Rosiesdad Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Forgive me if this is a stupid question as I am new to '50s cars and to Buick.... Is it a problem that my 50 Special has wheel bolts marked 'Rear" on the front wheels????Thx,Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jim_Edwards Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 (edited) I can't shed any light on the subject, but it will be interesting to see what kind of response comes forth. Various GM divisions in the '50s had some fairly weird notions about wheel bolts, not the least of which was the use of left hand thread bolts on one side of the car and right hand thread on the other because of predominate wheel rotation. They even managed to produce some cars with such different drums on the front than on the back the wheels used on the rear wheels would not work on the front, but the front wheels would work on the rear. I think there was an Idiot loose in the engineering department....Jim Edited February 13, 2011 by Jim_Edwards (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Rob McDonald Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 The Idiot must have been a cherished, long-time employee. Remember the early Corvair, the Vega and, recently, the Aztec? Does GM have no mandatory retirement age or is the Idiot somehow exempt? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barney Eaton Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 Corvair is not a bad word. There may be more on the road today than Pontiac Aztecs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildcat1562 Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 is it marked rear or just with an Rmeaning right sideand left sidethey used to right hnd thread bolts and left hand thread bolts for the opisite sidesGreg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thriller Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 We used to drive a loaner Aztec and were quite pleased with it overall...of course, I like odd stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Rob McDonald Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 Chrysler Corp used different left- and right-side lugs nuts in the '50s and '60s but I don't think that GM or Ford followed suit. I can say that all the lug bolts on my '57 Buick are the same.BARNEY, I like Corvairs and they really are great to drive. However, the half-baked engineering of the first ones caused General Motors (and the whole auto industry) enormous grief because it dragged the US government into the design business. Vegas were fun too and really good looking but, oh, what a lousy engine.Aztecs are probably decent cars because they undoubtedly shared a platform with most of GM's car rental fleet. But how that styling nightmare escaped into the real world is beyond comprehension. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosiesdad Posted February 14, 2011 Author Share Posted February 14, 2011 LOL. Yep. The Aztec is the worst excuse for "Styling" I have ever seen. REALLY unbelievable.The bolts actually say Rear on them.... Definitely not a left hand thread. Length and shape look the same as the others which have HC on them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Schramm Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 It is usually not the older employees that are CAR PEOPLE that bring out some of the for mentioned vehicles. Think bean counters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jim_Edwards Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 is it marked rear or just with an Rmeaning right sideand left sidethey used to right hnd thread bolts and left hand thread bolts for the opisite sidesGregClose definition but not 100% correct. The "R" indicated right hand bolt threads and the "L" indicated left hand bolt threads.Only becomes a major problem when you forget the Left hand threads are there and muster 500 Gorilla power on a cheater bar attempting to remove the nuts in the wrong direction as I once did, resulting in twisting off the bolt which cannot be replaced these days! Of course the left hand thread bolts/nuts being on the right hand side of the car and the right thread bolts and nuts being on the left side of the car doesn't help a great deal.Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jim_Edwards Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 The Idiot must have been a cherished, long-time employee. Remember the early Corvair, the Vega and, recently, the Aztec? Does GM have no mandatory retirement age or is the Idiot somehow exempt?I think there must be a secret "Idiots Union" in Detroit which prevents any of them from being terminated for just being an Idiot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Bruce aka First Born Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Phil, if they work----------. The lug bolts on my '50 Special all have a B on them. Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jim_Edwards Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Phil, if they work----------. The lug bolts on my '50 Special all have a B on them. BenIs the "B" for Ben, busted, or Buick? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Bruce aka First Born Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Works for all, Jim.:p Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoelsBuicks Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 I realize it's a different decade, but on my '60 Electra, the ones that are marked "R" are a little shorter and belong in the rear. The longer front bolts I think are because of the aluminum drums. I do know for a fact that if you switch the bolts, the longer front bolts will hit that horizontal bar that goes between brake shoes - part of the emergency brake action.Joel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest WEB 38 Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 I Have a 63 corvair spyder turbo charged, and a 75 vega cosworth dual overhead cams 16 vale 4 cly, both excellent cars. way ahead of there time. Bill WEB 38 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Phillips Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Yes, Buick did use left-threaded bolts and right-threaded bolts on some of the wheels in the 1960s; 1961-63 Skylarks and Specials, to name one example. I have several original G.M. boxes marked "L" on the bolt and they do fit Buicks in the 1960s.Pete Phillips, BCA #7338 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 The only cars that I know that actually use wheel bolts in that era are European cars such as VW/Porsche. My 62 Pontiac has wheel studs ( Wheel Lugs ) marked L or R and the Lug Nuts thread according to which side they belong to.Don;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thriller Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 I forget whether they are wheel bolts or studs / nuts, but I twisted at least one off the '61 Invicta turning the wrong way...sigh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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