Hey everyone,

Over the summer I purchased an 01 XLT F-250 Scab 6.8L shortbed 4x4. The truck has been great but one of the issues I've had with it was the lack of center caps. So, I ordered a used OEM set on Ebay and lo and behold they hardly stay on. In fact, one fell off less than 1/4 mile down the road.

Looking online I saw most solutions involve silicone seal or bending the tabs. Most solutions came with mixed results with some people swearing by their solution while others bash it.

I'm not here to praise or bash those solutions, just offer one of my own(well my Dad's). I believe this should work on most F-250 center caps or at least the ones from 99-04.

What you will need:

Stainless steel lock-wire(my set was from like 1965 but I believe you can find it at Harbor Freight, Home Depot, Lowes, etc. )

Diagonal cutters

Any type of pliers

Center caps

A rubber mallet


The caps on mine are held onto the lug-nuts with four sets of prongs that look kind of like flowers(well, to me at least lol)

All you need to do is cut a few lengths of wire that can wrap them around each "flower", leaving a little extra length on each side. Then, take your pliers and start twisting the wires on each flower to shorten their diameters.

Do this for each flower and adjust until they slide on tight. Personally, I cranked mine until I had to use a few taps with my rubber mallet to get the caps on.


Attached are some photos of what I did and before and after pics of the truck.(sorry about the order of the photos, I uploaded this post through my phone and they posted incorrectly)

 

thats a grate idea

 

I took my angle grinder with a cut off blade and cut about 3/16 off of the center cap. I eliminated the little indentation, Now it's hard to get them off.

 

Great tip.

thanks

 

great idea.....thanks for sharing!

 

Fantastic solution and it passes the K.I.S.S. system test!
I'm pretty new here myself so I don't know if my vote counts but this one is worthy of being in the tech folder.

 

This is the kind of thinking that makes me smile. A superb idea!!

— Dave

 

You can also use a plastic zip tie.
Frank.

 

No problem guys. Glad I could help!

 

Over the summer I purchased an 01 XLT F-250 Scab 6.8L shortbed 4x4. The truck has been great but one of the issues I've had with it was the lack of center caps. So, I ordered a used OEM set on Ebay and lo and behold they hardly stay on. In fact, one fell off less than 1/4 mile down the road.

Looking online I saw most solutions involve silicone seal or bending the tabs. Most solutions came with mixed results with some people swearing by their solution while others bash it.

I'm not here to praise or bash those solutions, just offer one of my own(well my Dad's). I believe this should work on most F-250 center caps or at least the ones from 99-04.

What you will need:

Stainless steel lock-wire(my set was from like 1965 but I believe you can find it at Harbor Freight, Home Depot, Lowes, etc. )

Diagonal cutters

Any type of pliers

Center caps

A rubber mallet


The caps on mine are held onto the lug-nuts with four sets of prongs that look kind of like flowers(well, to me at least lol)

All you need to do is cut a few lengths of wire that can wrap them around each "flower", leaving a little extra length on each side. Then, take your pliers and start twisting the wires on each flower to shorten their diameters.

Do this for each flower and adjust until they slide on tight. Personally, I cranked mine until I had to use a few taps with my rubber mallet to get the caps on.


Attached are some photos of what I did and before and after pics of the truck.(sorry about the order of the photos, I uploaded this post through my phone and they posted incorrectly)[/QUOTE]