Emergency Help - Wheel Stud Replacement (1 Viewer)

[Walking Eagle]

So - My wheel studs on my DS rear busted today on the way to work, and my tire passed me. Fortunately it went into the ditch, and I got off the road safely.

Now, I have a truck on the side of the road, with busted off wheel studs. Now what do I do?

Pull the caliper - no problem,

Pull the rotor - no problem,

Then what? I'm not thinking real straight right now - so what's the next thing to get to where I can get new studs pressed in.

 

[Doc]

I really don't think this is a side of the road repair. Call a flat bed tow truck.

 

[MaddBaggins]

You need to remove the axle then the hub. If you have the SST for removing the lock nut on the hub, use it. remove the 2 locking screws first. If you don't have the SST, I used a screwdriver and a hammer and lightly tapped it until it was loose. Once the lock nut is out, all you need is a hammer to pound out the old ones and pound in some new ones. While your in there, repack the bearings.

 

[concretejungle]

You could pull the hub off and take it to the shop, leaving your truck on the side of the road. It's not really a roadside repair, but hey.

 

[Walking Eagle]

You need to remove the axle then the hub. If you have the SST for removing the lock nut on the hub, use it. remove the 2 locking screws first. If you don't have the SST, I used a screwdriver and a hammer and lightly tapped it until it was loose. Once the lock nut is out, all you need is a hammer to pound out the old ones and pound in some new ones. While your in there, repack the bearings.

You could pull the hub off and take it to the shop, leaving your truck on the side of the road. It's not really a roadside repair, but hey.

ok... STT?

Why do I have to remove the axle? I thought with it being a full floater I could just pull the hub off just like pulling the hub off the front?

I figure I'll pull the hub off and take it in to have studs pressed in. It's going to be a pain in the butt no matter what. I'm not keen on having to pay to have it hauled and have someone else do the work.

 

[Beowulf]

Edit: Rread Robbie's reply. Hub removal is not required.

1. Read Beno's rear axle service thread.
2. Jack up the left rear and remove the rear brake caliper (17mm)
3. Remove the rear rotor. (E-Brake off. Might need to pound rotor off.)
4. Remove 12mm nuts on the drive flange. Use a brass hammer or drift to remove cone washers on the rear axle flange. The axle and the drive flange are 1 piece on the rear.
5. Use the rear hub SST to remove the rear hub lock nut. You'll need a phillips screwdriver to remove the 2 locking screws first. If you don't have the SST then use a brass drift on the "ears" on the lock nut.
6. Remove the hub taking care with the outer wheel bearing.
7. Use a BFH to pound out the broken wheel studs.

Assembly is reverse of the above. As DOC said, this isn't an easy road-side repair but it can be done if you have the right tools. I think I described all the tools you will need but Beno's thread would be a better source of information.

-B-

 

[MaddBaggins]

SST= special service tool

Yes you have to remove the axle to remove the hub to change out the wheel studs. The studs that the axle bolts to are on the hub.

It's not really that difficult. On the side of the road it might be a PITA, but still do-able

 

[Beowulf]

Rear hub SST. There is a FAQ thread with several good ideas on making your own. The best, IMHO, uses a 54mm (2-1/8") socket and cuts 3 notches in it to serve as both a front hub and a rear hub tool. Great for the trail box.

-B-

 

[powderpig]

The studs can be replaced on the hub on the truck. no need to remove the hub/axle unless you want to do it this way. You will have to remove the rotor and caliper. If you can find studs and nuts locally this will help with the repair. Use a hammer and punch to knock out the broken studs. Then insert the new new studs into the hole. Use the a extra nut to suck up the stud, then use a bigger nut that slip over the stud as a spacer to pull the stud into better position, no need to torque at this point, just good and snug. After you have done this to all 6 studs. Put rotor back on, the caliper back on, then the rim. Torque up the nuts then back them off, retorque them and all should be good. You may want to have a second person on the brakes at this point to hold the tire in spot when torque it up. Good luck, Robbie


You may want to inspect the rim really well to make sure the holes are not hurt. You have a hub sentric and it will be import that the holes are not destorted.

 

[MaddBaggins]

I never thought about trying to punch out the old studs with the hub on. When I did mine it looked to be more difficult that way, so I removed the hub. Of course that was in my driveway, not stuck on the side of the road. IIRC there was something that made me believe that it wouldn't work on the rig.

 

[powderpig]

You may have to rotate the hub to not interfer with some parking brake componets, but the stock studs will go right in and pull up easy. I have never removed a rear hub to install broken studs. chock the wheels good(so the truck will not move), put the t-case in neutral, and the hub will rotate easly. later Robbie

 

[MaddBaggins]

Thanks Robbie!

 

[Walking Eagle]

sure, now you tell me!

Actually when I got to that point, I thought about just wacking out the studs, but I was worried that the length of the new studs would be too long to get in from behind, not that that makes sense.

turns out my bearings really needed some grease anyway.

my rotor now has a slight flat spot, had to smooth the edges a bit, not a permanant fix, but it got me the 8 miles home. The holes that go over the studs are wallowed out

The wheel is toast, all the holes are now ovals. Gonna need to do some tire and rim swap'n.

Thanks all for the help - course it was also nice my brother was ony a cell call away.

As far as if this is a roadside repair or not, I wouldn't hessitate to do it again (though I hope never to). I think part of it depends on what kind of roadside you're talking about. Two lane, country road, only 1 mile from stopsign to stopsign, not alot of traffic, and off in the ditch 5-7 feet so I wasn't right on the side. If I was on the side of a 4 lane super hwy with traffic go'n 75mph 6" away from me, I'd probably have ponied up for a flatbed.

 

[MaddBaggins]

Glad you got it figured out. Sorry about the wheel, but at least you didn't wreck or get hurt.

 

[Walking Eagle]

Glad you got it figured out. Sorry about the wheel, but at least you didn't wreck or get hurt.

Very True. A friend asked if I was scared, and actually, it wasn't that tramatic an event, at least not thinking inside the truck. Didn't do any wierd motions, just stayed straight and stoped totally under control. The part that scared me, was seeing that 35" tire bouncing down the opposite ditch at 50mph 3ft+ in the air. I'm just happy no one was coming the other direction, as a flying tire could end a life.

 

[mainemike]

so... how does this catastrophic wheel stud failure occur? Do you think they weakened over time, or had you lost/cracked a few and didn't realize it? Or was there a difficult trail in the recent past that lead up to this?

 

[Montana Cruiser]

so... how does this catastrophic wheel stud failure occur? Do you think they weakened over time, or had you lost/cracked a few and didn't realize it? Or was there a difficult trail in the recent past that lead up to this?

Exactly what I was just going to ask? I can't see how this could happen unless the lug nuts had been loose for some time possibly?

 

[ashooter]

No kidding. I want to know HOW/WHY that thing came off??? Glad nobody got hurt, but this is one of those stories that makes you think, "What if it happened to me?"

 

[Walking Eagle]

so... how does this catastrophic wheel stud failure occur? Do you think they weakened over time, or had you lost/cracked a few and didn't realize it? Or was there a difficult trail in the recent past that lead up to this?

Exactly what I was just going to ask? I can't see how this could happen unless the lug nuts had been loose for some time possibly?

No kidding. I want to know HOW/WHY that thing came off??? Glad nobody got hurt, but this is one of those stories that makes you think, "What if it happened to me?"

Well, unfortunately there is a pretty clear cause. Stupidity.

Last weekend I picked up a '94 Crusier to part out (with lockers!). I'm still running stock gears, and the crusier I was picking up had some cut tires. So, I borrowed a set of tires from a friend, origonally intending to use them to make the crusier roll. Then I had a bolt of lightning - if I put his tires on (265/75R16's) I'd have much better gearing than my 35's, and be a little lower. Worked out great for towing. Was especially glad since my 7" drop hitch was just enough to make the trailer level.

Once home is where things went bad I believe. I still had one flat on the wrecked truck, which wasn't bad for getting it up on the trailer since we used a fork lift, but it was gonna be a problem getting it off. So, I needed to put on one of the tires that was on my Lexus on the cruiser, and swap all my 35's back on the Lexus. Without making it any more long winded, I had difficulty changing the tire on the truck on the trailer, and in my frustation and rush, I think I forgot to come back and check my lugnuts.

So, to follow up that stupidity with more stupidity, I felt something was not right Sunday, something felt loose, especially when coming to a stop, and it felt like it was in the front, so I double checked that nothing was loose - on the fronts. Didn't think to check the rears.

Pretty dumb huh? I'm thouroughly disgusted with myself. One of those things I usually double and tripple check out of fear of just such an event happening, I didn't do, and I paid the price. Fortunatlely, it's likely the cheapest price for such a mistake as no one was hurt. Biggest damage really is my pride - I feel pretty stupid about the whole thing.

 

[MaddBaggins]

A lot of times lug failure is due to overtorque and stressing them. For example, when the guys at the local tire shop go to town on your wheels with an impact wrench and torque your alloy rims to 120ftlbs. Thats way to much torque on alloys. Lugs stretch a bit when torqued, their designed that way. When they get overtorqued, they stretch to much and begin to fail.

I know from experience not to let the tire shop use their air impact. I didn't lose a tire, but did lose 5 out of 12 rear lugs last year.