Thimbles vs Wheel Nuts

[sandcobra164]

I lost a thimble today that was somewhat holding my 14R20 on. Thank Goodness the other 9 were still somewhat tight, well very tight. I then did a loadout today using my truck and another member on here called out CSM Davis in a conversation saying he went up one side and down another as to why it is a bad idea to use thimbles to hold the back wheels on when going from duels to singles. I am sure I should switch but I am curious. Is the issue related to the thimble being longer than an actual wheel nut and not being tightly bound to another wheel tightened in the same direction? I did not wind up with a loose wheel situation today but I am still pondering where it went. It was tight when the wheels went on. I am sure I will learn a thing or two in this thread and I did search around. I came up empty.

 

[tommys2patrick]

I am not 100% certain but, I believe the lug nut on the 2nd (outer) wheel acts like a jam nut to lock the thimble in place and keep it from backing off the inner wheel stud. Kind of a package deal. I would imagine many more folks here are more knowledgeable than I on this subject. Why the thimble wants to back out, if that is the case, is unclear to me. Perhaps, the lug nut has more surface contact area (frictional grip) on the rim to better prevent it from backing out even with similar torque applied?

 

[73m819]

The thimble is THIN, and NOT DESIGNED to be used without the nut, without the nut the thimble WILL tend to spread and pull a bit because of the tightening torque. the more times the thimble is used as a nut the worse it gets, EACH re-torque gets more spread and pull. THIS is WHY you DO NOT use thimbles as a lug nut.

Thimble get replaced about 2 to 3 times before the stud is replaced, even when used as designed they still spread and pull a bit but the nut reverses that a bit, the replacing of the thimble and stud depends on how many times the tires are pulled then reinstalled, also with the stud it depends on how the wheel is used

While I am on this subject, check your studs REAL CLOSE, these studs ARE old, well past change time, to check, pull the wheel/wheels, then do a very close visual WITH a bright light, then use a 90 deg. square against to drum and the stud on two sides 90 deg from each other, use a light behind the square, if the light seen in front does not have the right pattern or if either sides can be seen NOT to be square with the straight edge REPLACE THE STUD, if the stud is straight, take about a 2 lb. hammer, tap the side of the stud at the end, a CRACKED stud WILL have a different sound then a good stud. EVEN A SLIGHT DOUBT, REPLACE

Remember that if one stud goes, the VERY UNBALANCED load is transferred to the studs on each side of the broke/cracked stud, if one stud goes, the others WILL go in a cascading manner over time, each time stud that is lost makes things WORSE, at some point the remaining studs CAN NOT sustain the unbalanced load = lost wheel. our studs ARE OLD, WELL USED so as the CMS said, NOBODY wants to be the cause of somebody getting HURT OR KILLED, let alone hurting/killing yourself OR FAMILY.

 

[TCD]

Howdy,

You may also find these helpful while debugging this problem:

http://www.wheel-check.com/detection.html

YMMV...

Happy Trails,
tom n tyler

 

[Csm Davis]

I lost a thimble today that was somewhat holding my 14R20 on. Thank Goodness the other 9 were still somewhat tight, well very tight. I then did a loadout today using my truck and another member on here called out CSM Davis in a conversation saying he went up one side and down another as to why it is a bad idea to use thimbles to hold the back wheels on when going from duels to singles. I am sure I should switch but I am curious. Is the issue related to the thimble being longer than an actual wheel nut and not being tightly bound to another wheel tightened in the same direction? I did not wind up with a loose wheel situation today but I am still pondering where it went. It was tight when the wheels went on. I am sure I will learn a thing or two in this thread and I did search around. I came up empty.

I don't mind being called out for trying to protect a few lives. If one of these 450-800 lbs wheels takes off on its own it can do tremendous damage. I will say I lost a 11.00 r 20 and got lucky, it didn't damage anything, and I had proper lug nuts on it. Try to do the best you can to have a safe truck guys not just for others but we don't want to lose you either.

sent from my decrepit fingers