Wheel studs

[jrosbo]

I started to work on my M49 today and the first thing I need to do is get the wheels off so I can Get the tires fixed or replaced so I can roll it around. After 4 hours of heating, pulling,oiling, jumping, impact wrenching, and cheater bars I managed to get my first tire off. Any body got any other ideas on how to break those nuts loose? I have an one inch impact and all I managed to do with that is break off two wheel studs and strip a third. Now I have to replace those wheel studs and I would rather just do one side than two. Anybody ever replaced wheel studs and how big of a job is it, any hints? Ideas welcomed!

 

[Boatcarpenter]

Don't know if this has been part of the problem, but maybe this thread will help.
http://69.6.236.165/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=1612

 

[wallew]

I concur with Boatcarpenter. Those puppies should just come right off. UNLESS you are turning them the opposite direction, which will cause the problems you discussed. Especially the 'breaking studs' part.

Make sure you are turning them the correct way.

GOOD LUCK! I'm going to hopefully have a go at mine tomorrow (Saturday)!

jim

 

[Dieselsmoke]

Might have to soak the hell out of them with penetrating oil, might take several days, who knows how long they've been sitting there rusting themselves into place. I know my 5 ton tractor had so much paint on the threads that I had to take the needle scaler and chip the paint off all the threads before any of them would come off.

 

[rdixiemiller]

If there is a bunch of paint on the threads, you may need to take a wire brush on a drill and clean them up. I have taken a torch and burned off the paint, then soaked them down with Liquid Wrench.
If you are good with a torch, you can wash the nut off without damaging the wheel. Try to split the nut down just to the wheel. then use a big cold chisel and a 3# hammer and split the nut off.
I am assuming you are fighting with the rears?
I am also assuming you have verified that you are trying to turn the nuts the right direction. If it won't move one way, try the other. Someone may have the hubs on the wrong side of the truck. I usually just look for the "L" on the nut, but the right side of the truck should have left hand threads, the left side has right hand threads

 

[jrosbo]

Wonderful!!! The studs that I broke happen to be on the left side of the truck. It didn't care which way I turned them, they refused to move, so I broke out the big tools we use on the dozers and such and concentrated on spinning them the wrong direction (which I just found out ). Hopefully the right side will work out better (and the threads will be right). There is no paint left on them and I used a full can of PB blaster on them as well as some deep creep along with a torch. I guess the good thing that come out of this is I learned a lesson. You know in my 18+ years of being around big trucks I never knew this, every time I had to have a tire changed it was always on the road somewhere and a tire shop had to come out and fix it and I never paid attention. I am going to go out and check the dump truck tommorrow. Question is this only on the front or do the rears apply too? Any hints on stud replacement. Thanks for the advice I am going to go beat my head against the wall now.

 

[cranetruck]

The way I remember it is that the right side of the truck has "right" (=normal) threads.

 

[clinto]

Question is this only on the front or do the rears apply too?

Front and rears should be the same, assuming no one has swapped studs/hubs in 40+ years........don't know about big trucks, but on Mopars (pre-1970), the left hand threaded studs have an "L" stamped on the end of the stud.

 

[rdixiemiller]

Bjorn- Are you sure about the threads? The nut is supposed to tighten as the wheel rolls forward. My truck has RH threads on the Left side, LH threads on the Right. This was especially true on cars with the center "knock off" hubs. Towing one rear wheels up (car backwards) could run off a wheel. Been there, done that, felt like an idiot.
Replacing studs is not too hard. You can punch out the broken piece with an air hammer. Either press or drive in the new studs. A block of oak to support the hub while driving the stud down tight is helpful.

 

[cranetruck]

Robert, that's the way my truck came from the USMC and the same goes for my son's M37... Guess we need to check the manuals.

Image below from the TM 9-2320-209-10.
The left side (driver's side) on the M43 in our yard also have the studs marked "L".

 

[rdixiemiller]

I just checked mine again, the fronts are reversed from the rears. The rears are LH thread on the right side, RH thread on the left. The fronts are wrong, someone must have mixed up the hubs when they worked on the front end.
So, I was wrong about the studs, sorry!
I still look for the L on the stud. The lug nuts on mine also have an L stamped on the LH thead ones.

 

[gringeltaube]

right or wrong?

 

[da_sgt]

I'm with you gringeltaube , sounds a bit confusing But the answer is......Right hand thread right side(passenger side), left hand thread left side(driver), that goes for both front and rear.

 

[MATT]

Do you guys torque the lug nuts to a certain foot lb rating? I always have just hammered them on!?!

 

[cranetruck]

"Hammered them on" begs for a response.
Hammered like in impact wrench, yes and finish with manual lug nut wrench. The final torque should be 325-350 lb-ft for the deuce.
Putting your full weight on the lugnut wrench bar will give you something close to desired torque. Kind'a like a confidence check after the impact.
The torque can only be measured while the nut is still turning. (Thought I'd toss that in for effect)

 

[Polverone]

The torque can only be measured while the nut is still turning.

Ya mean the nut turning the wrench? Sorry, I couldn't resist.

 

[cranetruck]

 

[jrosbo]

Well you guys were right, I put the big cheater bar on the nuts and turned them in the right direction this time and they spun right off. AMAZING! I then took a couple of nuts over to the bench grinder and put them on the wire wheel and shined them up and they have the words LEFT and RIGHT stamped on them with arrows pointing in the direction they spin. The wheel studs were easy to replace. I took the brake drums off and took my 5lbs. sledge and gave the bad studs a good firm wack and they came right out first hit, all of them. I had one new stud from somewhere put it in the hole and used the nut and impact wrench to reseat the new stud with out having to take the hub off (yea haw). Buy this time tommorrow I will have two more new studs and the wheels back on so next weekend I can get it in the shop and start dismantaling it for a major rebuild and restore. Maybe some pictures even. Thanks for all the advice.

 

[Polverone]

Not that I need them, (hah! yet anyway) and for the sake of conversation, are the lugs and lug nuts available at a truck dealer or NAPA?

ie: universal size/type?

Just in case these ever get boogered up.

 

[Recovry4x4]

Jrosbo, keep this in the back of your mind or put a tag in the truck, those lug nuts will need to be tightened several times. Anytime you pull a stud in rather than press it in you can't quite get it seated all the way, something to do with the stud stretch. Do this and you'll be set. I speak from painful experience on this one, I was warned once and failed to heed the warning.