[8litercobra]

I had one of my 4 wheels (vintage wheel, 5 pin drive) that was very difficult to install or remove. Upon investigation, any wheel was difficult on that one hub. After conversations that involved several paths to fix the problem, I ended up using calipers to measure the dimensions between every pin relative to every other. The easiest measure was back of pin to back of pin, which would measure centerline distance plus a pin width. I learned that it was important to measure close to the end of each pin. On a hub with no problem, all measurements were +/- 0.005". Note that there is a measurement for the adjacent pins, and another for the pins that are further away.

With these measurements assembled in a matrix for each hub, I compared the problem hub to the other 3. This comparison showed that 2 pins on the troubled hub were different from all the others, most notably shorter on the measurement between the 2 furthest pins. That told me that these 2 pins were angled in a bit. I tapped each of these with a small hammer towards the outside, it did not take much force. About 0.012" later, the wheels fit perfectly on that hub. I now think it's not unusual to have the lugs/pins to be slightly off of perfect alignment. All pins and lugs were very tight. Misalignment was not caused by too little torque.

5 years later, everything is still working well! FWIW, I first suspected the wheel.....took it to the machine shop and had it checked out. Kudos to Vintage Wheels, everything was spot on.