lightning wheels, f150, fitment issues.
curtis73
12-19-2004, 12:38 AM
My friend and I just put lightning wheels on his 99 f150 along with a 2/2 drop today. Looks sweet with 295 rubber. Not sure which lightning wheels they are, but they're the ones that look like this (but just silver, not chrome).
http://store1.yimg.com/I/wheelsmarket_1816_11466070
I searched for this very issue on some other forums and kept getting messages that say, "fit with no problem", "get the steering stops", "same bolt pattern", etc. The problem I have is the lugs. The Lightning trucks use a 14mm stud and the f150 has 12mm studs. It wouldn't be an issue if they were conical lug nuts, but they are just flat. How on earth do things not meet a crushing end with all that play in the lugs????
There is a tiny chamfer in the lug holes and we tried a conical nut, but its the wrong angle. Those of you with lightning wheels on a regular f150; what did you do about the lugs? Anything?
Also, I want to add a tidbit that might be of help. We noticed the wheelrubbing before we re-aligned. After it was aligned with the proper camber kit, the contact was extremely minimal. We solved it by doing the following; the major contact was at the brake hose retainer bolt on the LCA. We put the retainer inside and then threaded the bolt in. That gained us 1/8" and the retainer is still held in place since the bolt threads in far enough to trap it. Then we used a grinder to reduce the head to about half its original height and no more contact. We haven't driven it enough to see if there is still contact on the tie rod adjustment collar, but it appears to have been fixed by the alignment. We didn't want to use the steering stops since its an ext cab long bed and we needed all the turn we could get http://fordtruckworld.tenmagazines.com/forums/images/smile.gif
Thank you all for your time
Curtis
Los Angeles
http://store1.yimg.com/I/wheelsmarket_1816_11466070
I searched for this very issue on some other forums and kept getting messages that say, "fit with no problem", "get the steering stops", "same bolt pattern", etc. The problem I have is the lugs. The Lightning trucks use a 14mm stud and the f150 has 12mm studs. It wouldn't be an issue if they were conical lug nuts, but they are just flat. How on earth do things not meet a crushing end with all that play in the lugs????
There is a tiny chamfer in the lug holes and we tried a conical nut, but its the wrong angle. Those of you with lightning wheels on a regular f150; what did you do about the lugs? Anything?
Also, I want to add a tidbit that might be of help. We noticed the wheelrubbing before we re-aligned. After it was aligned with the proper camber kit, the contact was extremely minimal. We solved it by doing the following; the major contact was at the brake hose retainer bolt on the LCA. We put the retainer inside and then threaded the bolt in. That gained us 1/8" and the retainer is still held in place since the bolt threads in far enough to trap it. Then we used a grinder to reduce the head to about half its original height and no more contact. We haven't driven it enough to see if there is still contact on the tie rod adjustment collar, but it appears to have been fixed by the alignment. We didn't want to use the steering stops since its an ext cab long bed and we needed all the turn we could get http://fordtruckworld.tenmagazines.com/forums/images/smile.gif
Thank you all for your time
Curtis
Los Angeles
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