Urgent - 7:30 Vet Appointment
 

Can short lug nuts be used on the front to make a two hour round trip?

Had 15 long ones, but have vanished into thin air. With my post traumatic concussion memory, have no picture. Looked where should be, turned the garage upside-down, but not to be found. Do have the set of shorts from the 300TD-T and do get a good bit of thread, about 15 to 20 millimeters in if seeing right.

Thank y'all so very much for any assistance! :D

20mm is nearly an inch of threads, you'll be fine.

If in doubt, swap a couple long lug nuts off the rear wheels to up front, so you'll at least have a couple proper lug nuts per wheel.

Reminds me of the person on the side of the road by the insane asylum who was changing a flat. Truck came along and hit the hub cap sending the lug nuts flying. Person inside the fence watching said to just take 1 lug nut from each of the other 3 wheels.

The guy changing the wheel said "that's pretty smart. What's a person like you doing in a place like this?"

Answer: I may be crazy but I'm not stupid.

I'm sure that's not PC in this day and age.

Speaking as someone who really does try to keep it politically correct, I see nothing wrong with that joke. Getting off topic for a moment, I think it would be un-PC if someone made fun of a specific mental illness.

"I'm crazy, not stupid" is and always will be funny in my book.

True.

I'd be wary about the actual threads engaging the hub. There is not 3/4" of thread in the hub so put the lugs through the wheel and measure how much is sticking out. You'll need a half inch of threads (if the bolt is 1/2 inch diameter) in the same strength material to develop the holding power of the bolt.

I don't think you will have that with the short threads in a bundt or any other aluminum wheel excepting the black steelie looking mb wheels.

You don't want to lose a wheel on the road....better to reschedule the vet visit or borrow a car.

This was 20 years ago. I was a few hundred miles from home when a rear wheel came off @ approx 30 miles an hour. A week before I had Town Fair Tire fix a slow leak in that wheel. I had a Fumoto quick drain valve which protrudes more than a regular drain plug so it got bent a little and caused a slow leak. I was able to retrieve the wheel which rolled down an embankment but none of the lug bolts was to be found. I pulled one lug off each wheel and installed the retrieved wheel and drove to an autoparts store..... bought Brake Clean, 5 minute epoxy and patched it up as best I can which slowed the leak down a lot. Bought some oil and topped up as needed and made it home safely. No wobbles, felt normal with just 3 lug nuts on each wheel.

After that incident, I always check/ re-torque the wheels myself after visiting tire shops.

^^^

To add to the "Check after having X service performed" list, if you have your oil changed by someone else, always check for leaks when you get home.

When I drove my '96 Exploder, I always had the oil changed at a quickie change place about 4 blocks from my house. One day when I came home from a fresh change, I noticed a big puddle under the car. Apparently the infant who did the oil change didn't bother to tighten the drain plug and it fell out on the corner of my street (easily found by following the trail of oil back down the road!!!).

Since that occurrence, any time someone else TOUCHES my car, I double check their work. Incidentally I also now do my own fluid and filter changes and have done ever since that one incident 15 years ago.