Nord-Lock may not be a familiar name in American shops and repair bays, not yet, but if the success of the Nord-Lock wheel nut in nine other countries is any measure, the Swedish-made product will gain a following in the U.S. as well. The company’s wheel nut is designed to resist the factors that can loosen conventional wheel nuts, thanks to Nord-Lock’s unique wedge-locking technology.
The company said the design relies on tension instead of friction to secure a wheel nut in place. Each nut incorporates a pair of washers with cam faces on one side and radial teeth on the other. When the wheel nut is tightened, the teeth of the Nord-Lock washers are designed to grip and lock the mating surfaces. Rotation of the wheel nut is blocked by the wedge effect of the cams.
The steel wheel nuts are pre-lubricated to help assure uniform friction and accurate preload during tightening. The lubricants are also designed to inhibit corrosion, which facilitates disassembly and helps prolong the life of wheel studs, the company notes.
At the recent Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, KY, fleet owners and drivers had the opportunity to see the Nord-Lock wheel nut’s performance for themselves in demonstrations that suggested that some of the testing the system has been subjected to, including laboratory testing as well as controlled real-life testing under extreme conditions and under normal conditions.
