Light coat/grease on hub studs?

[rocknrobb]

Is it a good idea or not to coat a little grease on the hub studs to help reduce rust? I'm thinking not but thought I would ask..thanks

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Light coat/grease on hub studs?

it also increases the chance the lug nut will back off. just settled a situation, where, i was having new tires installed. the studs had some rust. the kid that mounted the tires on the trailer put a little grease on the studs, to make it easier. 400 miles down I-95 i got a 10 second roar, and the tire passes me, at 65 mph. luckly, it did not hit anyone. but the cost for the over nite stay, wrecker and new under carriage on the trailer was over $1,000. the tire store finally took responsibility. use never seize on your bolts. and keep a 4 way lug wrench in the tow vehicle.

 

[rocknrobb]

Re: Light coat/grease on hub studs?

Thanks Tashasdaddy for the fast reply! Sorry to hear about your misfortune but glad to see you got resolve. I thought I would save some time and pull the tires off myself and take with me to work and have them changed at lunch time. Noticed the rust on the studs and just thought what if.....well now I know what if I did! I'll just clean them up and put on some never seize as recommended.

 

[Pascal]

Re: Light coat/grease on hub studs?

The topic of thread lube is one of the most misunderstood and ignored of all vehicle maintenance areas.

A standard bolt has only 3 factors that contribute to it?s staying tight at the spec torque ? that of rated bolt stretch or elasticity, thread friction and friction between the flat of the nut as it rotates in contact with the material surface . Bolts will only stretch so far before they loose their ability to stay tight and when you lube the threads and the nut face in ways that the original tightening specification did not allow for, the effect of the thread friction component of tightening torque lessens and leaves a greater burden for holding the joint tight on the now reduced tensile strength of the over stretched bolt because the reduced thread friction has allowed the bolt/nut rotation to stretch the bolt beyond its normal strength limit.

In the case of a wheel stud/conical nut assembly, there are 2 differences from a standard bolt/nut arrangement. First, the steel wheel rim has some spring to it at the point where the conical wheel nuts are positioned and second, the conical nut increases the effective friction through contact with the wheel surface.

By adding lubrication, especially grease or anti-seize compound, you are reducing the friction at the threads and at the conical nut surface.

The net result to an improperly lubricated wheel stud/conical nut is an over stretched wheel bolt with less mechanical friction to maintain wheel attachment. Another effect of over tightened conical wheel nuts is to distort the conical hole in the rim to also affect wheel retention.

Bottom line for wheel stud lubrication ? DON?T do it. If there is a problem or concern about rusting and seizure, treat it like a regular wheel bearing inspection (without the grease).

Remove, clean the threads on a wire wheel (if necessary) and reinstall to the correct torque at the beginning and end of each trailering season (and in between if necessary) and leave the oil, grease or anti-seize ? even WD40 - in the can when you are working on them as the net difference in keeping the wheel on your vehicle between all the products is minor.

 

[Mark42]

Re: Light coat/grease on hub studs?

I agree with everything Pascal wrote about nuts/bolts, friction and lubrication. But even though those are the facts, I still lightly lube all the lug nuts/bolts on my trailers.

Why? Because if I didn't, after one season they would be so rusted on from salt water exposure that they will not come off.

I am careful to tighten, but not over tighten and over lube the fasteners. Also it pays to check for lose lugs after 10 minutes or so of driving after installing a wheel.

To that end, I have never had a wheel or single fastener come loose. Ever.

And I want to add that lubricating fasteners is your choice and you need to know that some people have problems with lubricated fasteners loosening.

Just sharing my experience.

BTW, I also lube the lugs on all my cars since I was able to drive. Both steel and alloy wheels. Never had a loosening issue there either.

 

[Pascal]

Re: Light coat/grease on hub studs?

Thanks Mark...

The encouraging direction in your comment is the word 'lightly'. While the word is on the subjective side, I believe it has to speak to your mechanical sense and experience.

I know that people do the lube on the lug bolt thing all the time just like people use screwdrivers for pry bars (even if it is one kept only for that purpose :0 ). Salt water dipping is a consideration that I don't have to worry about at my land locked location. Judicious application of oil is a common short cut to other methods of rust/seizure prevention.

Rechecking the wheel nut torque/tightness after a wheel installation and/or before every trip is a practice lost on many who trailer a boat or RV.

The point is that the newbe or someone with less experience than they think they have needs to dampen some of their oilcan enthusiasim. A little will go a lot further than they ever thought it would!!! There is the consideration of unintended consequences...........

How many people know what the wheel nut torque spec for the unit is let alone how to "ball park" their wheel nut tightneess when they don't have a torque wrench???

I agree with everything Pascal wrote about nuts/bolts, friction and lubrication. But even though those are the facts, I still lightly lube all the lug nuts/bolts on my trailers.

Why? Because if I didn't, after one season they would be so rusted on from salt water exposure that they will not come off.

I am careful to tighten, but not over tighten and over lube the fasteners. Also it pays to check for lose lugs after 10 minutes or so of driving after installing a wheel.

To that end, I have never had a wheel or single fastener come loose. Ever.

And I want to add that lubricating fasteners is your choice and you need to know that some people have problems with lubricated fasteners loosening.

Just sharing my experience.

BTW, I also lube the lugs on all my cars since I was able to drive. Both steel and alloy wheels. Never had a loosening issue there either.

 

[Willyclay]

Re: Light coat/grease on hub studs?

Last week I was helping my neighbor get his boat ready for the July 4th holiday with his kids and grandkids. He replied "No" when I asked him if he ever removed his trailer wheels during the previous four seasons of saltwater boating! We managed to get the lug nuts off one hub but broke the first try on the other hub and stopped. We will resume next week. I am believer in grease on the lugs and frequent retorquing. Only had one bad experience with my approach in 30plus years of trailer boating, mostly in saltwater, and that was due to my failure to tighten lugs after servicing the bearings. Did not lose a wheel and/or suffer trailer damage like TD, but it got my attention during the first 50 miles of a 350 mile trip. Noticed an odd angle to the wheel in my side mirror and stopped to check it out. Felt really stupid!