Check your nuts ...

[DaveR]

In case anyone doesn't already know about jag wheel nuts, they look good when new but they corrode internally to the point that they are difficult to remove. The nuts in question are those 19mm ones with a bright ss outer. Under this thin cover is a standard 18mm steel hex that rusts. The outer is a press fit over the 18mm & when this rusts enough the outer bit will just rotate. I've recently replaced 8 of them on our 03 v8 that's just gone to a new home.

There is a simple way to find out if yours are on the way out.

- grasp the nut, if the shiny cover moves/rotates or rattles then the nut underneath is corroding

- if a 19mm hex wheel brace or socket is tight on the nut, then it's likely that the 18mm underneath is corroding & swelling.

- if there are rust stains in the nut recesses on the alloy, then the nuts are rusting.

Any or all these show that they need changing before you get stranded with a puncture.

The nuts I replaced were all swollen to the point where a 19mm hex socked had to be tapped on. For 7 of them this compressed the cover tightly onto the inner nut allowing them to be easily removed. On the last one the outer just turned! I had to carefully cut the top off the outer with a dremel diamond cutter then split the outer with a thin drift. Fortunately the shiny outer metal is soft. This revealed the rusty 18mm nut with no corners. An 18 bihex socket didn't grip so I had to resort to tapping on an old 17mm bihex socket. (I didn't have a 18mm hex impact socket!) The nut came off with no excessive force & all the hub studs weren't corroded ( because they all have had a smear of Lithium grease on them)

i got new nuts from Taunton Jag eBay shop. There are cheaper copies but I wouldn't trust these.

Hope this info helps someone!

regards

Dave

[PD Miller]

Thanks for that Dave. I went through the same saga with my XJ and had a job to get the old ones off . I'm sure the combination of being hammered on with a windy gun and the passage of time didn't help. I replaced them with original spec ones but wondered about the after market stainless items that are available. I think I read somewhere that some Toyota items fit.

Cheers

Pete

[DaveR]

12 hours ago, PD Miller said:

Thanks for that Dave. I went through the same saga with my XJ and had a job to get the old ones off . I'm sure the combination of being hammered on with a windy gun and the passage of time didn't help. I replaced them with original spec ones but wondered about the after market stainless items that are available. I think I read somewhere that some Toyota items fit.

Cheers

Pete

Yes Pete, tyre monkeys with windy guns are a pain, never seen one start using a socket & bar first, the gun should be the last resort. Have seen them using a torque wrench to tighten them so some have moved on. With Jag nuts the locking ones can get a real hammering (haha), they seem softer than the ordinary nuts & they are a real pain to get off if they just rotate. For anyone who has iffy ones its certainly worth changing them as well.

Yes, I saw that comment about Toyota ones but never checked up. Will google them later & see if I can find them.

Cheers

Dave  

[Lazlo Woodbine]

Thanks for this. One of mine on my S-type rounded yesterday as I torqued it up, but it was late and a cup of tea seemed like the best option.

The first thing I did when I got my car home was throw the locking nuts away, the ones on my previous car cost me many hours of my life. I really wasn't expecting this kind of nonsense with the standard ones! Give me rusty, unsightly nuts any day, as long as they work.

Don't be too pleased about tyre fitters using torque wrenches. The ones I've seen just use them to check the nuts are at least tight enough, which of course they are when they've been put in with an impact driver. They don't check that they're actually at the correct torque, and none of them have ever asked me what that figure is.

Tyre fitting is one of the few jobs I don't do myself but at this rate I'm going to get my own fitting machine.