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Aftermarket Center Caps

Ron H

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Bought some new magnum 500 center caps and on tightening the 1st bolt it sheared off in the bore. These aftermarket ones are a real step down from my originals I had on and off a few times over the years. The thread bore is a 1/4" less than the old caps and doesn't have the locator pins. Yet the 3/4" length bolts they supplied are the same length as the old ones. From what I've measured, the margin for bottoming the bolt is about none. Having worked in a machine shop drilling and tapping holes much less the endless bolting/unbolting I've done I was surprised this happened. So drilled out the bolt and rethreaded and going to use 5/8" bolts. See what happens now...I guess ya can't expect a lot for a 100 bucks anymore.
 
Yea mine were real fragile. The bolts they provided were barely long enough to grab the center cap. I one handed em with a quarter inch drive softly and called it good. Scared me to go any harder on them without snapping.
 
How about threading in studs and bonding the studs into the caps with JB weld, then use nylon locking nuts.
 
I one handed em with a quarter inch drive softly and called it good.

Sounds like a good place to use some blue Loctite to build up a base and you wont have to worry about such light torque.
 
All these were things I thought of if I had issues....none yet lol!
 
Bolts when seated tight using the socket only looks as though to bottom the bolt dead (breaking risk) there's just one and a half threads left and assuming the threads are all the way to the bottom. There's near another 1/4" + slop yet with the lock washers to come close to securing the retainer cap in the wheel to the outer cap and hope to get a tight fit on the wheel. As it is, the retainer cap when it's bottomed, still leaves a gap around the perimeter considering the thickness of the wheel. Just doesn't add up to risk shearing off the bolt so reckon it's as simple as using a shorter bolt; but wish I'd have checked this first. I know, a real simple thing here with a lot more complex stuff to be concerned about; but it's a bitch + a few expletives when the bolt breaks. Maybe I'll also take a 1/4-20 tap and grind it flat to see if the threads in fact reach the bottom of the bore. If not that says the margin of clearance is even less than it appears.
 
I just got shorter bolts for mine.

It was pretty obvious the supplied ones weren't going to work.
 
I just got shorter bolts for mine.

It was pretty obvious the supplied ones weren't going to work.
You did it right; it wasn't obvious to me just trusting the supplied bolts - I ended up using 5/8" and worked fine.
 
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