sudsmaster
Well-known member
Left handed lug nuts
My '64 Plymouth Valiant has those left hand threaded lug nuts/studs on the passenger side of the car. I understand the engineering theory was that in braking, a left handed nut will tend to tighten rather than loosen. However I also understand that with proper torquing, it's not an issue with right hand threaded lug nuts anyway.
The left hand lug nuts however did cause me a problem. Back in the 70's I brought the car into Sears for a set of tires. They had hired a young woman mechanic - not that her gender was an issue for me. However I was observing the yellow line that keeps customers out of the work bays, when I observed her struggling to remove the lug nuts on the passenger side of the car. She was about 50 ft away. I remember yelling at the top of my lungs, "Left hand threads!!!" but she kept on turning up the torque on her air wrench and going at it. I should have gone over there and educated her, but eventually she realized the problem and got the lug nuts off.
Only problem was, about a few weeks later the studs on the wheels on that side of the car started breaking off. I wound up having to take the brake drums off and having new left hand threaded lug studs installed. I have never taken any of my cars back to Sears for any work.
When I had the studs replaced, the parts/machine shop mentioned that it could be a good time to change over to right hand threads on all wheels. I declined, figuring it would be better to keep the car authentic to the original. As long as I did my own work!
My '64 Plymouth Valiant has those left hand threaded lug nuts/studs on the passenger side of the car. I understand the engineering theory was that in braking, a left handed nut will tend to tighten rather than loosen. However I also understand that with proper torquing, it's not an issue with right hand threaded lug nuts anyway.
The left hand lug nuts however did cause me a problem. Back in the 70's I brought the car into Sears for a set of tires. They had hired a young woman mechanic - not that her gender was an issue for me. However I was observing the yellow line that keeps customers out of the work bays, when I observed her struggling to remove the lug nuts on the passenger side of the car. She was about 50 ft away. I remember yelling at the top of my lungs, "Left hand threads!!!" but she kept on turning up the torque on her air wrench and going at it. I should have gone over there and educated her, but eventually she realized the problem and got the lug nuts off.
Only problem was, about a few weeks later the studs on the wheels on that side of the car started breaking off. I wound up having to take the brake drums off and having new left hand threaded lug studs installed. I have never taken any of my cars back to Sears for any work.
When I had the studs replaced, the parts/machine shop mentioned that it could be a good time to change over to right hand threads on all wheels. I declined, figuring it would be better to keep the car authentic to the original. As long as I did my own work!
