Crager Wheel lug nuts loosening

New crager 15x7 small bolt wheels keep will mysteriously loosen u for no reason Almost lost a wheel again rear drums7/16 x20 studs I may go with long studs and cut the cap end off the lug nuts {Crager}no one makes open ended lug nuts for the 7/16 studs Any suggestions? Want to avoid locktite

Shanks too long and bottoming out? Do they fit the hole opening snugly?

Shank style lug nuts have been good for me as far a staying tight. New Cragars are unilug so that may or may not be an issue??


I would verify the studs aren't too long as mentioned. Also if the shank part protrudes deeper than the thickness of the wheel that will hose you as well.

Small bolt lugs nuts are unique, never had an issue with old stock, maybe the new one's aren't quite right. Nobody makes an open end lug nut for those, up until a few years ago when the started repopping them the lug nuts were unobtainium.

The 1st time the studs just broke off This time I lost 2 of the lug nuts and the other 3 were loose> the lugs are deep enough to handle the depth of wheel however the replacement studs don't have the knurl length of original studs

Same wheel/rim each time? Same axle each time? Any pics?

How hard would it be to replace with 1/2" studs? I am pretty sure the wheels could handle the larger diameter.

No way to use 1/2" studs with these wheels, you have to have had a set to know what fits these wheels. Like I said earlier, special lug nuts are used and only fit small bolt Cragars. The register of the 4" bolt pattern and the smaller center hole negates drilling the hole any larger.

as an experiment, try some teflon pipe thread tape on one nut/stud, then keep a close eye on it to see if it loosens up. just thinking out of the box here ....... those small pattern cragars are one of a kind as rhino said. you also need a thin [small diameter] deepwell socket to fit the nuts that won't scratch up the wheel center area.

If these are unilug Cragars, you must use the correct offset washer and shank lug nuts.

I have a stock of older lugnuts I will give those a shot. Thanks to all who have replied!

Info from Cragar

https://www.cragarwheel.com/news/aftermarket-wheel-installation-guidelines

No mention of Unilug in this article, but if you have them, get the correct lug nuts and washers.

I had one left rear loosen up one time. My fault, I did not recheck the torque after re-installing them soon enough. I lost 2 of the lug nuts & the other three were loose. The wheel started making a squeeling noise before a wobble occurred which made me pull over. I tightened the three and removed one off of two wheels from the other until I got home.

Before driving again I removed and replaced all 5 studs just to be safe along with a couple new lugs & now keep a couple of extra lug nuts with me in the glove box.

someone is loosening them... sbp are NON UNI-LUG..never had one come loose on mine ran em for years.. check them regularly and put up a game camera to watch your car..

I just read this and decided to checkout my Dart. 19 of 20 were not torqued to 85. The fronts were all loose. One of the fronts was missing! Wheel Vintiques Rally's with the chrome, enclosed shoulder lug nuts. Glad I checked!

What is the torque spec's for Cragar Mags and the 7/16 lug nuts? I just got a set of new Cragar S/S and lug nuts, for my Dart but have not had a chance to test fit them yet. Thanks.

Torque specs are from the 1970 service manual.

55 ft lbs for A body
65 ft lbs for B & C body

Those torque specs are for factory steel wheels not aftermarket chrome mags. The specs I use on my wheels is tighten the crap out of them without warping the rotors. If you have drum brakes then don't sweat warping them.

The torque specs are for the stud not the wheel or the nut.

If someone advises you to "tighten the crap out of" your lug nuts, think that over before following that advice.

It's worked for me for 50 years and never had a lug come loose or stud break. In case you haven't noticed most cars call for 85-100ftlbs now days.

FWIW, we torque the lugnuts on the drag cars and vintage TransAm cars to 75-80 ft/lbs. Zero problems ever, and the TA cars certainly put that stuff to the test. Not debating new street car lug nut torques, I've heard some pretty big #s like Stumpy says.
I'd take a look at how the studs meet the back face of the wheel and the interface between wheel/drum.
I'm curious about the problem, please report back with an update.

I've ran SB drilled (not unilug) Cragars on my Formula S for about 2 years. I installed long studs all the way around and used a drill press to drill the centers out of the recommended lug nuts for these. After having multiple issues with unilug BB Cragars I won't buy another set of those as I have torqued those to 75 ft/lbs as I did my Formula S SB. The unilugs seem to eventually get/come loose.