Stuff I learned along the way...

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#1 Left-Handed ("backwards") Lug Nuts - Studebaker used both left-handed and right-handed lug nuts/studs on their cars in 1953.  Although the cars left the factories with the left-handed nuts/studs on the left (driver) side of the car more than 65 years ago, it is hard to know if a specific car remained that way so many years after it left the factory.  Sometimes you can spot an "L" or "R" on the end of the wheel hub stud which would indicate what you have.  I found out about left-handed nuts/studs after I snapped a wheel hub stud off of the front left drum.  A visit to Google and the SDC forums enlightened me.  I then confirmed the information with chapter 14 of the chassis manual.  The plan is to keep the original setup on my car but many people have converted all four hubs to right-handed nuts/studs to avoid confusion at home and/or when it is taken to a shop for maintenance.  Studebaker used the left-handed nuts/studs up to and including the 1958 model year.  Many theories exist as to why left-handed nuts/studs were used on the driver side of the vehicle.  The most reasonable explanation I have found links the practice back to when Studebaker made wagons and they used reversed axle nut threads on the left side of the wagon to avoid wheels coming off during travel.  The majority of wagon axles utilized a directional threaded nut to retain the wheel. The axle was threaded with corresponding threads left on the left, right on the right.  The theory was that when the wagon was traveling forward, the rotation of the wheels would bear a tightening force on the nut.  Studebaker simply maintained the practice due either to tradition or a belief that the wagon theory still had merit on modern vehicles.

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#2 Swaged Wheel Hub Studs - coming soon...

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