Brass lugnuts

[nearchoclatetown]

Does anyone know what the brass lugnuts for Budd wheels are used for? I always thought they were for the spare tire, but now I have a left hand threaded one. Thanks.

[jps]

I have a reprint of the Dodge Bros. Master Parts Manual originally printed February 1927 that shows replacement wheel and hub parts. Only one style of disc wheel nut is shown (the steel version). However, for the complete rear hub assembly there are two possibilities shown, a "single-plate" version and a "full floating" version. One of them is a grainier picture than the other, but it looks like the better picture has the same steel nuts while the other definitely has a different nut style. It is hard to tell but it looks like it could be the brass nuts. I have some brass disc wheel nuts too, some L and some R. I think they came off of a different year Touring car than the one I am trying to restore because my dad bought two extra parts cars a long time ago and I still have a few '23 and '27 parts from them. My guess is that the brass wheel nuts were tried for a short time because they don't rust (big selling point here in Minnesota) but they probably didn't stay tight for very long.

I could be wrong about this, because it is sometimes not clear from the Parts Manual exactly which one of the several options there are for a particular part is the right one for my car, but reading the descriptions about the wheel hubs made it clear to me that there were several variations tried in a small period of time.

[nearchoclatetown]

Thanks John, the script and shape of the brass lugs are differant from the steel ones so I think too they are from a differant car. The brass ones are nickled like the steel ones. I was thinking side mount spares, but don't recall seeing DBs with dual side mounts. And the stupid reason for left handed ludnuts wouldn't apply to a spare would it? I don't think I'd use the brass ones on a road wheel, because like you said I don't think they would last long. Believe it or not Porsche used some aluminum lugnuts, I have some.

[TheMoneyPit]

Mid 1920's Studebakers with disc wheels had also used brass nuts for a short time. I have a cigar box of misc LH & RH nuts in brass & steel kicking around - leftovers of owning a 24 Special-6. Granted I did not drive the car as harshly as 1924 roads woud have been, there was never an issue with the brass nuts except rounding them over on the hex...