Center Cap help!?

[Myasylum]

What I'd the method of madness getting these center caps on??
I have the chome ones for a 98 explorer.
It has 5 lugs, and the center cap is suppose to grab on to all 5 lugs. I can get it to grab onto one, then it falls off!

Urgh!

 

[lobo411]

Get it to catch a little by hand, and then finish it off with a rubber mallet. $1.99 cents at Harbor Freight.

 

[koda2000]

The lug nuts are special for this purpose. They have a collar (don't know what else to call it) in the middle which grabs the spring-steel clips, which are on 3 of the 5 corresponding holes in the back of the center cap. Are all your lug nuts the same? Do they all have the collar?

They snap into place quite easily. I just give them a smack with my hand to install them.

Note the 2nd and 3rd nuts in the photo link from AutoZone:

http://www.autozone.com/suspension-...terByKeyWord=wheel+lug+nuts&fromString=search

 

[J_C]

You might need to bend a slight amount of tension into the prongs on them. As far as a mallet, I just wear gym shoes, sit down, and gently heel kick it on the rest of the way... takes less time than going to get the rubber mallet. You could probably slap it with your palm too if you have large hands.

 

[Myasylum]

I can get it on by hand, but they fall off after I use the mallet.
I kept the one on that I put on just by hand, and the center cap fell off and is now laying in some ditch somewhere.

 

[swshawaii]

Did you buy the Ebay caps in post #3 linked below? Not sure they fit the non OEM "three hole" rims linked in the OP below.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=428095

 

[koda2000]

Did you buy the Ebay caps in post #3 linked below? Not sure they fit the non OEM "three hole" rims linked in the OP below.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=428095

This could be the issue as the chrome wheel center caps and the alloy wheel center caps look similar, but the reach on the retaining clips is not the same.

 

[Myasylum]

No, I didn't get those. The one's I got have more rounded corners, and not the straight edges that are on those.

 

[swshawaii]

Sorry, my mistake. Those #3202 "three hole" wheels were stock on certain 1995-98 Explorer's.

http://parts.autonationfordwhitebea.../covers-and-trim-scat/?part_number=f57z1130eb

http://parts.autonationfordwhitebea...nsion-cat/wheels-scat/?part_number=yl2z1015aa

 

[J_C]

Here's what are on my '98, 15" alloys, if you click thru to the full sized pic of the rear you can get the part # off of it:

 

[Myasylum]

Yes, I bought #2 .
Not the one's JC has a picture of.

I have 16" rims.
I also have all 5 clips in the center cap. Most I have seen pictures of only have 3.
What's odd to, is it seems the lug nut would have to be in just the right spot before the clips would fit on. Or the clips would be in a different location than the lug nuts. The clips aren't round they have a 5 star pattern just like the lug nuts do.
What ever the case, not I have to buy another center cap because one is lost in a ditch somewhere.

 

[koda2000]

I don't know about the '98 with chrome 16" wheels, but on my 2000 and 2001 with alloy 16" wheels the center cap is different from the 15" wheels (round rather than star-shaped), but still only has 3 clips and attaches to the lug nuts by snapping over the collar on the special lug nut. perhaps the '98 center cap is unique.

 

[J_C]

What's odd to, is it seems the lug nut would have to be in just the right spot before the clips would fit on. Or the clips would be in a different location than the lug nuts. The clips aren't round they have a 5 star pattern just like the lug nuts do.

The clips don't depend on the lug nut being aligned, it's only coincidence that they have a star-like pattern instead of round because they slip past the hex faces on the lug nut to clip onto the larger diameter, round ring behind it.

Maybe a picture of your lug nut off the vehicle, laying sideways next to a ruler would help... notice how the ones Koda linked, 2nd & 3rd on the page, seem to have different lengths until the ring around them that the hub clips clip onto.

http://www.autozone.com/suspension-...s-e-4-0l-efi-sohc/369386_981736_18788_142831/

http://www.autozone.com/suspension-...s-e-4-0l-efi-sohc/369387_981737_18788_142831/

 

[koda2000]

OP, you never answered my question as to whether you have the correct lug nuts. if you don't, no center cap will stay on. They must have the collar/ring for the clips to snap onto. Secondly, I don't know which hub cap you have, but what you have may not be the correct hubcap for wheel. if you need to post a photo, you'll need to first upload it to something like PhotoBucket and provide a link. As you're having so much trouble fitting the cap, I strongly suspect it's not the right one for your wheel. Are you missing all 4 center caps? If not, compare what you're trying to put on to one of the ones that do fit. Without you doing some measuring, I don't know how else to be of any help. Fitting a center cap should be about as easy as it gets.

 

[Myasylum]

It's the right lug nuts.
the 4 center caps I bought were from the same car.
2 of them fit nice, the other two didn't.
That's why I thought maybe there was some trick to it.

 

[J_C]

If you mean you got them at a junk yard, possibly the prior owner of the junked vehicle put the wrong nuts on. I mean nuts that match those hubs instead of the original nuts, like you may need to do... I suspect nuts would be cheaper than hubs but at a junkyard the price difference might be minimal.

Anyway you might just go back to the junkyard and get the nuts off the vehicle that the hubs were on.

 

[swshawaii]

If you mean you got them at a junk yard, possibly the prior owner of the junked vehicle put the wrong nuts on.

And :ttiwwp:

Need the REAR view of the "bad" wheel caps.

 

[firepop5]

I have a 96 with 15" wheels, so I don't know if you have the same issue I had. The chrome on the rims is a "skin" that is attached to a black steel wheel. Over the years the steel rusted and started to push the chrome skin away. Now the caps instead of grabbing 1/2 inch of lung nut were only grabbing a 1/4 inch or less. I realized this after replacing a missing cap for the third time.

With the cap off look at the chrome skin behind where the cap would sit. The chrome should be very close to the steel wheel with little to no space in between. If there is space between the skin and the steel rim this is your problem. I removed the skin, grinded down the rust, painted the rim, and glued the chrome skin back on.

 

[Myasylum]

Firepower - That makes a lot of sense!
Hmm... I'll have to look into that!