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Wheels on backwards


Scotian

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I just took one of my wheels off to have a puncture fixed at a garage and had a brain wave. I've got 8 spokes and the offset is such that if you put the wheel on back to front you get about an extra inch or two sticking out giving a wider wheel base.

I put it on to see if it looked right and it is fine. Is there any reason that would make it unwise to put a wheel on backward other than if you are using directional tyres, the valve being a pain to get to and my having to paint the other side of the wheel to match :angry2:

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Proper Landrover wheels are "hub centric".

They centre on the hub which takes some of the load off off the studs/nuts.

8 spokes (or at least the 2 sets I have) are oversize for the hub so the studs take all the load. So they already place a load outside of Landrover's design constraints on the studs.

The cone of the nut and mating surface increase the surface area and therefore the (can't think of the right word) amount the nut sticks to the wheel. The cone also centralises the nut in the hole.

There is probably half a dozen other reasons why it is not safe to do it as well, I'm sure someone will come up with them.

I'm guessing type approval, accident and insurance will be some of them

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8 spokes (or at least the 2 sets I have) are oversize for the hub so the studs take all the load. So they already place a load outside of Landrover's design constraints on the studs.

Land Rover do fit 8 Spokes themselves to some Utility vehicles. My 110 had them from new. I will try and remember to look how mine fit, it may be the ones LR fit are different...

sorry drifting off topic :o

Will :)

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Land Rover do fit 8 Spokes themselves to some Utility vehicles. My 110 had them from new. I will try and remember to look how mine fit, it may be the ones LR fit are different...

sorry drifting off topic :o

Will :)

I "think" it only really matters if the nuts get a little loose.

Then you are quicker and deeper in the mire if the wheels are bigger than the hub.

Obviously, being H&S compliant the leccy board drivers check their nuts daily :blink:

In fact the newer vehicles seem to have the yellow triangle doofers on the nuts now.

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You _may_ also find that there is a pressed 'bead' around the mounting face of the wheel, such that the face sits just off the face of the hub. Once the wheelnuts are done up, and the face is compressed back to the hub it acts like a giant spring washer, and stops the wheel nuts coming loose. A similar effect is achieved by the wheel centre being slightly dished.

If you turn the rim over, and use it the wrong way round, you may find that the nuts work loose a lot more easily, as you no longer have the spring effect.

probably not explained very well, and I am not sure it is true of all wheels, but keep it in mind

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You _may_ also find that there is a pressed 'bead' around the mounting face of the wheel, such that the face sits just off the face of the hub. Once the wheelnuts are done up, and the face is compressed back to the hub it acts like a giant spring washer, and stops the wheel nuts coming loose. A similar effect is achieved by the wheel centre being slightly dished.

If you turn the rim over, and use it the wrong way round, you may find that the nuts work loose a lot more easily, as you no longer have the spring effect.

probably not explained very well, and I am not sure it is true of all wheels, but keep it in mind

Noticed it, never thought about it.

Collective knowledge is great!

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The stud holes are shaped to fit the cone on the wheel nut, they will be the wrong shape on the back so there's a chance the wheel will not centralise correctly.

[cowboy mode]

But if you carefully locate the wheel, then really crank them up a few times, you can create your own taper!!

[/cowboy mode]

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Thanks. I knew there was a good reason to put the idea through the forum before I did it. There isnt any kind of bead on the wheel but I think it is slightly dish shaped causing the spring effect.

I'm not going to turn them round simply becuase of the shape of the nut holes as said in the first reply. Not messing about with stuff like that. I knew it was too good to be true :P

Miserableoldgit, nice to see you're living up to your name still :) Of course the gear box is more important but dont tell me that you dont do lots of little things on your landrover while you have other big things that have to be done. I cant do anything about the gear box (other than cleaning inside the bellhousing) untill I go to the UK in September. I'm not going to stop doing anything else i can to improve my 90 in the meant time.

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Thanks. I knew there was a good reason to put the idea through the forum before I did it. There isnt any kind of bead on the wheel but I think it is slightly dish shaped causing the spring effect.

I'm not going to turn them round simply becuase of the shape of the nut holes as said in the first reply. Not messing about with stuff like that. I knew it was too good to be true :P

Miserableoldgit, nice to see you're living up to your name still :) Of course the gear box is more important but dont tell me that you dont do lots of little things on your landrover while you have other big things that have to be done. I cant do anything about the gear box (other than cleaning inside the bellhousing) untill I go to the UK in September. I'm not going to stop doing anything else i can to improve my 90 in the meant time.

Over the years I have usually taken care of the essentials like making sure the mechanicals are up to scratch (thus reducing the risk of breakdowns and having vehicles off the road take priority) before allowing myself to get sidetracked into extras.

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Over the years I have usually taken care of the essentials like making sure the mechanicals are up to scratch (thus reducing the risk of breakdowns and having vehicles off the road take priority) before allowing myself to get sidetracked into extras.

A common sense and completely unassailable suggestion - how boring! :rolleyes:

This is a forum FFS! :rtfm:

Remember how many forum members it takes to change a light bulb:

1 to change the light bulb and to post that the light bulb has been changed

14 to share similar experiences of changing light bulbs and how the light bulb could have been changed differently

7 to caution about the dangers of changing light bulbs

1 to move it to the Lighting section

2 to argue then move it to the Electricals section

7 to point out spelling/grammar errors in posts about changing light bulbs

5 to flame the spell checkers

3 to correct spelling/grammar flames

6 to argue over whether it's "lightbulb" or "light bulb" ... another 6 to condemn those 6 as stupid

2 industry professionals to inform the group that the proper term is "lamp"

15 know-it-alls who claim they were in the industry, and that "light bulb" is perfectly correct

19 to post that this forum is not about light bulbs and to please take this discussion to a lightbulb forum

11 to defend the posting to this forum saying that we all use light bulbs and therefore the posts are relevant to this forum

36 to debate which method of changing light bulbs is superior, where to buy the best light bulbs, what brand of light bulbs work best for this technique and what brands are faulty

7 to post URL's where one can see examples of different light bulbs

4 to post that the URL's were posted incorrectly and then post the corrected URL's

3 to post about links they found from the URL's that are relevant to this group which makes light bulbs relevant to this group

13 to link all posts to date, quote them in their entirety including all headers and signatures, and add "Me too"

5 to post to the group that they will no longer post because they cannot handle the light bulb controversy

4 to say "didn't we go through this already a short time ago?"

13 to say "do a search on light bulbs before posting questions about light bulbs"

1 to hijack the thread and ask how to change the horn

1 forum lurker to respond to the original post 6 months from now and start it all over again.

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All good reasons not to run wheels inside out.

However, I am sure I saw somewhere some (probably American) 8 spokes that were designed to be run eitherway round. The holes were coned both sides and the centre was flanged to allow springing in either direction. I think it had a slight lip on both sides of the centre so it would spring tight on the nuts either side. I can't remember what they did with the valve hole. Maybe it was just for safer off road play to get the wider track.

Then again I could have imagined it all.

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If it was a safe and sensible practice, don't you think everyone would be doing it?

I'm not going to know if everyone is doing it unless I ask. And they dont so I wont be doing it.

Having said that. Rog, is that vehicle on the road or just a play day thing?

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Honestly Rog, you've completed ruined the safety and integrity of a perfectly legal tidy road going motor by turning the wheels inside out!!! :P

:lol:

I'm not going to know if everyone is doing it unless I ask. And they dont so I wont be doing it.

Having said that. Rog, is that vehicle on the road or just a play day thing?

Scotian, its a play thing, well and truely, and on a serious note, I would never consider it for a road motor - period.

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