Parking Brake adjustment, and jacking up questions

[Gael]

Hi,

Today I performed my first maintenance on my LR3 (V8, 2005, 141k).

I jacked it up and adjusted the parking brake in an attempt to fix a screaming noise coming from the rear wheels at very low speed + a strange shrilling noise when the parking brake was applied.

So far so good.
I used the Lr3 workshop manual + the Atlantic British tech notes.

I have some questions as it was the 1st time I was jacking up such a heavy vehicle.

1) first the jack and the jack stands does not have a flat surface, more like a cup and a U respectively, whereas the LR3 body structure where we are supposed to put the jack and stands are very wide, and very flat.

Do you put something between your jack and your stands and the vehicle ?
Workshop manual say something like "put appropriate material to avoid damaging the rails".

2) the lug nuts size is supposed to be 22mm. I had only 1 nut where 22mm could fit. For the others, it was not fitting.

So I got a 7/8in, still not fitting.
So I got a 15/16, now it was fitting. But it was a terrible idea, the chromed cap turned and was damaged, but the internal lug did not moved at all. 15/16 is way to big.

So I managed to fit the 7/8, with a hammer, remove the lug nuts from the vehicle, and with some pain, I manage to remove the lug nuts from the socket, and then move to the next one.

This chromed cap looks like a terrible design idea.

I see roverparts sell a kit of 20 for about $200. Is that any good ?
What about some third party ones like Gorilla lug nuts ?

Note that when I put the wheels back it was actually easier to fit the 7/8 socket. I still had to use a small hammer to fit some of them. But I could remove the socket manually, although I had to shake the socket while applying as much force as I could....

What are you guys doing with the lug nuts ?

Thanks !

 

[umbertob]

Couple of years ago I replaced all OEM lugs with Gorilla lug nuts sourced on eBay. No silly caps that "bloom" and deform over time, the Gorillas are one solid piece of metal and so far they appear to be nearly indestructible. They also look better (I got black ones to match my black Compos) and are substantially cheaper to buy.

Having said that, a lot of damage to lug nuts is caused by careless tire shop techs using those impact guns like there is no tomorrow, they don't even seem to be vaguely familiar with torque wrenches and usually keep running the damned air tools until their whole body gets the shakes and you can almost hear the lugs begging for mercy. Those butchers can be found working at all kinds of tire shops, from small independents to National chains, so it's a bit of a crapshoot. I had to make friends with the owner of a small shop near my office to insure he would personally work on my wheels and tires the way I'd want him to, with a calibrated torque wrench before and after using the air gun.