lug nuts

speleorelic · **Posted:** Wed Sep 21, 2005 7:23 pm

I turned a corner this morning on the way to work and hear a jingling sound. I stop to look around, and see what I thought was a lug nut. Picking it up, I see that it was only a cap. Looking at my jeep, I see 3 naked nuts(regular hex nuts) on my wheels. The caps had fallen off.
So I guess jeep thinks it's cheaper to cover a hex nut with a shiney sheet metal cap than to actually put solid hex lug nuts on the wheels??? I'm very disappointed with jeep. I would have never figured them to skimp on something so basic as lug nuts. Has anyone else had this occur? Now I have to look into replacing 16 lug nuts. The dealer will hear about this. I'll let you know what I find out.

Skyjump136 · **Joined:** Tue Jul 05, 2005 6:50 pm **Posts:** 1633

Very common. Lots of lug nuts are made this way. Be careful when you are tightening the nuts and keep a few extras on hand. Obviously, its not a safety issue and that is the main concern.

Talon 1 · **Posted:** Wed Sep 21, 2005 9:06 pm

Happened to me (or should I say the mechanics at Firestone) when I went to have the tires rotated awhile back. I went down to the nearest auto store and bought some real ones (Chrome) at just over a buck a piece and installed them immediately (well, Firestone was nice enough to do it for me for free). I definately didn`t want to have to deal with losing these things constantly and then get a flat. Besides, they were starting to look a little crappy anyway.

Trodo · **Posted:** Wed Sep 21, 2005 9:43 pm

I personally have not had any issues yet (knock on wood) but I'd like to know what type of lug nut to replace it with. Meaning shape, length, etc. I know McGard makes a good one, but which package to I pick up?

khokhonutt · **Posted:** Thu Sep 22, 2005 7:40 am

Trodo wrote:

I personally have not had any issues yet (knock on wood) but I'd like to know what type of lug nut to replace it with. Meaning shape, length, etc. I know McGard makes a good one, but which package to I pick up?

One of the first things I've done with all of my newer Jeeps has been replace the lug nuts. The chrome skins on the stock ones never hold up. I usually just go down to the local parts store and they'll have a chart with what lugs will fit.

The only thing to watch out for is that most of the replacements I've found end up being one size larger in socket size. This means your stock lug wrench won't work (not something you want to find out when you have to change a tire on the side of the road). For that reason, I usually pick up one of the folding star wrenches when I get the new lugs.

Jeff

WV(0)IIIIIII(0) · **Posted:** Thu Sep 22, 2005 7:56 am

Happend to me also. At first I thought the auto shop that does my tire rotations and oil changes had ripped me off by taking my good ones and put the el'cheapo on there. Turns out that they are all el'cheapo's

Joe Jeep Owner · **Posted:** Thu Sep 22, 2005 10:04 am

I have had (and continue to have) the same thing happend to me a ton of times. Owned the Jeep for 7 months and have lost 6 nuts :evil:

It is very frustrating in my opinion. I just bought new tires and lost two caps from that too. I think I will be replacing all of them with a similar one piece nut.

FYI

Jeep Dealerships charge $6.00 per nut (at least in CT), not sure on the price for a full set but I am assuming its high.

ADVICE
Go to Ebay and do a search for "Jeep Lugnuts", there are tons that come up. Another way to go (and I have used this personally) is to go to an Ebay store called Lugnuts Direct. You can either buy single lugnuts for $1 a piece ($3.00 shipping) or a FULL SET of 20 for $24 (FREE SHIPPING) and the guy is really nice and ships fast. Even if you only want one or two, shell out the extra cash and get a full set for spares (if you stick with those nuts).

Just thought I would pass on the info, if you (or anyone else) know an alternative other than the factory nuts let me know.

Renegade · **Posted:** Thu Sep 22, 2005 12:32 pm

I don't understand what you all are talking about. My Libety Renegade has chrome lug nuts that appear solid. I have had the tires rotated and not had any problems. Did Jeep use solid lug nuts on 2003 and earlier Libertys? Are the lug nuts on the Renegade wheels different than on the Sport or Limited?

I did have to replace the locking lug nut on my spare. The dealer only sold them in a set of four, and I only needed one. So I went to the local auto parts store, bought one locking lug nut for a fraction of the cost of the dealer supplied nuts, only to find that the adaptor is larger than the standard lug nut. So now I must carry a wrench in my Liberty to remove the locking lug nut. That's kind of irritating.

WV(0)IIIIIII(0) · **Posted:** Thu Sep 22, 2005 1:37 pm

You might think that it is solid because that is the way it looks, but belive me they are not.

Joe Jeep Owner · **Posted:** Thu Sep 22, 2005 2:08 pm

That's what I thought too, until I started losing them! All Jeep models and years have the same nuts (LOL - sorry), these are the standard ones not the locking.

JeepnJer · **Posted:** Thu Sep 22, 2005 4:21 pm

I have not experienced the lug nut caps coming off on either my old XJ or my newer KJ. Has anyone had the situation where the cap came off before you got the lug nut loose? What's under the cap... is it just a smaller steel lug nut. Can it still be loosened with a lug wrench?

Thanks!

Joe Jeep Owner · **Posted:** Thu Sep 22, 2005 4:34 pm

I dont know if it can be taken off by a wrench or not. Its just a acorn shaped cover, there is nothing underneath it but the nut itself. I wouldnt have known that it was hollow if I hadnt lost one. Sticks out like a sore thumb without the cap though.

It didnt start happening until I actually took them off the first time. Then on average I tend to lose one every time the nuts are taken off (i.e. rotation and when I bought new tires). I keep forgetting to check when I am at the place (incase I could find one or something) and I usually dont notice until I am home.

I dont know, I want to look into changing them out if this keeps up. Then again, I bought 20 of them from Ebay (see previous post) so I will keep them until those run out.

speleorelic · **Posted:** Thu Sep 22, 2005 6:57 pm

Stopped in the dealer this morning and showned the service guy the empty lug nut cap. Asked him what's up with jeep lug nuts? He says,, Oh yea,, that happens all the time. Then he goes in back and comes out with a handful. Gives them to me free. That's cool.

I can deal with a caliper that locks up and wears out my brake pad,, costing me,,,,

I can deal with the dents and scratches of 4 wheeling,, I can even deal with jeep dealers higher costs,, on some things anyway.

But putting these cheapXXX lug nuts on my KJ just riles me up. What were those engineers thinking? It can't really save all that much money. You know, if some widget on the inside of the engine fails, or the tranny gears eat themselves up,, some mechanic somewhere will be the one fixing it,, not me. But if a lug nut cap falls off,, it's me the owner that has to replace the eye-sore, and (usually) spend money doing so.

If you jeep engineers are watching,, you ought to be ashamed of yourselves. Sub-grade lug nuts will do more to ruin jeep's reputation than just about any other screw up.

I'm a pretty devoted jeep nut,, the KJ being my 6th jeep,, but my first offroad vehicle. Of all the problems I've ever hard with any of the 6 jeeps I've owned,, cheap lug nuts has infuriated me the most.

and now,, I'm going out to replace my defective jeep lug nuts.

:evil:

Trodo · **Posted:** Thu Sep 22, 2005 7:00 pm

Can someone take a picture of a lugnut that has fallen apart, so I know what I'm looking at.

WV(0)IIIIIII(0) · **Posted:** Fri Sep 23, 2005 7:55 am

JeepnJer wrote:

I have not experienced the lug nut caps coming off on either my old XJ or my newer KJ. Has anyone had the situation where the cap came off before you got the lug nut loose? What's under the cap... is it just a smaller steel lug nut. Can it still be loosened with a lug wrench?

Thanks!

If you are talking about the nut itself then yes it can still be taken off. The only thing that falls off is the pretty cap. I have lost 3 on the same wheel and Al gave me a couple of spares he had but I still continue to lose more.

JeepnJer · **Posted:** Fri Sep 23, 2005 9:07 pm

Thx for the info WV! I needed to know that I could still get the wheel off if I have a flat out in the middle of nowhere. I think I had the same factory lug nuts on my XJ... and after 113,000 miles of doing my own wheel rotations, etc. I never had a cap come off. Anyway, it's time to go out and buy a set of real chrome lug nuts for the Renegade. I wonder if its corrosion and/or over-torqueing that's causing those factory lug nuts to lose their caps?

itsajeepthing · **Posted:** Sat Sep 24, 2005 9:19 am

I have an '03 Renny and I think every single nut has been replaced because of caps falling off. Dealer does it for free (warranty) whenever the tires are rotated. Someone mentioned that it's not a safety issue.... I dunno about that. I would hate to see a pedestrian get hit by one of those caps as a KJ drives by at 60km/h. I've been meaning to replace them all actually.

boxhead · **Joined:** Fri Jul 08, 2005 11:14 pm **Posts:** 186

Most everything on the road in the Libby price range and below, and probably above, has these acron covers on the lug nuts. It's not just Jeeps. EVERY vehicle I buy, I check this out early and replace all the lugs with solid lug nuts immediately. So, for those of you who are angry, get over it. It's not likely you're going to get anything different on another 4x4 in this price range. EVERYTHING is give and take. Trust me, if DCX gave us solid lugs nuts, something else would be cheaper. Every OEM does it.

Joe Jeep Owner · **Posted:** Mon Sep 26, 2005 9:31 am

I have had the same thing happen at a dealership, although I only got 1 or 2 not a handful so thats awesome luck for you. I went to a couple of different dealerships so I have gotten them all free but now they all know me so I doubt that will happen anymore!

WV(0)IIIIIII(0) · **Posted:** Mon Sep 26, 2005 4:35 pm

itsajeepthing wrote:

I have an '03 Renny and I think every single nut has been replaced because of caps falling off. Dealer does it for free (warranty) whenever the tires are rotated. Someone mentioned that it's not a safety issue.... I dunno about that. I would hate to see a pedestrian get hit by one of those caps as a KJ drives by at 60km/h. I've been meaning to replace them all actually.

That would be funny to see but not funny if happend to me :lol:

lug nuts

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