Wheel nut painting

[Simon Daymond]

do you have to paint all of the stud and the nuts on your split rims, or can you just paint the exposed end of the thread? On the militant the paint on the wheels is so old and flaky it isn't that easy to tell, but on two of the six wheels it does look as though someone has simply painted a dab of red on the end of each of the split rim bolts.

I would like it too be something like right, but to be honest the thought of painting each and every nut red fills me with no great joy.

[Lauren Child]

My partner's father was an army driver and he describes the painstaking process of painting all of the nuts red on their vehicles ready for inspection. I suspect the same would be true of this, although he hasn't mentionned driving a militant.

[woa2]

My Ford WOT2 manual tells me that the NUT is Red.

[lynx42 Rick Cove]

The White Scout Car manual also states that the NUTS are red. Of course only the ones which hold the 2 wheel halves together. The wheel nuts to keep the wheel on the hub are either vehicle colour or white.

Regards Rick

[LeeEnfield]

aye,.......I'll go along with RED NUTs,.........which was told to me by an ex REME guy.

He pulled me up about my white nuts saying they would only be done for parade/garrison 'bull', certainly not whilst on active service.

[fv1609]

A recurring subject of fascination that regularly crops up on some Land Rover forums. This is what I have posted there.

 

The wheels, wheel nuts, tow hitch, bumpers, manufacturer’s badges, knobbly bits, ancillaries, hub drive flange nuts, etc should all the the same colour as the vehicle. The only exception to this is that on divided rim wheels where the retaining nuts should be painted red and nothing else. This is repeatedly laid down in, Equipment Regulations, Joint Service Road Transport Regulations, AESPs. There is no requirement to paint anything else red or white even. (The exceptions are on a trailer, emergency brake connections painted red, service connections yellow & secondary connections blue. Tipper locking pins painted red. Rear diff painted white for convoy purposes.)

 

But some units will embellish vehicles with all sorts of silly bits painted. I remember being taken round a camp by the chief vehicle inspector & asked him why about a third of the vehicles on camp have these unauthorised bits of paintwork. He just shook his head in despair & sighed that he can't stop them doing it whenever his back is turned.

 

But I think the silliest one of all is painting the heads of the bolts on the drive flanges. What's going to happen is the wheel brace going to fit on there & the flange come off instead of the wheel? Again if you find your vehicle had these silly markings, most owners, I suppose will feel some justification for reproducing them on their restored vehicle. Someone else sees it & thinks painted twiddly bits would look smart on their vehicle & so it goes on.

 

Using red paint was clearly a warning & was not to do with preservation of the stud & its thread. Regulations refer to the painting of the nuts specifically, not the stud, although inevitably the stud gets a dollop of red paint as well.

 

A variation I have seen is a small blob of white paint on the end of the thread for the wheel nuts & a similar red blob for the divided wheel clamping threads. It avoids the problems of dribbling a contrasting colour paint from the nuts & missing bits on some of the nut faces. I have to admit it does look quite smart, but it is quite contrary to the Regulations.

 

Here are three types of documents, which really say it all, particularly the JSP that makes reference to the painting of the other nuts on the wheel.

 

EMER (Electrical & Mechanical Engineering Regulations) WHEELED VEHICLES A 409

 

AESP (Army Equipment Support Publication) 2610-A-409-301 Chapter 3

 

JSP 341 Joint Service Road Transport Regulations Chapter 12

[Lauren Child]

It could be worse, a couple of my friends restore classic cars. They showed me some great photo's a while back of not one, but two nitwits who were in the performance car scene. Both had given their car "extra bling" by painting the brake discs.

[AlienFTM]

The only exception to this is that on divided rim wheels where the retaining nuts should be painted red and nothing else.

 

Good answer (the whole thing not just the bit I have quoted).

 

... then squaddy gets told to repaint the vehicle and SLAP Olive Drab and Black alles ueber the Platz.

[LeeEnfield]

A recurring subject of fascination that regularly crops up on some Land Rover forums. This is what I have posted there.

 

The wheels, wheel nuts, tow hitch, bumpers, manufacturer’s badges, knobbly bits, ancillaries, hub drive flange nuts, etc should all the the same colour as the vehicle. The only exception to this is that on divided rim wheels where the retaining nuts should be painted red and nothing else. This is repeatedly laid down in, Equipment Regulations, Joint Service Road Transport Regulations, AESPs. There is no requirement to paint anything else red or white even. (The exceptions are on a trailer, emergency brake connections painted red, service connections yellow & secondary connections blue. Tipper locking pins painted red. Rear diff painted white for convoy purposes.)

 

But some units will embellish vehicles with all sorts of silly bits painted. I remember being taken round a camp by the chief vehicle inspector & asked him why about a third of the vehicles on camp have these unauthorised bits of paintwork. He just shook his head in despair & sighed that he can't stop them doing it whenever his back is turned.

 

But I think the silliest one of all is painting the heads of the bolts on the drive flanges. What's going to happen is the wheel brace going to fit on there & the flange come off instead of the wheel? Again if you find your vehicle had these silly markings, most owners, I suppose will feel some justification for reproducing them on their restored vehicle. Someone else sees it & thinks painted twiddly bits would look smart on their vehicle & so it goes on.

 

Using red paint was clearly a warning & was not to do with preservation of the stud & its thread. Regulations refer to the painting of the nuts specifically, not the stud, although inevitably the stud gets a dollop of red paint as well.

 

A variation I have seen is a small blob of white paint on the end of the thread for the wheel nuts & a similar red blob for the divided wheel clamping threads. It avoids the problems of dribbling a contrasting colour paint from the nuts & missing bits on some of the nut faces. I have to admit it does look quite smart, but it is quite contrary to the Regulations.

 

Here are three types of documents, which really say it all, particularly the JSP that makes reference to the painting of the other nuts on the wheel.

 

EMER (Electrical & Mechanical Engineering Regulations) WHEELED VEHICLES A 409

 

AESP (Army Equipment Support Publication) 2610-A-409-301 Chapter 3

 

JSP 341 Joint Service Road Transport Regulations Chapter 12

 

Cheers for that, Clive.

[Simon Daymond]

thanks for that, looks like I'm going to be busy, (ah perhaps a job for the kids!)

[Willyslancs]

kids with a paint brush!!!!! good luck lol..........

[antarmike]

It could be worse, a couple of my friends restore classic cars. They showed me some great photo's a while back of not one, but two nitwits who were in the performance car scene. Both had given their car "extra bling" by painting the brake discs.

 

It is a viewpoint some people hold that the outside of brake drums should not be painted. They dissapate heat better if they are bare metal. I don't know what the Army has down on paper about this idea. I would not paint mine.

[ackack]

The nuts holding the rim halves together should be Red according to wartime manuals, the wheel nuts holding the rims to the hubs were never white until the first parades in Berlin after cessation of hostilities, this was known as 'bull' and many vehicles were repainted in gloss also (some even in grey!).

There would be no reason for wheels nuts to be painted in any colour as they were either plated or galvanised, unless of course they were going rusty.,

Too many vehicles are found with' red bits', it just doesn't look right.

Airlines were indeed red and yellow for obvious reasons.

[Grumpy]

I got my Stolly straight from Budge’s yard when they were first cast and it looked like it had been in storage since a base re-build in 1989. Split rim nuts were pained red but the wheel nuts were painted yellow, in fact all of the driver service / check items were painted yellow. These included all of the level plugs for engine, gearbox etc. In addition to the split rim nuts being painted red other items were painted red such as radiator drain plugs etc. I remember speaking to a REME mech. at the time and he stated it was common practice painting driver service items yellow and items they didn’t want the driver to touch red.

When I got my Unimog 404 it was painted the same but opposite with all of the driver service items (level plugs etc.) painted red and the non driver (look in the manual first) items painted yellow.

Don’t know if it was a official procedure or not but seamed like a logical idea.

[Simon Daymond]

I was thinking of painting the whole of the militant deep bronze green, apart from the split rim nuts which will be red, the front bridge plate which will be yellow, the rear convoy plate which will be white, the fuel filler cap which I think should be yellow, and finally the air lines front and rear red or yellow, and that I think is it?

[Richard Farrant]

I was thinking of painting the whole of the militant deep bronze green, apart from the split rim nuts which will be red, the front bridge plate which will be yellow, the rear convoy plate which will be white, the fuel filler cap which I think should be yellow, and finally the air lines front and rear red or yellow, and that I think is it?

 

Simon,

 

and an authentic set of unit and division signs front and back will set it off fine.

[fv1609]

REME mech. at the time and he stated it was common practice painting driver service items yellow

 

Yes under layers of paint on a pig up by the radiator, I found a symbol of a stopcock in yellow about an inch long. Beneath it a series of yellow arrows leading to the draincock. Not seen this on a vehicle before. But you don't have to be Brain of Britain to work out the vicinity where the draincock is to be found!

 

I believe this pig was BAOR. The only other unusual markings were the yellow discs painted on the side doors, which I take to be side bridge plates, which again are unusual, although they are described in the Regulations.

[LeeEnfield]

On the painting of things,.......the guy ex REME, did say their filler caps were painted red and white, (red for main tank)..............my mw's done like it, but I dunno if its 'parade bull'.

[MilitantGraham]

I thought fuel filler caps were yellow for diesel and red for petrol, or have I got that wrong ?

Is there a regulation for colour of fuel filler caps ?

[sirhc]

On my Ferret, which hadn't been used since rebuild in 1972, the fuel filler was red, the oil filler yellow and the coolant filler blue. Obviously the split rim nuts were red, but that was it.

 

Chris

[AlienFTM]

I thought fuel filler caps were yellow for diesel and red for petrol, or have I got that wrong ?

Is there a regulation for colour of fuel filler caps ?

 

That rings a bell. I also have "blue" (cyan? duck egg? whatever?) for coolant or is that a figment?

 

wrt painting vehicles DBG before parades, I vaguely recall that at some point (1960s?) this was the norm and that cam paint then went back on top when the exercise season started again. No wonder you people have so many layers to shift.

[Simon Daymond]

yes I reckon if strip the layers of paint off the militant it should go a few miles per hour faster In places it is nearly a full 1/4 inch thick!

[fv1609]

I thought fuel filler caps were yellow for diesel and red for petrol, or have I got that wrong ?

Is there a regulation for colour of fuel filler caps ?

 

Graham you are correct.

 

Although the only Regulation I can find that covers the painting of fuel caps for fuel identification, merely states "the filler cap of all vehicles which operate on diesel fuel is to be painted yellow." No mention of red for petrol, I can only assume that this became adopted for reassurance. So that a driver is not worrying, is this unpainted cap indicating it is really for petrol or is it just that someone forgot to paint it yellow? But there appears to be no Regulatory requirement for red to be used even in publications of 1980s & 1990s.

 

It was later added that the regulation does not apply to civilianised vehicles. These are vehicles trying avoid being identified as military vehicles that would have their cover blown with a yellow filler cap.

 

As for the other colours mentioned & their purposes, I can find nothing. At first I wondered whether it was a carryover from the convention of paint colours on instructional engines. Yellow matches up but not the others.

 

Lubrication system - Yellow Lemon

Fuel system - Blue sky (which equates to what is often incorrectly called duck egg blue)

Cooling system - Green Brunswick middle

[Simon Daymond]

what colour should the engine and gearbox be? Is it the light apple green.

[fv1609]

what colour should the engine and gearbox be? Is it the light apple green.