28 10-4 Magazine / September 2025 In an industry where custom parts and accessory choices are plentiful, few are available that started out as a need, flourishing over time as a sought-after truck accessory, because of their sheer simplicity and ingenuity. This is the story of Lifetime Nut Covers out of Britt, IA, where a father’s idea took hold and is continuing at the hands of his son, with employees that are like family, to bring American made products to a market that literally started a parts revolution. This company started after founder Dan Schleuger got a flat tire 35 years ago and had to torch off every nut cover that was rusted on. He had an idea for making a plastic nut cover and brought this idea to a friend who had a plastic injection molding machine. Producing one cover at a time out of colored plastic, this idea started taking shape in the form of a business. Dan’s partnership ended when he bought his friend out and moved the operation to the farm where he lived (where operations are located today) into a 20x20 area. Around 1990, Dan started going to the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, KY. Each year, he would fill his pockets with nut covers and then go around talking about them to people and handing them out as samples, which definitely sparked people’s interest. Dan’s girlfriend Julie came aboard with the company around 1993 to help and, as time went on, Dan’s son JR (Dan, Jr.) and his daughter Danielle also began working in the shop when time allowed. This was and is truly a legit family operation. In the beginning, they were just making colored plastic lug nut covers, as they didn’t know how to make chrome plated ones, but they eventually figured that out. The chrome plating actually Made in America: By Stephanie Haas started in their oven in the house. They would heat the plastic on baking sheets to get the mixture correct. After high school, JR went to school to become a CNC machinist while Danielle went to school for graphic design. During school, they could still be found working with Dan and Julie, taking shifts running the machines. The chrome plating at home eventually shifted to hauling the products to Phillips Plating Corporation in Phillips, WI in large batches. Around 2007, JR and his sister Danielle had started preparations for AMERICAN INGENUIT Y
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