On the Topic of Land Rover Lug Nuts
May 29th, 2007 by C. Alexander Leigh
This is a Land Rover lug nut for alloy wheels. It fits the Discovery I, Ranger Rover Classic (87-95), D90 (94-97), D110 (93) and yes – even the Land Rover Series III (72-74). It is the biggest lug nut I have ever seen. It exudes an aura of it’s natural element being the landing gear of a 727. Like it’s slumming by even holding a wheel onto a mere truck.
It weighs 200 grams. There are 5 per wheel, so that’s a kilogram of lug nuts per wheel if you are keeping score. It has an integrated washer that is 4mm thick and it’s overall length is 5cm long. This is one big lug nut.
The visible side is capped in a thin (about 1mm) sheet of alloy which matches the finish on the wheels. It’s available as stainless (very shiny) and alloy (which matches the standard wheels on most 90s land rovers). Many vehicles have caps so the lug nuts will match the vehicles; often they pop-off leaving a standard-size lug-nut underneath.
The Land Rover ones are tacked together, so they do not come apart. The correct way to remove one of these lug nuts is by using a socket with a nylon interior specially designed for lug nuts. Otherwise damage to the finish such as that in the photograph will occur.
Finding a socket may be it’s own challenge. First, you’ll have to pick a side. Like Apple v. Microsoft, and Ford v. Chevy, there is debate about the community about the /size/ of these things, if you can believe it. 27mm or 1 1/16″ (1.0625″)?
1 1/16″ is slightly smaller, 26.9875mm. First it should be pointed out that everything on this truck is metric, and that the studs themselves have a metric thread. This alone would make a sane person rationalize that the lug nuts are 27mm.
The fact is a new lug nut that has not been mangled will fit in both 27mm and 1 1/16″ sockets. The fit in the 1 1/16″ is a little snugger. I believe the nuts to be 27mm, and here’s why. When I place a new, never used steel lug nut, a genuine part, in a 12 point lug nut and shine a light through the back, the drive surfaces of the lug nut go flat against the fastener for the greatest transfer of torque with the least chance of rounding the nut. On the 1 1/16″, the fit is not as perfect.
The caps are the real problem. They corrode, swell, and mangle. A lug nut is currently stuck on my truck where the cap has swollen and popped free, so it just spins. These kind of problems are annoying enough on the trail without having them happen on the trail where you may not have a full set of shop tools.
So what’s under the caps, anyways? Above you can see Aaron taking an Oxy-Acetylene torch to a genuine factory lug nut, burning the cover off. Underneath is a cast lug nut, as you can see below.
It’s temping, isn’t it. Just burn off all the caps and now you have an entire set of trouble-free lug nuts. The trouble is, what size is it now? It turns out it becomes 26mm, so the nuts are totally re-usable this way. In fact, that’s what I am going to do.
The other alternative are the lug nuts designed for steel wheels. They are considerably cheaper; ~ $3 instead of $12-$18. They don’t fit on the alloy wheels, though. The problem is that because they are shorter, the socket must go in further to tighten them. There is not enough clearance between the wheel and a nut to fit a socket (even a thin wall).
My best advice is to ditch the alloys and fit NATO-style steel wheels. Use the steel lug nuts. This setup should be hassle-free.