Knock off Fell off what is the correct direction o

[Jim #42767]

Yep cruising around today in the 65 degree Texas weather, doing 65 on those country roads, did about a 40 mile drive. When I was turning into the driveway of the house doing about 4 MPH, I hear clunk clunk. The sound of the spinner coming off, I stopped immediately, went into the garage grabbed the floor jack and put it back together. No damage, what luck.

My faith in the Knock offs has faded a bit

I started looking at the spinners and noticed that the spinner is removed by what appears to me to be the incorrect centrifugal direction. For example on the right front wheel to remove the spinner I spin it clockwise. Is this correct?

[Gary Bishop]

Re: Knock Off "fell off" not a myth???

And here I was told that Knock Offs coming off was a myth.

[Stephen P.]

Re: Knock off Fell off what is the correct directi

The link below provides directions for knock-off installation and notes the proper side for spinners. Per the directions, the right hand spinner is removed by spinning clockwise. Out of curiousity, I just looked at my car and they are on with the spinners going opposite to the directions. They have been that way since I bought the car 2 years ago with no problems, but I guess I'll be changing them.




http://www.licorvette.com/pdfcatalogfiles/KOwheel.PDF

[Mike McKown]

Re: Knock off Fell off what is the correct directi

Make sure all your wheels have a snug fit to the adaptor pins. There should be no radial play evident. I believe this is what allows the wheels to loosen under braking/acceleration. I would replace or rebush any wheels that have a loose condition.

[Richard S.]

Re: Knock off Fell off what is the correct directi

Jim,
You were extremely lucky.....reading your post,those drivers with knock offs would be well advised to check them before every drive. The lock pins are very important and should be installed on every wheel.

[jim #42767]

Re: Knock off Fell off what is the correct directi

Another interesting note. I don't have any locking pins. These wheels don't have the slots on the adapter's like the document above, and the cap does not seperate. Could these wheels need to be installed a different way due to the design?

[cc walker]

Re: Knock off Fell off what is the correct directi

i belive the real originals did not have slots for pins.

[Duke W.]

Re: Knock off Fell off what is the correct directi

Left hand threads on the RH side. The adapters should be clearly marked "right" and "left".

Duke

[John H.]

Re: Knock off Fell off what is the correct directi

The early repro adapters/spinners didn't have the slots or pins either.

[William C.]

Re: Knock off Fell off what is the correct directi

Arrows point to the front on the KO spinners! Makes it easy to remember.

[Larry S.]

Re: Knock off Fell off what is the correct directi

Steve

Make sure you are reading those directions properly after 2 years (dont know the type of milage you have done) of no problems I would be hesitant to think they are on improper unless they are pinned.

[Dale S.]

Re: Knock off Fell off what is the correct directi

This is not a new experince, as I was riding in a friends 65 C2 in 1967. We heard a funny noise and then a vibration in the steering wheel. We pulled off the road thinkig we had a flat. The spinner on the knock off had loosened. we took out the hammer and pounded it back tight. They were not rare then. Possible this 1965 had the adapter on the wrong side also. To my knowledge it never happened again. Dale

[Michael H.]

Re: Knock off Fell off what is the correct directi

Jim,

One more very common problem with these wheels is the fact that they can be installed/indexed incorrectly if the proper long lug nuts are not used. It's critically important that the five pins fit into the five holes in the wheel instead of over the short original style lug nuts. This was the reason for the longer lug nuts that were unique to KO wheels. If the wheel is not indexed correctly on the pins, the wheels will definitely not stay on the car no matter how tight you get the spinner. If you remove the wheel that came lose and look at the back side, you will see evidence of this if it was installed incorrectly. There will be lug nut shaped impressions in the wheel.

The KO wheel instruction card that would have come with a new car specifically states that the spinner must rotare aprox seven complete turns to insure that the wheel is installed correctly. If installed incorrectly, there would only be three or four turns before the spinner was seated. The original Factory recommended torque spec was 450 ft lbs so don't be afraid to wail on the spinners with the lead hammer.

I've driven Corvettes all over this country with factory and/or repo KO wheels and I've never had a problem with a wheel coming off. In probably 50,000 miles, I've never had one even loosen slightly.

As others have mentioned, be sure to inspect the condition of the five holes in the back of the wheel. If you find that they are no longer round from running loose or that the wheel was indexed incorrectly, you will have to have the holes properly repaired.

Michael

[Wayne W.]

Re: Knock off Fell off what is the correct directi

It is amazing to me, after all these years and all of the discussions on this subject, that people still dont know how to install these things correctly. TAKE THE DAMN HAMMER AND KNOCK CRAP OUT OF THEM. The things are marked L and R. It would seem that that would be sufficient to get them on the correct side. OH, but I forget, most dont know which side is the left.

[Jim #42767]

Re: Knock off Fell off what is the correct directi

Amazing to you? Well the adapters are installed "correct" with the RH markings on the right side. Guess what, it fell off. Centrifugal force would indicate by nature that the adapters should be installed opposite of the directions and it would tighten the spinners at every braking action.

Has anyone installed the adapters backwards intentionally to see what would happen?