Lug nuts same for steel and aluminum wheels

I have factory steelies on my XJ and I am planning on buying a set of factory alloys off an XJ that do not come with lugs. Are the lugs from my steel wheels the same and ok to use with the aluminum wheels?

I know sometimes steel wheels use flat as opposed to conical lugs and what not.

I believe they are both conical.

Factory wheels (steel and alum) are both conical. If you move to aluminum wheels make sure your studs are long enough to secure the wheels. The aluminum will have much thicker mounting flanges than the steel wheels. On a steel wheel, the lug nuts may engage 8-10 threads, put on a thicker alum wheel and you may be down to 3 threads which IMO is too few. You may need longer studs, you may not.

1/2-20, conical seat. oem wheels will fit any xj, dont worry about the lugs.

Size depends on year. Early XJs used a smaller lug, 5/16 I believe.

The rest is accurate. Regardless of OEM steel, or OEM Aluminum, the lug nuts are the same as a steel rim, and the lug length is the same.

Ron

OEM wheels, yes. Both use acorn seats (make sure you have the diameter of the lug worth of thread engagement. For most of the XJ/MJ lugs, we're looking at 1/2". For the earlier ones that may have smaller studs, they'll be 7/16". I can't think of anything that used an M8 or 5/16" stud...)

Aftermarket alloy wheels is where it can get dicey. Most of them use the standard acorn seat (OEM lug nuts,) but some use a "mag" seat - which means a shoulder nut with a washer. They're easy to tell apart - if the lug seat isn't tapered, you're looking at a shoulder nut.

(Trivia time - "mag" wheels come from the fact that aftermarket lightweight wheels used to be made from a magnesium alloy, instead of aluminum. Some very high-performance oriented wheels still are, since magnesium alloys can be made lighter than aluminum. Most large aircraft landing gear wheels are also magnesium - which is why airliner fires can be such a bear to put out...

(Magnesium can burn quite handily, and it will keep going even when you throw water, baking soda, or ABC foam on it. It requires the use of a Class D fire extinguisher for flammable metals...)

It my be 7/16". I have a set of them in the garage, they don't fit my newer XJ - too small. The point was that not ALL XJs have 1/2-20 lugs.

Jon, the OP was asking about OEM wheels. WTF happened to the KISS principle, is it lost on you this morning?

Ron

Zuki-Ron said:

It my be 7/16". I have a set of them in the garage, they don't fit my newer XJ - too small. The point was that not ALL XJs have 1/2-20 lugs.

Jon, the OP was asking about OEM wheels. WTF happened to the KISS principle, is it lost on you this morning?

Ron

Click to expand...

I'm a bit shagged out. Wife had her hip replaced Monday, and I've either been running back & forth to hospital (visiting her twice daily while doing everything else,) or helping her get about the house when she needs to.

She's getting better, but it's only been a week...

(Why the hip? Osteoarthritis. I saw the X-Ray, there wasn't a damned thing between the head of the femur and the socket in the pelvis. She needs a new right knee as well - but the pain in the knee was masking the hip, she was already favouring her right leg, and the hip turned out to be the bigger of the two.

(She'll probably get the knee later in 2010...

(The upside? At least she can get parts replaced to take care of most of her pain. I'm not so lucky... All I can do is TENS, lidocaine patches, and topical Voltaren for now. Besides, my arthritis is in C-spine and L-spine. I've not seen replacements for vertebrae yet...)

I guess we're not in Kansas anymore

I'll send you a PM. Good luck to the Wife!

Ron