Bizarre wheel stud/lug nut problem!!!! Read if you have aftermarket wheels!
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Bizarre wheel stud/lug nut problem!!!! Read if you have aftermarket wheels!
Lug nuts: a no brainer, right? Not so, and I'm here to tell you! :p
Some of you may remember I had to buy a new wheel because I didn't tighten my lug nuts down enough, or thought I hadn't -- WRONG!!!
Two days ago, I started to get a creaking noise from my drivers side rear wheel, the opposite side from where the problem occured. It almost sounded like bad bearings. You could hear it whether you were rolling the truck, or just shook the wheel back and forth.
I jacked it up and started to take off the wheel -- but the lug nuts were on SO tight it was nearly impossible. For one, I had to stand on the wrench, and the stud SNAPPED! For one other, as I was taking it off the stud broke -- quietly in two.
So I'm looking at two broken studs, and all the nuts were hard to turn. Strange.
So, I'm thinking the morons at Ford overtightened them when they snugged them up after the last problem where they had to replace my damaged studs on the passenger side rear. I decided to take it in.
I explained my theory, and showed the manager my broken stud pieces and lug nuts and left them with him. He said they'd get on it.
What they found is this: the rear studs are so long my lug nuts weren't actually tightening down on the WHEEL, but the stud was bottoming out in the closed end, one piece chrome lug nut. It didn't happen in the front because the studs are much shorter. You can actually see where the stud dug into the top inside the lug nut on these.
Basically, the stock studs are VERY long in the back and if you get certain wheels, and have closed end lug nuts, this could happen. It just so happens that the lengths were such that the wheel was not loosy-goosy, so you'd know it was happening. It appeared to be tightened against the wheel, but wasn't really.
Furthermore: depending on which side of the vehicle it's on, the lugnuts have a tendency to either TIGHTEN or LOOSEN with the slight movement of the inadequately secured wheel. On the passengers side they loosen, on the driver side they TIGHTEN. So this is probably what caused my original loose lug nut problem on the passengers side, and has caused the drivers side to tighten excessively.
The good thing is that Ford's replacement studs are a full 1/8" shorter -- effectively eliminating the problem for me -- at the cost of having 5 more studs put in. The passengers side, which just had new studs put in, does not have this problem anymore.
So, I have them putting all 5 studs in new on the driver side rear. The remaining 3 studs that were there are actually BENT anyway. I have to give the techs at my local Ford dealer props for their detective work, and they showed me everything with the depth gauge and my lugs and all. They said 4 out of my 5 chrome lug nuts were reuseable, so I only have to replace one -- a small mercy.
Basically, I'm saying watch out with the M/T wheels which have steel inserts because they don't need -- and don't have -- much depth at the mounting whole between the lug nut and the brake drum. That would make them particularly sensitive to this problem.
It would be good to measure how much depth you need before ordering lug nuts! Had I done this simple thing, I would not have had these expenses!
Here's my original topic on the first problem: https://www.ranger-forums.com/forum2...ead.php?t=2440
Some of you may remember I had to buy a new wheel because I didn't tighten my lug nuts down enough, or thought I hadn't -- WRONG!!!
Two days ago, I started to get a creaking noise from my drivers side rear wheel, the opposite side from where the problem occured. It almost sounded like bad bearings. You could hear it whether you were rolling the truck, or just shook the wheel back and forth.
I jacked it up and started to take off the wheel -- but the lug nuts were on SO tight it was nearly impossible. For one, I had to stand on the wrench, and the stud SNAPPED! For one other, as I was taking it off the stud broke -- quietly in two.
So I'm looking at two broken studs, and all the nuts were hard to turn. Strange.
So, I'm thinking the morons at Ford overtightened them when they snugged them up after the last problem where they had to replace my damaged studs on the passenger side rear. I decided to take it in.
I explained my theory, and showed the manager my broken stud pieces and lug nuts and left them with him. He said they'd get on it.
What they found is this: the rear studs are so long my lug nuts weren't actually tightening down on the WHEEL, but the stud was bottoming out in the closed end, one piece chrome lug nut. It didn't happen in the front because the studs are much shorter. You can actually see where the stud dug into the top inside the lug nut on these.
Basically, the stock studs are VERY long in the back and if you get certain wheels, and have closed end lug nuts, this could happen. It just so happens that the lengths were such that the wheel was not loosy-goosy, so you'd know it was happening. It appeared to be tightened against the wheel, but wasn't really.
Furthermore: depending on which side of the vehicle it's on, the lugnuts have a tendency to either TIGHTEN or LOOSEN with the slight movement of the inadequately secured wheel. On the passengers side they loosen, on the driver side they TIGHTEN. So this is probably what caused my original loose lug nut problem on the passengers side, and has caused the drivers side to tighten excessively.
The good thing is that Ford's replacement studs are a full 1/8" shorter -- effectively eliminating the problem for me -- at the cost of having 5 more studs put in. The passengers side, which just had new studs put in, does not have this problem anymore.
So, I have them putting all 5 studs in new on the driver side rear. The remaining 3 studs that were there are actually BENT anyway. I have to give the techs at my local Ford dealer props for their detective work, and they showed me everything with the depth gauge and my lugs and all. They said 4 out of my 5 chrome lug nuts were reuseable, so I only have to replace one -- a small mercy.
Basically, I'm saying watch out with the M/T wheels which have steel inserts because they don't need -- and don't have -- much depth at the mounting whole between the lug nut and the brake drum. That would make them particularly sensitive to this problem.
It would be good to measure how much depth you need before ordering lug nuts! Had I done this simple thing, I would not have had these expenses!
Here's my original topic on the first problem: https://www.ranger-forums.com/forum2...ead.php?t=2440
Last edited by n3elz; 12-07-2004 at 08:07 PM.
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I bought longer closed end lug nuts when I put my American Racing wheels on, but I didnt buy the long ones for the reason that John stated. I had to get longer ones because my lug wrench wouldnt fit into the recessed holes that the lugs tightened into to reach the short lug nuts on my particular style of wheels.
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Just got it back and another problem was fixed by this: I was getting a bit of vibration on braking and that's gone as well. Must have been that rear wheel. They replaced the 5 studs on my left rear wheel, and chased the threads in one of the chrome lug nuts, leaving me with 4 usable ones. The 5th one was too damaged inside.
Total damages this time: $90.78 -- mostly labor. Even though it's the same repair basically as last time, it cost less. He said they felt like they could have caught it before (though I'm not sure why they would have looked for it), so they were charging me only for the stud replacement, not the "detective work".
So far, I'm quite happy with this dealer. I stil hate to spend the money though!
Total damages this time: $90.78 -- mostly labor. Even though it's the same repair basically as last time, it cost less. He said they felt like they could have caught it before (though I'm not sure why they would have looked for it), so they were charging me only for the stud replacement, not the "detective work".
So far, I'm quite happy with this dealer. I stil hate to spend the money though!
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I already did get THIS truck after trashing the LAST one! I don't know if I'm up for that experience again already, even for a 4x4! There was quite a bit of pain involved in the last time...
My wife's been a champ. Since much of this could in some senses be called "self inflicted", I was expecting some degree of complaining. Surprisingly enough she was actually sympathetic since she knows how much I hate making dumb mistakes.
Oh well, chalking it up to experience and being glad nothing worse happened seems to be the ticket.
My wife's been a champ. Since much of this could in some senses be called "self inflicted", I was expecting some degree of complaining. Surprisingly enough she was actually sympathetic since she knows how much I hate making dumb mistakes.
Oh well, chalking it up to experience and being glad nothing worse happened seems to be the ticket.
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Originally Posted by Swoop1156
John, VERY interesting and definately GOOD info! Gary [gbgary] I think is also running these wheels.
Makes me want to remember to measure the length of the studs on my kit for the Mustang vs. the new axle, and then the stock 15" vs. the new 17".
Makes me want to remember to measure the length of the studs on my kit for the Mustang vs. the new axle, and then the stock 15" vs. the new 17".
Gary has adapters on the rear, with shorter studs...
Adapters to push the wheel out. So he's good..
#17
Yes, I know this probably doesn't apply to very many people. The "perfect storm" of happening to buy lug nuts and wheels that have JUST THE RIGHT dimensions to cause this problem is probably not real likely -- so of course it happened to me, lol!
Still, despite the money spent, I'm grateful it wasn't worse and if this post saves one person from a catastrophic failure, I'm happy. If not, consider it entertainment at my expense, lol! :p
Still, despite the money spent, I'm grateful it wasn't worse and if this post saves one person from a catastrophic failure, I'm happy. If not, consider it entertainment at my expense, lol! :p
#18
You do have a point about dealers over-tightening lug nuts, though. I dropped my truck off when it was still under warranty to get the wheel bearings replaced, and a week later I went to rotate my tires. I had to use my 4+ foot floor jack handle to produce enough leverage to loosen them, and I have a 150ft-lb torque wrench that wouldn't do it.
I suggest if you drop your truck off at the dealer for something that requires removing the tires, take them off as soon as you can and re-torque before they settle in German torqued.
I suggest if you drop your truck off at the dealer for something that requires removing the tires, take them off as soon as you can and re-torque before they settle in German torqued.
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True, but I didn't have the time to do something like that. I was worried it was something worse, and I needed it done "quickly". I know it's not that hard, and I've certainly done harder things. It was just a matter of "expediency" in this case. You pay to play sometimes if you don't have a spare vehicle.
#21
Originally Posted by DownSouthTAS
You do have a point about dealers over-tightening lug nuts, though. I dropped my truck off when it was still under warranty to get the wheel bearings replaced, and a week later I went to rotate my tires. I had to use my 4+ foot floor jack handle to produce enough leverage to loosen them, and I have a 150ft-lb torque wrench that wouldn't do it.
I suggest if you drop your truck off at the dealer for something that requires removing the tires, take them off as soon as you can and re-torque before they settle in German torqued.
I suggest if you drop your truck off at the dealer for something that requires removing the tires, take them off as soon as you can and re-torque before they settle in German torqued.
i work at Costco in the Tire Center and i know that it is policy at all stores that we double torque the car before it leaves the shop. we have our guns on either 1 or 2 just to put the lugs on and then a Supervisor goes around and torques the lugs to whatever the manufacturer recommends, then another worker torques them again while the sup. is watching, to make sure that they are on there good.
again rangers are to be torqued to 100 pound feet of torque
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