Stovebolt.com Forums The Shop Area Driveline what bolts can I use for replacement lug studs?

My 1957 Panel needs broken lug studs replaced on both front wheels. I'm not restoring it to original. Are there generic grade bolts that I can pick up from Home Depot or Lowe's to use as replacements?

Thanks!

It's easy but Home Depot is not the place to go. Most flaps/Napa have the studs. Probably 7/16-20. At the length you need. On the bench, press or knock out the old and install the new. Search and read 6-8 different blogs/how-to's. Use a bunch of washers and a backward lug nut to draw the stud in.

Don't listen to folks saying that method won't work. The Internet has it done with washers and backward nut on Hemmings, Autozone, and a billion other places. Millions of lug bolt changes with NO problem. Pressing them in is also a good way. Pressing them out and pressing them in, has to be done with proper, strong, backing.

If you choose to pull lug studs in with a nut, call your insurance agent and beef up your life insurance. Also add a pretty good rider to your liability policy, in case you survive the accident you cause when the wheel comes off, but it runs over a few pedestrians. People with a few brain cells to rub together use a press.
Jerry

This is where engineers are helpful. To calm your fears of folks with myth theories. Sometimes their "common sense" is nonsense.

Train drivers- - - - -who would have guessed?
LOL!

I'll add that I've broken plenty of studs using the washer method. Even with plenty of lube. ESPECIALLY with an impact. Maybe, just maybe, if done by hand wrench you'll be okay. But I have even broken heavy truck studs that way. My travel truck had one of the tool box drawers dedicated for studs and lugs just for this reason.

The preferred method is with a press. Second best is with a beater. Beat on it until you hear the tone change.

Regular bolts are a no-go. They aren't designed for wheel stud service. Studs are designed with serrations on the shank to fit snugly in their hole.

My office about 15 years ago.

Eureka!! I can do this!!

https://youtu.be/fE49dH3_aVE

Youtube sure makes it look easy. My studs were swaged in and did not come out quite so easy. I would guess it was 20X more difficult to get my studs out than that youtube video showed. After removing my studs, I attempted to use that very same tool from Lisle. I still broke a stud. I had them pressed in. I think they were just a couple thousandths too big for that tool to do it smoothly. The tool worked great on another vehicle however. Be prepared for your studs to not pop out like the video. I think maybe that was staged for the filming.

I learned a long time ago that it's never as easy as on TV!

I still remember doing my first (and only) A arm bushings. They needed to be pressed in, and I learned that the hard way.

The ARP studs are made of steel with 190,000 psi tensile strength. The 7/16 shank will then be about 28,000 psi tensile strength. The threads would be about 10,000 psi tensile.

First of all we were taught NEVER to jerk or hammer on a wrench to tighten a nut. Never make a series of quick cranks on a socket wrench handle while tightening. This will snap the fastener. An impact wrench does exactly that. An impact wrench is really for loosening a bolt. Some of us DO NOT have an impact wrench with an adjustable torque setting. All we know is the box in comes in says the max torque is 250 ft lbs or 1000 ft lbs!!!! If you are using an impact to tighten a nut, or in this case, installing a stud, you are rubbing too many brain cells together. Some folks who are busting their studs are riding the impact trigger until she goes flush...and beyond.

A person may not have the correct size serration diameter for an already used hole.
As I said, pressing in is a good way. Not always possible. Not always wanting to pay a shop. If it breaks try another one. The luxury here is the drum comes off for good bench access. Hammer them in if you want. Click [youtube.com]

Many actual mechanics use the draw in method on the rear and FWD.