Hello,

I broke one of my wheel lug studs after changing brakes. I see the instructions are pretty simple, but the post mentions that one needs an air wrench to properly pull the lug stud into the wheel hub. I do not have one, so wondering if anyone has done this without an air wrench.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-...with-pics.html

Thanks
Rakesh

 

The air wrench allows you to pull in the new stud without having to lock down the wheel bearing hub. Take a look at the picture below, you will need a cheater-bar to keep the wheel hub from turning while you torque down and pull in the new stub. You will also need an open-ended lug nut.

 

I replaced my brakes and wheel hub recently. The wheel studs can easily be pounded out with a hammer. There are small splines on the stud that fit in small grooves in the hub. In other words it is a friction fit only. The only thing that would complicate this job is corrosion. Several of mine came out accidentally during the hub replacement and I simply put them back in the hub, put the rotor back on and tightened the lug nuts until the studs seated (partially?). When I retorqued the wheel back on when it was on the ground I assume it seated the studs properly as I have had no adverse effects.

 

Easiest way to seat the new stud is to use a open ended lug nut and keep tightening it till you seat it. I use a air gun but I'm sure you could do it with a breaker bar with enough force.

 

If you don't have one of these, i would highly suggest picking one up, it will reduce the effort needed substantially: I have air tools, but i still install my studs by hand with it




It's simply called a "lug stud installer" and I just picked mine up at a local autoparts store for less than $20. It is basically a bearing which allows the outer cone shaped surface to rotate separate from the bottom half which will be contacting the hub. It lets the lug nut spin free while it pulls the stud through, as opposed to it grinding against the hub.

May seem silly, but if you do your own work like you are doing, it will come in handy again someday later.

Another thing that may help is to put the stud in the freezer overnight before installing it. causes the metal to contract and in theory, should help it slide in.

 

Thanks for posting this, I had no idea anything like that existed. I think ill grab one off amazon just to have around for future needs.

 

the pounding out and air gunning back in studs can lead to premature wear or outright failure.

I'll be installing some longer studs to fit a spacer for my new wheels and will be using a harbor freight ball joint puller to press the old studs out and the new ones in.

The reasoning I have heard is that pounding out studs puts uneven pressure on your wheel bearings and pulling them in with a gun stretches the metal/threads and puts more force on them than they are used to.

Read here. http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums...llation/remova

 

To each their own. When I said pound, it was really more of a hard tap. You don't need a huge amount of force to push them out - you could probably use a hard rubber mallet if needed. I guess it depends on the level of corrosion.

For putting them back in you can tell if they're fully seated by looking at the heads of the studs at the back of the hub. In my case I had to remove the rotor again for something else. I glanced at the hub bolts and they were all in flush with the hub.

Your point is duly noted though that we should be careful not to abuse the studs.

 

So I just put this to practice yesterday installing the new studs. With the pressing in you definitely have to be careful that they go in straight where I'd imagine you don't have to worry about that as much if you pull them in with lug nuts.

I also got a feeler gauge out to see if they were seated evenly all around and a few of them I was able to press them in that little extra bit to give me peace of mind.

Like you said, to each their own but after trying both methods I think I prefer this new way.