Fitting a hard plastic DEFENDER wheel plate

On or around Sat, 10 Jan 2004 13:04:15 +0000, Zen enlightened us thusly:

On the disco, there are special thin nuts to hold the plastic bit on, and wheel nuts to hold the wheel on. However, the bracket is different and presumably has longer studs.

on the defender thing, if it's like mine, there are 3 long studs with nuts, and wheel nuts to hold the wheel on. If you removed the inner set of nuts, and substituted a washer, you should be able to slide the wheel further onto the studs, liberating more stud to mount the plastic bit.

Hi Austin

I have taken the rear nuts off, so the wheel is right back and touching the door. In this position the 3 bolts become flush with the plastiic.

Hmmmm must be some easy trick to do it.

Tks again

Zen

In news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, Zen wrote: | Hi Austin | | I have taken the rear nuts off, so the wheel is right back and | touching the door. | In this position the 3 bolts become flush with the plastiic. | | | Hmmmm must be some easy trick to do it. | | Tks again | | Zen | | | On Sat, 10 Jan 2004 14:51:02 +0000, Austin Shackles | wrote: | || On or around Sat, 10 Jan 2004 13:04:15 +0000, Zen || enlightened us thusly: || ||| Hi there, ||| ||| Thought I would try and smarten up the rear of my Defender 200 TDI ||| by replacing the soft plastic protective wheel cover with one of the ||| newer grey plastic plates that have the wqord DEFENDER on them. ||| ||| I took the wheel off and found there were nuts behind on the bracket ||| to stop the wheel hitting against the car. ||| ||| I had to remove these, offer back the wheel, but the studs still do ||| not protude far enougth, (they stop just flush with the plastic.) ||| so I am unable to put my blanking nuts on to secure plate to wheel. ||| ||| I am also concerned that there perhaps ought to be some kind of ||| washer to spread the load on top of the plastic when secured? ||| What is the secret? ||| ||| Us it a specvial nut or something. || || On the disco, there are special thin nuts to hold the plastic bit || on, and wheel nuts to hold the wheel on. However, the bracket is || different and presumably has longer studs. || || on the defender thing, if it's like mine, there are 3 long studs || with nuts, and wheel nuts to hold the wheel on. If you removed the || inner set of nuts, and substituted a washer, you should be able to || slide the wheel further onto the studs, liberating more stud to || mount the plastic bit.

Zen,

What wheels do you have? If they are deep dish alloys those wheels appear to have a thicker central section than other alloys, or steel wheels, so the studs do not come through as much as standard ones. I had a similar problem with mine with the dealer supplied locking wheel nuts. Deep dish requires a different set (and the dealer did not know this!) only because on the spare the mounting stud does not protrude out far enough for the standard spare wheel lock nut (in your case trim nut) to grip. Instead the right kit supplies 5 nuts all the same, and these 'reach' through the wheel to grab the stud.

Mark

Thanks Mark,

I actually have steel Wolf type wheels that have the hex screws around their circumfrance.

Would a dealer or parts supplier have "reach through nuts I wonder?

Zen

On or around Sat, 10 Jan 2004 19:14:37 +0000, Zen enlightened us thusly:

you might need a bracket from a later model as well. Or longer studs. You could cut the studs half-way out, get a bit of tube of suitable diameter and extend the studs by the necessary amount, then weld it up.

In news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, Zen wrote: | Thanks Mark, | | I actually have steel Wolf type wheels that have the hex screws around | their circumfrance. | | Would a dealer or parts supplier have "reach through nuts I wonder? |

Doubt it Zen.

Alloy wheels have a larger hole for the studs compared with steel wheels - this is so the oversized wheel nuts (stainless steel I think) can go between the steel stud and the alloy of the wheel to prevent bi-metal corrosion problems.

In doing so they effectively reach through the wheel, while steel wheel nuts sit on the outside of the wheel, grabbing the stud as it protrudes.

I think the problem you have is that your wheels have a greater offset than standard steel wheels so pushing the plastic trim cover away from the studs.

Bit of a long shot, but could you get away with mounting the wheel on the door back to front? You'd have to adjust the nuts to prevent fouling the door panel. Probably won't help - it didn't with my alloys when I tried making the dealer supplied lock nut work!

Other than that, it looks like you'll either have to give up, or extend the studs as others have suggested.

Mark

Thanks Mark,

Will have to to try that one night this week

Thanks

Zen

On or around Mon, 12 Jan 2004 21:44:55 +0000, Zen enlightened us thusly:

If the studs are similar to mine they're only threaded at the ends.