Wheel Hub caps

[Derek Attree]

Hi Guys
I am having a small problem with the hub caps on the Panther wheels.
The fine thread in the Hub caps seems reluctant to engage in the thread in the wheel.
I had one dry weld on me so I have stopped completely I was wondering if others have had problems with these items ?
They are all fitted with the dummy studs and lock tabs as well,so they have somthing to hold on to for inserting.
I am going to use a PTFE grease on the threads but I can't seem to get them started.
They have a good lead in on the start of the thread too.

Any Ideas?

Derek

[Tim Bowman]

Hi Derek,

I have had similar experience. What has been working for me is to simply rotate the hub cap in reverse direction very gently until you feel and hear the thread sort of click as it finds the starting point of the threads. Then rotate to the right. You will feel when the threads are engaged as they spin quite easily. After installing and removing mine many times, I finally have it down.

Also, If one is being extra finicky on a particular wheel, I'll try it on another wheel and many times it goes right in. Why? I have no idea.

If you add any lube to em, I'd be interested to hear how that works.

Good luck

Tim

[Kent Wiik]

Hi Derek,

I also had the same thing but not with everyone.
As only ½ of them will have the hub cap I tested them all and used the best wheels to be the ones having the cap.
Those "chosen ones" I also gave the outer half of the wheel a good grind off to remove that ugly looking surface from the manufacture process.


Cheers
Kent

[Robert E Morey]

I had a problem with the hubs caps initially not threading in as well. I found the problem to be a burr of Aluminum on the wheels which folded over into the fine thread. Using a deburring tool to add a slight chamfer where the thread starts and to remove the burr solved the problem. I also filed a slight chamfer (lead in) on the hub cap thread as well.

I plan on retaining the hubs with a small amount of rubber cement. The only problem with using a grease will be dirt collection. As long as one cleans this dirt off when servicing the bearings it shouldn't be a problem to use grease on the threads.