Slot Mag Wheel Nuts

7173Mustangs.com

Help Support 7173Mustangs.com:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Nige

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 9, 2018
Messages
152
Reaction score
0
Location
City of Bristol
My Car
1973 mach 1

Hi All

I have just brought a set of these slot mags can / does any one have picture of part number for correct wheel nuts



Thanks Nige

 
The correct ones for the 73 wheels are not available new

They were very tall

There are some truck versions that are tall but much wider

 
As noted, good condition Factory correct lug nuts are pretty much impossible to find. There are several brands of lug nut that are acceptable in appearance, but you can pick the vendor to purchase them from.

One thing you might want to address. The center caps are fastened with a mild steel Phillips head screw which does not play well with the forged aluminum wheel. Change them to stainless. I've always chased down the threads with a tap and then apply a bit of never seize to the threads. The cap in the picture appears to be a replacement from the original factory since one of the tabs is missing the screw hole. Factory had 5, replacements only have 3.

 
As noted, good condition Factory correct lug nuts are pretty much impossible to find.  There are several brands of lug nut that are acceptable in appearance, but you can pick the vendor to purchase them from.

One thing you might want to address.  The center caps are fastened with a mild steel Phillips head screw which does not play well with the forged aluminum wheel.  Change them to stainless.  I've always chased down the threads with a tap and then apply a bit of never seize to the threads.  The cap in the picture appears to be a replacement from the original factory since one of the tabs is missing the screw hole.  Factory had 5,  replacements only have 3.
Thank you all for the info i have sent pm to ohio mustangs. Thanks Nigel

 
This lug nut is supposed to be an original one (that's what I was told anyway). It is a tall nut, the short nuts will not look right with the aluminum slots. I did find an aftermarket lug nut that was close in dimensions. I'll look to see if I can find the brand and part number. The pictures of the wheel show the aftermarket lug nut. 









cdn images

 
Here is picture of the Ford part # on the box for the nuts. They are difficult to find for sure. I have 4 sets of wheels, one set on car and three spares, and could use nuts to go with. Also the long locking nuts are gone also. You never know when you will need a spare. Back in the day you could buy at swap meet for $10.00 each because everyone wanted a wider wheel.

Be sure and measure your center hole and compare to your center lug on your axle and spindle. Ford made these to fit Mercury which had a larger hole diameter. If the wheel does not fit the spindle and axle hub the lug bolts will be doing the centering and holding up all the weight in shear. That is not good. You can make a sleeve if it is the Mercury wheels to close up the gap. The Maverick also used this wheel and had same center hole as Mustang along with the Comet. The big Mercury had the larger dia.

David





 
Here is picture of the Ford part # on the box for the nuts. They are difficult to find for sure. I have 4 sets of wheels, one set on car and three spares, and could use nuts to go with. Also the long locking nuts are gone also. You never know when you will need a spare. Back in the day you could buy at swap meet for $10.00 each because everyone wanted a wider wheel.

Be sure and measure your center hole and compare to your center lug on your axle and spindle. Ford made these to fit Mercury which had a larger hole diameter. If the wheel does not fit the spindle and axle hub the lug bolts will be doing the centering and holding up all the weight in shear. That is not good. You can make a sleeve if it is the Mercury wheels to close up the gap. The Maverick also used this wheel and had same center hole as Mustang along with the Comet. The big Mercury had the larger dia.

David



Hi David

Thank you very much for pics and info

Thanks Nige

 
Great info guys!  Thanks to all who provided clarification!  I'll delete my earlier post to help others who read this thread to gain the best knowledge!  I have never owned any of these wheels so I wasn't aware of the different lug nuts required.

Ray

 
Hi All 

I have managed to buy 10 from forum user i am looking for another 10 to buy please.

Thanks Nige

 
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/mcg-64000/overview/

These are the cats meow, and there tougher than cast iron and look fantastic.
I purchased those in 1998 and they have looked and worked perfectly ever since.

Since their headquarters was only a few miles from where I live, I went into the offices and one of the management guys spent some time with me matching up the best choice when I told him what I was looking for.  I knew at the time (before the internet marketplace exploded) the originals were virtually non-existent so they looked up the specs for the originals from a monster 3-ring binder they had and selected those.

 
I found that the lug nuts on a87-88 T-Birds with aluminum wheels were close to the original 73 aluminum slot lug nuts. Unfortunately, they are also not easy to find and 87-88 T-birds were four lug wheels, so you will need to find five of these wheels.

Another source for originals is on the ground at your favorite mustang salvage yard. I found a yard where people had taken the 73 aluminum slot wheels and left the lug nuts just laying on the ground. I found plenty of them still in good shape. All they need was a good polishing.

87 T-bird on left and 73 original on right







 
Last edited by a moderator:
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/mcg-64000/overview/

These are the cats meow, and there tougher than cast iron and look fantastic.
I do not think any lug nuts were ever cast iron too weak. They are usually 4140 alloy so you do not strip them out. When you do install the wheels always us a torque wrench to tighten and criss cross the pattern add a little WD-40. Go to like 60 Ft. Lbs. then to the recommended torque somewhere from 80 ft. lbs. to 105. This will prevent warping your disc brake rotors causing them to shake when applying brakes.

A friend called me from the Toyota dealership the other day and was in a panic. The dealer was doing the FREE tire rotation and came and told her that if she did not do brake job on the rear it was going to ruin her rotors. I ask if they were squeaking or grinding and she said no. So I told her to tell them to leave it alone. He came back and said if she did not do brake job for $225 now it might cost her $400 later. I told her to go by Auto Zone and get the pads and come over. I put on lift and when I went to take lugs loose I could not break them with a long 1/2" breaker bar. I got my big 1/2" drive torque wrench and could not tighten them farther at 150 ft. lbs. The spec for her Toyota was 79 ft. lbs. I had to jump on breaker bar to loosen them. Some were not as tight so they I think were trying to warp her discs to get business. I had never done brake job on this model but from start to finish less than 30 min. and replaced pads, wear plates, ground the ridge off the outside edge of the rotors and checked for warpage and added lube to wear points. I loosened and re torqued all nuts to correct torque and told her to call the owner of the Toyota dealer and tell him what I found. It cost less than $30 for the premium pads with the new wear plates. I did not use any power tools and first time in 30 Min. could do in 15 now. BTW there was still 3/16" of pad left and was not on the squeakers yet. Total rip off attempt.

Shops all too often try to rip people off especially this Toyota dealer. I know of several that have been taken. I use Discount Tire for tires and last thing they do is torque the nuts by hand with a torque wrench one reason I use them.

David

 
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/mcg-64000/overview/

These are the cats meow, and there tougher than cast iron and look fantastic.
I do not think any lug nuts were ever cast iron too weak. They are usually 4140 alloy so you do not strip them out. When you do install the wheels always us a torque wrench to tighten and criss cross the pattern add a little WD-40. Go to like 60 Ft. Lbs. then to the recommended torque somewhere from 80 ft. lbs. to 105. This will prevent warping your disc brake rotors causing them to shake when applying brakes.

A friend called me from the Toyota dealership the other day and was in a panic. The dealer was doing the FREE tire rotation and came and told her that if she did not do brake job on the rear it was going to ruin her rotors. I ask if they were squeaking or grinding and she said no. So I told her to tell them to leave it alone. He came back and said if she did not do brake job for $225 now it might cost her $400 later. I told her to go by Auto Zone and get the pads and come over. I put on lift and when I went to take lugs loose I could not break them with a long 1/2" breaker bar. I got my big 1/2" drive torque wrench and could not tighten them farther at 150 ft. lbs. The spec for her Toyota was 79 ft. lbs. I had to jump on breaker bar to loosen them. Some were not as tight so they I think were trying to warp her discs to get business. I had never done brake job on this model but from start to finish less than 30 min. and replaced pads, wear plates, ground the ridge off the outside edge of the rotors and checked for warpage and added lube to wear points. I loosened and re torqued all nuts to correct torque and told her to call the owner of the Toyota dealer and tell him what I found. It cost less than $30 for the premium pads with the new wear plates. I did not use any power tools and first time in 30 Min. could do in 15 now. BTW there was still 3/16" of pad left and was not on the squeakers yet. Total rip off attempt.

Shops all too often try to rip people off especially this Toyota dealer. I know of several that have been taken. I use Discount Tire for tires and last thing they do is torque the nuts by hand with a torque wrench one reason I use them.

David
I had the same problem with shop air wrenching and over tightening the lugs to the point where even standing on a breaker bar would not loosen them, it took pounding it with an air wrench to get them off. Once I took my 2005 GT in to have a new set of rims and tires put on, when I got it home I went to take one of the tires off the car to see if I could get the lugs off, only to find that the knucklehead had air wrenched the locking lugs on! They were totally cracked and the minute I put the wrench to one of them with the lug key to loosen it, it just crumbled.  Took it back to the shop and made them remove all four broken locking lugs, they damaged two rims in the process. Of course, they had to replace them and the lugs. Now I always insist they hand tighten lugs to spec.

 
Back
Top