Wheel Studs

[MMiller]

I have had enough, today I lost the left rear tire towing a trailer, it happened a few years ago too. I changed rims after the last time and the loosening lug nuts went away. I thought the problem was gone until today.

I want to upgrade to a longer wheel stud, that is 9/16" instead of stock 1/2 inch. The stock deminsions are 1/2" diameter, total length of 2 1/8" and the shoulder is 13/16", and the diameter is .658".

Has anyone upgraded this, or have a stud book that would give me another part number? I would do the research but am still trying to get my house built, and I've got too much going on. Any help would be great. Thanks

Michael

[RumbleFish]

Micheal I will look thru the Dorman book tonight at work. I know I've seen other guys talking about doing this, but can't remember where to find a part #. I'll let you know what I find out.

[PToombs]

Michael, sorry to hear about the problem. Hope you're ok?
Do you torque the wheels, or just tighten them? After I found out that you can warp drums and rotors by just tightening, I torque them all now. I may not torque them to spec, but they are all even. I wonder if uneven tighening caused it to loosen up?

[Richie O]

I have had trouble in the past with aluminum rims getting loose. That was with my old 6 lug chevy. My 89 with alum. rims have never loosened up. Don't know why. Maybe it was the kid I saw running down the road with a 4 way lug wrench??????????

[MMiller]

Everyone is fine, and no damage, except for a couple broken studs and the rim holes are a little buggered up. The rim is still usable. Somehow the tire/rim left the truck without hitting any sheetmetal, and no innocent bystanders. I was more embarrased and upset then anything. I heard a growling noise, and should have know better. Its done now, I limped it home on 6 studs and hauled home a 5020 ditch witch.

I'd like to figure out how to upgrade the rear studs. Later this year I'm going with new rotors, and rebuild the front end with all new bearings, and at that time I'd like to go to 9/16 studs up front too.

Any help would be appreciated.

Michael

[RumbleFish]

this is what I came up with for the rear. if you have an oreilly's around i know we can get these studs for sure, but i know advance carries dorman stuff as well. the number for the rear is 610-389. the knurl is slightly larger in diameter, but i doubt .008" will pose too much of a problem. here is how they compare-

stock (pn 610-348 if anybody was wondering): 1/2"-20 thread, .658" knurl (the splined part), overall length of 2 1/8", and a shoulder of 13/16".

the one you are looking for is 9/18"-18 thread, .666" knurl, 2 5"16" in length, and a 13/16" shoulder.

[RumbleFish]

here is what you need when you get around to the front. according to the computer, which has been wrong before, there are two possible studs for the 4500lb axle. one has a knurl diameter of .723", and the other is .651". if you have the larger diameter you are out of luck as far as the dorman book goes. assuming you have the smaller of the two, since others have upgraded to 9/16" studs before, you are looking for dorman pn 610-283. here is how they compare:

stock (pn 610-363) has a 1/2"-20 thread, a .651" knurl, 2 11/32" length, and a shoulder of 15/16".

the larger stud (610-283) has a 9/16"-18 thread, .650" knurl, 2 17/32" length, and a shoulder of 15/16".

again, the knurl isn't spot on, but a difference of .001" is negligible imo. i haven't seen what the other guys are using, but these are the best i can come up with from the dorman catalog. hope this helps!

[MMiller]

Thanks for the info, I do have an oriellys near by. On the front end, do you remember what the part number for the hub was? I went to order new rotors the other day, and found out there is two different rotors, hubs, and studs. The part numbers for the hubs seemed to be the deciding factor. One hub had a part number that starter 10XXX, and the other started 9XXX. My particular truck has the 10XXX number. Does this tell you which studs I have in the front?

I will be ordering studs for the rear, so I can work on my truck soon.

Michael

[burnt_servo]

is it possble your overloading the studs and causing them to stretch , thus allowing the wheel nut to back off ?

just a thought

[RumbleFish]

http://www.turbodieselregister.com/user ... 41&width=0

i doubt he had it overloaded with a lil' ole ditch witch. i lost a wheel on my ramcharger once. it got 8 lug axles soon after and i never had another problem. i gotta return the dorman book tonight, ill check out the hub differences while im there.

[MMiller]

At the time the trailer was empty. I am sure its a combonation of aluminium wheels, heavy trailers, and the fact that the truck is making much more power then it was stock. I ordered the above studs, and will be ordering new lug nuts soon too. Does anybody happen to know where to get the extra long lug nuts, like the 80-90's fords needed to clear their extra long studs?

Nice touch dragging one of my pics over here from the TDR. I need to get a better pic with both of my toy dodges on the trailer again.

[RumbleFish]

i looked up the rotors for your truck, and it gave no dimension on teh holes size. i went ahead an ordered one in so i can measure it myself, it will be here this weekend. stay tuned. ill see what i can come up with as far as lug nuts go. are you using the stock style tapered seat? about how long are you wanting?

[MMiller]

Yes, they are stock style tapered lug nuts. I just thought it would look good to find some of the xtra deep chrome nuts. I've not had any time to look anything up. If you look up an 88 ford 250, they usually have really long studs, so dual wheels can be installed if the axle was in a 350. To put on chrome lug nuts, there are special extra deep lug nuts.

Michael

[greasemonkey]

I fixed my rear lug nuts (and grenaded ring/pinion) with a 2nd gen diff/axle swap. but I ended up using the wheels from my 2nd gen which are for the 9/16 studs since the 1st gen wheels wouldn't fit the 2nd gen rear...

so now on the front wheels the center of the wheel doesn't give a tight fit over the hub and it's not centered on the lugs, only thing keeping it in place is the acorn lug nuts, not real excited about that so I'd like to go to larger studs up front if I can.

[MMiller]

FWIW, I've never had a set of aftermarket rims that fit snuggly on the hub, only the lug nuts held them tight. Niether steel or aluminum rims. Thats how the fancy chrome center caps can fit between the rim and the hub.

*I* believe that the major problem I keep having is the studs stock are pretty short for the extra thickness of an aluminum rim, they are only 1/2"diameter, the truck is making alot of extra power and torque compaired to stock, and I neglected to check them after having all the tires off for balance. I had a set of rims that were very bad about coming loose, I went away from those to another set and the problem went away for about 150,000 miles. These new rims I have had ran a considerable time from last November with no problems. In fact it has been several weeks of towing, rough use, and such since the tires were balanced. I'm not worried about the studs supporting the weight of the vehicle. If this was a problem everyone with aftermarket rims on thier trucks would be having problems.

I have the new studs in my possetion, and new lug nuts. I may try today to get them installed. I've not had any new information on the front studs yet.

Michael