Please tell me this isn't what I think it is

[Monster5601]

In the spring of 2018 I took delivery of a new 19-foot fishing boat. Once home, I did a complete inspection and found one of the four wheels had one acorn style lug on backward.

 

[Frankenkubota]

You're not the first one to wonder, but it's normal. Different rim types on tractors will either have tapered lug seats (so conical end of nut goes in) or flat seats (flat side of nut goes down with lock washer).

The front wheels on my L3200 have tapered lug seats. The rear wheels do not. What's more, of the six lugs on the rear wheel, two are lug nuts on studs and the remaining four are lug bolts threading into the hubs (all six have lock washers).

View attachment 702965 View attachment 702964

I wonder why they do that?

 

[Sir William]

You have the two studs as it's the easiest way to mount a large, heavy wheel & tire. If it was all lug bolts, you'd have to hold/balance the tire in exactly the right spot to get it on the hub, then hopefully be able to rotate it a bit to get the first bolt started. That's nigh on impossible with a 5-foot tall loaded tire without some very specialized equipment. But with the two studs, you only have to get one of them started in a hole then you can fairly easily finagle the wheel to get the second. At that point, you're pretty well home free.

 

[MoKelly]

You have the two studs as it's the easiest way to mount a large, heavy wheel & tire. If it was all lug bolts, you'd have to hold/balance the tire in exactly the right spot to get it on the hub, then hopefully be able to rotate it a bit to get the first bolt started. That's nigh on impossible with a 5-foot tall loaded tire without some very specialized equipment. But with the two studs, you only have to get one of them started in a hole then you can fairly easily finagle the wheel to get the second. At that point, you're pretty well home free.

Exactly.

I just had to change the front left wheel on my CT235.

Without the 2 studs I’d still be there trying to put the tire on!!!

MoKelly