Driving with 4 out of 5 studs

dnifedem85

Seaman
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Sep 14, 2008
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I installed new chrome rims on my trailer last weekend and they look nice! Unfortunately I had to use so much force to get the old lug nuts off, that I snapped a stud off one of my hubs (even with tons of WD-40). I need to have the stud replaced, but it is 7 miles to the tire place. I have 4 of the 5 studs/lugs on the wheel, would that make it safe enough to drive the 7 miles, or will I have to take my wheel apart and bring only the hub in? Its easy enough to take the hub off, but I wanted to have some other work done to my trailer at the same time. Thanks for any opinions on how safe (or unsafe) driving with 4 of 5 studs would be.
 

Jeep Man

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Re: Driving with 4 out of 5 studs

For that distance with no load, you should have no problem. Needless to say, keep your speed in check.
 

Titanium48

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Re: Driving with 4 out of 5 studs

You should be fine for a short distance, especially with a single axle trailer where the lateral loads are smaller.

Funny related story: About 20 years ago my dad was driving down a gravel road when a rear wheel fell off our SUV. Turned out that a rim/lugnut style mismatch had allowed the nuts to loosen until they fell off and the wheel followed. Being about 50 km from civilization, well before the advent of the cell phone, we rounded up the wheel and did our best to get lug nuts borrowed from the other wheels (6-bolt) onto mangled studs. It made it to the tire shop that way, about 30 minutes before closing.
 

fishrdan

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Re: Driving with 4 out of 5 studs

Yeah, you should be fine with that short of a distance.

A co-worker had a snapped stud and kept driving on it, made comment to him about changing it, but he didn't think it was a big deal. Few weeks later another stud was gone and he still didn't think much of it,,, 3 out of 5 aint bad :eek: When he pulled into the parking lot and lost #3 he finally broke down and fixed it:rolleyes:
 

AZSenza

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Re: Driving with 4 out of 5 studs

Yeah, you should be fine with that short of a distance.

A co-worker had a snapped stud and kept driving on it, made comment to him about changing it, but he didn't think it was a big deal. Few weeks later another stud was gone and he still didn't think much of it,,, 3 out of 5 aint bad :eek: When he pulled into the parking lot and lost #3 he finally broke down and fixed it:rolleyes:

My son did that on his car, with 2 left he was on his way over for me to fix it when, yup, number 4 let go. Had to have him towed 5 miles to the casa. He had driven thousands of miles on 4 lug nuts but then they all started failing, LOTS of stress, front wheel of a front drive car.
 

Ram58

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Re: Driving with 4 out of 5 studs

You should be fine for a 7 mile trip.
 

kenmyfam

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Re: Driving with 4 out of 5 studs

No issue for a short trip. Make sure the remaining ones are tightened correctly though.
 

bruceb58

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Re: Driving with 4 out of 5 studs

A few years ago on my way from LA up to Lake Tahoe, I notice one stud broken off out of 5 studs. I thought the same thing that 4 would be plenty. I lost my wheel within one mile.

One caveat to my story. I torqued the lug nuts on after greasing them first . Did not realize that was a "no no" so I probably over torqued the nuts in the first place.
 

kenmyfam

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Re: Driving with 4 out of 5 studs

Must have been well over torqued to lose the wheel.
 

bruceb58

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Re: Driving with 4 out of 5 studs

It was a brand new Tie-Down disc setup with brand new studs. I used a torque wrench to set the proper torque but I bet the grease caused it to be too high for them.
 

dnifedem85

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Re: Driving with 4 out of 5 studs

Ohhh no! I sprayed WD-40 on all the studs and lugs! I thought I would make it easier on myself next time I took the wheel off. Looks like I will be removing all of the nuts and cleaning them before my short trip. Thanks for the tips.
 

bruceb58

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Re: Driving with 4 out of 5 studs

WD-40 is a pretty poor lubricant. Probably not a problem like what I did.
 

kenmyfam

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Re: Driving with 4 out of 5 studs

Ohhh no! I sprayed WD-40 on all the studs and lugs! I thought I would make it easier on myself next time I took the wheel off. Looks like I will be removing all of the nuts and cleaning them before my short trip. Thanks for the tips.
WD-40 will generally evaporate after a short while. No harm in re-doing though.
 

NYBo

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Re: Driving with 4 out of 5 studs

WD-40 is also lousy as a penetrating oil. Next, try PB Blaster or Liquid Wrench. Even better, use Kroil if you can find it.
 

Mark_VTfisherman

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Re: Driving with 4 out of 5 studs

.........I torqued the lug nuts on after greasing them first . Did not realize that was a "no no" so I probably over torqued the nuts in the first place.

Huh?:confused:

Here in the land of ice and snow they salt the roads to keep them clear. Everyone here - dealers, shadetrees, ME! grease the wheel studs to keep them removable and not rusted in place. I torque my wheel nuts and HAVE NEVER broken a wheel stud because of greasing them. I have never heard of such a thing. I have broken a number of wheel studs which were frozen in rust however.

If the pull of a wheel nut on lubed threads is that much more than the tension exerted on dry threads, then the design tolerance of the studs is way scary too low. The threads should probably strip long before the stud breaks in tension from those threads.

My thoughts...
 

lowkee

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Re: Driving with 4 out of 5 studs

Had an 88 F150 2WD with one broken stud on the front wheel for 5 years (until I got rid of it). Never once had an issue; drove it everywhere. I never accurately torque lugs, I just impact gun them until they almost come to a stop. I wouldn't know what the recommended torque even is.
 

AussomeA

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Re: Driving with 4 out of 5 studs

studs are ussually very easy to replace. as long as there is room to bang the studs into place on the back side of the wheel hub.

Just use a hammer and pound the old stud out, then take it to any car parts place (auto zone, advanced, smyth, whatever is near you) and ask for a replacement stud. Then, just pound the new stud in. If other studs look damaged, replace them while you're at it. They're only like $1-2 a piece and take literally less than a minute to replace.
 

bruceb58

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Re: Driving with 4 out of 5 studs

Huh?:confused:

I torque my wheel nuts and HAVE NEVER broken a wheel stud because of greasing them.
So...you use a torque wrench to tighten your lug nuts? I always do. Problem is that the torque ratings are designed for clean threads...not greased as I found out the hard way.
 

bruceb58

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Re: Driving with 4 out of 5 studs

Had an 88 F150 2WD with one broken stud on the front wheel for 5 years (until I got rid of it). Never once had an issue; drove it everywhere. I never accurately torque lugs, I just impact gun them until they almost come to a stop. I wouldn't know what the recommended torque even is.
I always torque my lugnuts to spec and ask shops that take wheels off of my car to do the same. Had some tires replaced on a truck of mine and they torqued then down with the impact wrench. Brakes pulsed like crazy. I got home and loosened and retorqued all the lugnuts. By tightening the nuts like that they had warped a rotor...fortunately, not permanently.
 

Mark_VTfisherman

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Re: Driving with 4 out of 5 studs

So...you use a torque wrench to tighten your lug nuts? I always do. Problem is that the torque ratings are designed for clean threads...not greased as I found out the hard way.

Yes, I most often hand-torque lug nuts with a torque wrench. Even the local GM dealer does that as policy to avoid warping rotors or leave anything to chance (read: liability) (they don't allow use of "torque sticks")

The "clean thread" torque deal is probably most relevant to head bolts and other applications where stretch and psi on a gasket makes a difference, or rod bolts and crank caps which perform a loaded task. Some head bolts are even one-time use items which are replaced if the engine is rebuilt or the head removed.

1] if greasing wheel studs causes them to break, there would be wheels littering the highways and byways here in the northeast, and towing companies celebrating all the way to the bank- constantly.

2] A single 10mm stud of the proper grade is rated at about 10,000psi. Not only that, SAE and other organizations publish dry and lubed torque specs you can use(if you really feel the need to do so). Generally, though, Grade 5 and Grade 8 lubed torque specs are about 75%-80% of dry specs. How many people actually look up the torque specs for their wheels?

3] While it is important not to over torque your lugs by a significant amount, it is probably MOST important that they be tightened in the correct pattern and to the same degree. I do "cheat" on my own vehicles I am familiar with: I weigh about 168#- on a 18" breaker bar my weight will way over-tighten a nut on a wheel. So I actually use an upward motion to tighten my wheels so I can gauge how much force I am actually applying.

4] If the lug studs on our vehicles are THAT close to tolerance where a 20% variance causes them to fail, I am sure the Lawyers Of The Land would be all over that with class action suets. I don't see that going on...
 
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