lug nuts

Austin Healer

Austin Healer

Gold forum user
Messages
1,616
I have a set of genuine 90's vintage Minilites wheels fitted to my Mk2. These wheels use a sleeve type lug nut which does NOT have a taper at the end of the nut. The diameter of the shank is .735", length is .750. Thread is obviously 7/16-20. The socket size for the lug nut is 7/8AF. MiniliteUK is unable to supply lug nuts. The US distributor is just worthless. I have not been able to find any lug nuts anywhere in the US of A and I would like to be able to drive my car sometime in the future! Anybody out there have a source... I only need 8, but would buy 16 if I have to!

P2130772.JPG
 
He's 100 miles away and we just spoke... and he cannot help. He can supply them only in 1/2-20 tpi. I'd have to drill the brake drums, front and rear hubs and rotors in order to fit them. He suggested I go to .625 shank bolts (the industry standard) and have sleeves made to fit the new nuts, or buy a new set of wheels.. the sleeves would only be .005-.006 in thickness.... probably have to be in Seattle to even have something like that made, not here in the middle of NE Bumfuckistan.

His only other suggestion was to have someone new lug nuts out of 7/8" stainless hex stock..

Who'd have thought I'd have so much trouble finding a lug nut, of all things.
 
I had a set of Minilites that had the same issue, needed a sleeve style lugnut. Used a washer that fit over the lug and washer sized to the counterbore on the Minilite. Made the mistake of putting them on the Tiger with different lug nuts made it about 2 miles and noticed the wheel shake. Lost 2 lugs and almost the wheel! The sized washer worked.
 
Austin Healer said:
He's 100 miles away and we just spoke... and he cannot help. He can supply them only in 1/2-20 tpi. I'd have to drill the brake drums, front and rear hubs and rotors in order to fit them. He suggested I go to .625 shank bolts (the industry standard) and have sleeves made to fit the new nuts, or buy a new set of wheels.. the sleeves would only be .005-.006 in thickness.... probably have to be in Seattle to even have something like that made, not here in the middle of NE Bumfuckistan.

His only other suggestion was to have someone new lug nuts out of 7/8" stainless hex stock..

Who'd have thought I'd have so much trouble finding a lug nut, of all things.
Click to expand...
I would suggest the best way is to have new nuts made , that way you are not modifying the wheels or studs or brake drums and possibly having a mishap by doing so. Once set up on the lathe the nuts can be churned out quickly, have several sets made , keep a spare set and sell the surplus at a small profit since I am sure others could use a nice new set and recoup your cost
 
These use a shank lug nut with a .735 Diameter... smaller diameter lug nuts will not hold the wheel tight. It just amazes me that the supplier of these wheels will not, or cannot, help. Capitalism at its absolute worst... "I know you like your wheels, but we'd really like you to buy new ones"...
 
Last edited:
Maybe cast the net a little wider.. Maybe some of the uk and eu resellers might have some stock like europa motorsports , demon tweaks etc?
 
I contacted Minilite UK. minilite says that they no longer support the wheel style... Code for, "We'd really like you to buy a new set of wheels from us". They gave me 2 suppliers. The first only sold wholesale and told me that they could not supply any nut in the shank dimension quoted anyway. The 2nd has yet to respond.

I have spent hours online searching every possible permutation of sleeve type lug nuts... I guess I am just going to either have new lug nuts made, or buy a different wheel. Simply ridiculous... I am certainly never going to buy another Minilite wheel....
 
Austin Healer said:
I contacted Minilite UK. minilite says that they no longer support the wheel style... Code for, "We'd really like you to buy a new set of wheels from us". They gave me 2 suppliers. The first only sold wholesale and told me that they could not supply any nut in the shank dimension quoted anyway. The 2nd has yet to respond.

I have spent hours online searching every possible permutation of sleeve type lug nuts... I guess I am just going to either have new lug nuts made, or buy a different wheel. Simply ridiculous... I am certainly never going to buy another Minilite wheel....
Click to expand...
Sean, I have some of those here in the loft from a different older wheel. I'll do some digging in the AM and measure them if found.
 
Austin Healer said:
if I do buy new wheels, It will not be from Minilite!
Click to expand...
VTO makes a nice wheel. These are 13 X 5.5. Other sizes are available for Beams. Pull up their web page and scroll thru the gallery. There are photos of Tigers. The wheel size will show if you hover over the photo. The cost isn't bad and they have lug nuts available for $5.00 each. This was a steel wheel car so it uses the 7/16-20 lug nut. You can also specify either short or tall center caps.
110_0724.JPG
 
Well, I contacted the stainless steel lug nut people. He will not make less than 200.... don't really want to have stock of 184 extra lug nuts that will only work for old Minilites!
 
Last edited:
Austin Healer said:
Well, I contacted the stainless steel lug nut people. He will not make less than 200.... don't really want to have stock of 184 extra lug nuts that will only work for old Minilites!
Click to expand...
Oh well... worth a try... I don't know how long stock studs are ( mine were changed to 1/2" ) but iof you can find lug nuts long enough so they don't bottom out and have a small metal lathe it should be pretty easy to machine the 'step on them. Then there's the washers...
 
Very frustrating.. supposedly I can get the correct dimensioned lug nuts if I go to a 1/2-20 stud. Just involves drilling the drums and hubs to make it all work.

As I just put the entire axle back together, I'm not real anxious to pull it apart again... that and the idiot machinist I had pull the hubs off the axles managed to destroy both axle nuts, one hub and the threads on both axles. Luckily I had a spare hub and was able to have the axles repaired ($150 later, anyway) A lot of heartache to just replace the bearings and seals. Sometimes it does NOT pay to be in the country!

On a lark I remembered that Sports and Classics used to sell a lot of Minilites in the 90's. I asked if they might have a set of nuts squirrelled away. He says they might. Fingers, toes and eyes crossed!
 
Last edited:
Machine work is relatively cheap here in Thailand, with no minimum run.
A set in 304 would be reasonable and no quantity issues.

I need a set of LAT style nuts for my own car, and unable to find a reproduction. I was going to machine some, but not until I could lay my hands on a LAT nut when in Canada in April. It will be tight to do it before I leave, but if someone could send me a LAT nut and washer drawing, then I will run some LAT ones now, plus a set for Sean at the same time.

Anyone else need LAT nuts in stainless as this will be a one time run?

I cannot connect to CAT every time due to my dynamic IP address and Theo trying to stop spam from Asia. It is like whack a mole so either email me or be patient.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top