One of my tires went flat yesterday and in the process of removing it, two lug nuts were found to be cross-threaded. One of them caused the stud to break, while the other actually spun the wheel stud, making it so that the wheel could not be removed from the car. I limped the car home and then went to town to resolve the issue.
Parts used:
UPDATE 11/26/12: The replacement parts from Autozone appear to be of inferior strength. Just the other day I had one of the new studs snap when I was torquing it down to make sure the splines were properly seated. I'll be buying a stock of OEM replacements online (about $43 shipped for a set of 5 studs and wheel nuts at mitsubishiparts.com)
2 new studs ($1.99 each from Autozone)
2 new lug nuts ($2.99 each from Autozone)
I took some pix along the way for your perusal...
1. The first issue that needed to be solved was removing the wheel, which was complicated by the fact that one of the studs had come loose. I removed all the other lug nuts and then lowered the car onto the wheel to immobilize the stud, but it wasn't enough to allow me to back off the lug nut. After some quick googling, I found that drilling the stud would be required. I used a 3/8" metal drill bit I bought at Lowe's for around $12. I'd recommend going with 7/16" or even 1/2" next time around, since the 3/8" was a little small. I also taped off the area around the offending area to minimize damage to the wheel.
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2. Once I had the wheel off, I was able to pull out the loose stud from the back and I hammered the broken stud out. I found the best way to get them out is to rotate the hub assembly so that the offending stud is toward the front of the car and then grab them from the back through the gap between the hub and the brake caliper.
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3. I tried to fit the new studs from the rear, but they wouldn't go in due to the angle. I had to unbolt the brake caliper (2 19mm bolts) and move the it off to the side, being sure to support its weight. I found that the hardline was flexible enough to handle this without having to unbolt anything else. Once the caliper is out of the way, remove the brake rotor.
4. Once the rotor was off, I was able to insert the new studs from the back. Luckily my friendly neighborhood Autozone had these parts in stock.
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5. At this point the new studs were loose in their spots. I used a large nut as a spacer and then slowly tightened down a lug nut on the stud (with wheel and rotor still off) until it was nice and snug in the hub
6. Re-assemble and done.
Here's some other in-progress pics showing off my super awesome 4" spacer and the getto style jackstand I used...
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Parts used:
UPDATE 11/26/12: The replacement parts from Autozone appear to be of inferior strength. Just the other day I had one of the new studs snap when I was torquing it down to make sure the splines were properly seated. I'll be buying a stock of OEM replacements online (about $43 shipped for a set of 5 studs and wheel nuts at mitsubishiparts.com)
2 new studs ($1.99 each from Autozone)
2 new lug nuts ($2.99 each from Autozone)
I took some pix along the way for your perusal...
1. The first issue that needed to be solved was removing the wheel, which was complicated by the fact that one of the studs had come loose. I removed all the other lug nuts and then lowered the car onto the wheel to immobilize the stud, but it wasn't enough to allow me to back off the lug nut. After some quick googling, I found that drilling the stud would be required. I used a 3/8" metal drill bit I bought at Lowe's for around $12. I'd recommend going with 7/16" or even 1/2" next time around, since the 3/8" was a little small. I also taped off the area around the offending area to minimize damage to the wheel.
2. Once I had the wheel off, I was able to pull out the loose stud from the back and I hammered the broken stud out. I found the best way to get them out is to rotate the hub assembly so that the offending stud is toward the front of the car and then grab them from the back through the gap between the hub and the brake caliper.
3. I tried to fit the new studs from the rear, but they wouldn't go in due to the angle. I had to unbolt the brake caliper (2 19mm bolts) and move the it off to the side, being sure to support its weight. I found that the hardline was flexible enough to handle this without having to unbolt anything else. Once the caliper is out of the way, remove the brake rotor.
4. Once the rotor was off, I was able to insert the new studs from the back. Luckily my friendly neighborhood Autozone had these parts in stock.
5. At this point the new studs were loose in their spots. I used a large nut as a spacer and then slowly tightened down a lug nut on the stud (with wheel and rotor still off) until it was nice and snug in the hub
6. Re-assemble and done.
Here's some other in-progress pics showing off my super awesome 4" spacer and the getto style jackstand I used...
