and move it into the garage.

Sounds simple...I have no MoPar wheels so a '01 Crown Vic rim fits, but before I got that spare on I discovered LEFT HANDED LUG NUTS! WTF?

After some PB spray the day before I started on the lugs, a little cheater bar and snapped it right off, figured it was rusted solid so the next I used the impact, snapped it off too!

So the next one I decided I'd try to 'tighten' it a bit and then loosen...turns out there is such a thing as a left handed wheel stud/nuts. Sure enough, I had to go 'Clock-wise' to loosen...really weird feeling.

Is this common on older cars?

 

Yeah, it was "a thing" back-in-the-day. Big trucks too. There were some odd notions in the past. I usually replace whatever it takes, studs/bolts/nuts/hubs, to eliminate the "issue".

 

Welcome to old Mopars!! not sure how common on other makes however...

 

Not only old mopars, but Studebakers as well.

 

One side should be correct, the other side backwards.
It was a stupid idea, back then, still a stupid idea.

 

Another Mopar tid bit. If there is a left and right side part - Odd numbered parts go on the left side, evens on the right.

 

Yes the other side is supposed to have normal threads!

 

does it have a fluid drive tranny too?

 

My brother had a chrysler newport about 25-30 years ago. He took it to a tire shop for some new wheels/tires (cragar supertricks- yep, he always has been a dumbass). They beat on those things with every trick they knew. I think it was the passenger side that are backwards. Finally an old timer clued them in - he claimed that the idea was to keep the lugnuts from loosening with the rotation of the wheel. Sounded like a plausible explanation to me at the time.. I was probably 11 or 12.

 

yup willys jeeps too on the driver side. even the bantam trailers they used

 

My 51 Pontiac had that too. One side was normal and the other side was reversed.

 

Most 50's GM cars were left hand threads on one side and right hand threads on the other. Buicks, Cads, Olds, and Pontiac. Don't know if Chevs were that way,

 

"Finally an old timer clued them in - he claimed that the idea was to keep the lugnuts from loosening with the rotation of the wheel."

Old-timer dude was correct. &, the studs' end were marked L & R. .

Marcus...

 

that is the other way around. if the p/n is an even number it is used on the left because the word left has an even number of letters in it. i found this out when removing and replacing the tortion bars on my 1963 plymouth. after the tortion bars have been twisted one way and if replaced on the opposite side they could break.

 

Left handed threads should have an L on the end of the stud.

From Imperialclub.com

http://www.imperialclub.com/Repair/Wheels/lugs.htm

[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]From Pete:[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]1970 was the last year for LH thread lug nuts on the RH side of the car. For 1971 all lug nuts were RH thread. Although I have worked on these cars for over 20 years, I screwed up when trying to remove a RH wheel on a 65 Polara this past weekend. I'm busting my guts to crack the first nut loose and trying to figure out why it's so tight. Then -- DOH!!! -- the source of the "problem" dawns on me.[/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]Question from Mark:[/FONT]​

[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]Can someone explain this to me again? I always forget. On the driver's side, it's clockwise to tighten, counter-clockwise to loosen.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]On the pass. side, it's clockwise to loosen, counter-clockwise to tighten?[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]Has someone got a little rhyme to help us remember?[/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]Replies:[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]From Bill:[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]Passenger's (right) side has right hand threads - so clockwise (right) to tighten and counterclockwise to loosen.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]Driver's (left) side has left hand threads - so counterclockwise (left) to tighten and clockwise to loosen.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]Or, turn the bolt/nut to the front of the car to tighten and to the rear to loosen.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]From John:[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]Here it is, right out of the 1962 Chrysler manual:[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]Page 29:[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]4. Loosen nuts (bolts) before using jack, particularly if you car has a Sure-Grip differential. Turn LEFT on the right wheels (passenger side of car) and RIGHT on the left wheels.[/FONT]
​

 

Left handed threads should have an L on the end of the stud.

 

My '49 Plymouth has left hand lug Bolts on the pass side... Nuts and studs are a bit easier to line up the rim with.

 

Well I just learned something! I knew mopar and Studes could have that setup but, never remember hearing anything about GM products having it.

 

Ha! I learned that the hard way too on my '68 cuda fastback, my old man just watched me do it and then after i broke a couple then he told me about it.

 

this is true. it had been a while since i changed a tire...i had almost forgot when i started.

 

Try and buy a re thread Left hand thread tap ! Yeah, I had to do that for a customer on his 1950 Plymouth ............. scrubba

 

Positive ground battery too.

 

Another odd Mopar quirk;

Pentastar body emblem only placed curbside on 60'sish era cars (on the passenger but not on he driver's side). Though I'm not a Mopar nut, I read once, that it was considered the "money" side of the car when parked at the curb. Seems like an odd way to save a buck per car...

 

the 58 caddy i just worked on had left handed threads, on the left side.

 

Yep.....Mopar did that all the way to about '72. Driver's side, southpaw lugs, passenger's side, "normal" lugs. I suspect it's a carry-over from the time that most cars used a center spindle nut to hold the wheels on, rather than a set of lug nuts/bolts.

Roger

 

Fisher Body did the same thing......body tag on the passenger side lower cowl.

 

Thanks guys for the laugh, yes I had no idea they ever made left hand lug nuts. The driver side studs upon closer examination after the fact of snapping some off do have the " L " on the end of the stud. didn't check the passenger side yet, rest assured since I have to replace some studs anyway I'll replace all of them with right handed studs/nuts so I don't do that again.

I came so close to getting the cutting wheel out and cutting the rest of the nuts off because they wouldn't come loose.

Thanks for the heads up on part numbers odd/even, I'm sure that would have fouled me up next.

 

Im glad ford never did that.

 

Changed the ones on my 48 Pontiac so I wouldn't have to carry two wrenches

 

NEVER seen a Chrysler spin off the passenger side lugs in the water at the drag strip.

In the short time I've been on this board, this is third posting about being surprized by left handed wheel lugs on a Chrysler product.