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What I learned buying new tires
#10

Here is a follow up to my follow up.

First a mea-culpa. When I found the stipped lugs, I assumed that it had happened when the last set of tires were put on (at Newell). I now believe that this happened during the work following the “Wrecker Incident”. During the subsequent repairs at a place in Knoxville, the brakes and bearings were re-worked. The front wheels were off during that work, and the bolts could have been stripped when they were put back on.

On the most recent visit to Miami, I had a chance to observe how Newell mechanics deal with wheels, lugs and lugnuts and YES, THEY ALWAYS USE A TORQUE WRENCH. They also use smaller air hammers not the big 3/4” units. Upon reflection, I cannot see a way for Newell to have stripped the lugs.

Okay, with that out of the way....lets get back to lugs.

The guys at ETLC were able to get me going with two new lugs, but the only lugnuts they had were really fat. These did not allow the hubcap to go back on.

Talking to Newell, they said that they used to have bolts milled to the right size for the 365 conversion. (Incredibly time intensive and expensive). A few years ago they found a vendor who carried off-the-shelf lugs and lugnuts for the 365 conversion.

Truck Parts World
5765 SE Loop 281
Longview, Texas 75602

Talk to Scott Logsdon or Richard

Dana Studs, Metric Part # NSI-13-1720
Unimount Nuts, Part# 13-3052

I ordered a full set of 10. Since I am at Newell, I asked them to pop them on.

Guess what! In the category of “No two Newell’s are ever the same”.... They don’t fit.

My old lugs have about a 1/4 of the head shaved off. Also, the shoulder of the old lug - the part that goes in the hub - was smaller than the new lugs. I double checked with the guys at Truck Part World. They are super good and helpful....they confirmed that they sent the same thing that they have been sending to Newell. I am guessing that I have a the latest version of the hub and am pretty sure I was a very early 365 conversion. So my coach is different than most.

In order to get me going, the Newell guys have really stepped up. They took my new lugs and sent them out to be milled to the correct diameter. Next, they are gonna shave the heads on one side so they will fit past a hump in the hub. Finally, they will install the new lugs (with the right size nuts) and put the hubcap back on. Phew!

This has been quite the learning experience for me.

Lessons Learned (so far).

1). Lugs are not created equal. It turns out that there are a lot of variations. Lug length, shoulder diameter, thread type, nut size, ...
2). Always watch them put your wheels back on. If they pull out a huge 3/4” air impact wrench for the back on part.....stop ‘em and make them use a torque wrench. Especially on the front where you may have lugs made out of unobtainium.
3). If possible make sure they put on some anti-seize compound on the lugs.
4). (This one is on me)...Don’t be too quick to assign blame. In my race to figure out what had happened to my lugs, I had totally blacked out the wrecker incident and subsequent repairs where I now believe the damage happened.

Finally, I find myself reflecting on how lucky we are to own Newells. Yes, they are beautiful and well engineered, but the Service Shop is the reason (along with the Gurus of course). The shop is populated with guys who originally built new coaches so they know how they are put together. They do a good job and stand behind their work. They don’t mind working on (ahem) older coaches. And...they have always been pleasant to me and my dogs. So I will continue make the spring time pilgrimage to Miami for annual maintenance and upgrades that I cannot live without.

Bill Johnson
Birmingham, Alabama
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Messages In This Thread
What I learned buying new tires - by bikestuff - 10-11-2018, 02:13 PM
RE: What I learned buying new tires - by encantotom - 10-11-2018, 02:51 PM
RE: What I learned buying new tires - by Keith Jordan - 10-11-2018, 03:25 PM
RE: What I learned buying new tires - by rheavn - 10-11-2018, 04:05 PM
RE: What I learned buying new tires - by encantotom - 10-12-2018, 09:13 AM
RE: What I learned buying new tires - by ccjohnson - 10-12-2018, 10:48 AM
RE: What I learned buying new tires - by bikestuff - 11-12-2018, 12:17 PM
RE: What I learned buying new tires - by BobALou - 11-12-2018, 03:30 PM
RE: What I learned buying new tires - by bikestuff - 01-16-2019, 08:35 AM

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