Wheel studs breaking? WTF?

[AKswampheep]

WTF DO YOU CALL THIS CHIT...
LOL rant on - I drove the jeep to work this weekend, fine. Drove to Taco Hell yesterday and the trip there and back was a very enjoyable one, with not much noise, just the average jeep sounds.. well this morning i wake up for school and try to leave and all i get is, CLUNK CLUNK CLUNK.. i was like omfgwtfnow..

I bring the pyle back home, open up a wheel cover to find a beautiful slaughtering...

Sorry for the shaddy camera phone pics but its all i have..

1 tight lugnut
1 loose lugnut, all the way backed off..
3 broken studs w/lugs attached..

 

[CJ~Abuzer]

Looks to me like your lugnuts loosened up on you.


I have had it happen to me....definitly not fun...at least you didn't lose a wheel.

 

[AKswampheep]

Yeah ive had 2 rear left tires fall off and my freind had 2 rear lefts fall off on his Grand Cherokee with 32's..

This is the first time its ever happened on the front, but i tighten these well enough the first time and tighten them about 4-5 days later just to be safe, why is it doing this.. is it because the aluminum rims?

 

[CJ~Abuzer]

By the looks of it, you are running incorrect lug nuts. Instead of having a bevel at the base, it should have a sleeve that extends into the lug hole on the wheel....sorta like this

 

[Rocketman]

It's possible the wheel or the rotor wasn't seated well when you torqued them? Weight of the vehicle and moving around would cause everything to seat and your lugs would be loose after that.

Do that ol criss-cross pattern when tightening and get em to at least 105 pounds or so.

 

[87manche]

How are you tightening the lugnuts?
A torque wrench is your friend.
They should also be checked a few days later with alloy/aluminum wheels.

 

[Rocketman]

By the looks of it, you are running incorrect lug nuts. Instead of having a bevel at the base, it should have a sleeve that extends into the lug hole on the wheel....sorta like this

I don't use those extended shaft lugs. That would only be necessary if the studs do NOT extend out at least several threads past the wheel. Over-torqued studs that got really HOT from whelling style braking could fail perhaps? COULD be also the lugs are getting tight without actually being snug against the wheel. In otherwords, the stud is bottoming out in the lug.

 

[AKswampheep]

i tighten them pretty damn tight, with all my 130 lb ass..
i re-torque them 4-5 days or so after taking them off every time..
The lugnuts im using im pretty sure are the safeguard ones that come with that kit, but i dont know why i keep having this problem even though i tighten teh shit out of them.. im just wondering whats gonna happen when i have the radio cranked and im going down the highway..

Actually the first time it happened on my last jeep i pulled off on an exit, the jeeps ass end felt like it disappeared, and i watched my brand new 31" LTB's on brand new rims roll past me..

 

[Rocketman]

If this has happened to you on ANOTHER JEEP?? No offense but you're NOT doing something right. Wheel studs just don't break that easily. How are you replacing the studs and putting on your wheels? Walk me through a wheel or stud change.

 

[AKswampheep]

Well, the first one was a 87, D35.. New Outlaw II rims, 31x11.50 LTB's.. I really dont know how it happened.. pulled a freind out of a field and and after that heard a light clunking.. thought i fuggered up my gears in the rear.. drove down the highway after doing a quick lookover to see if i could spot the noise.. but no luck, so i pulled off the exit and slowed to about 30 mph and it started shaking real bad and wha lah the wheel goes rolling past me.. this was after tightening the new wheels as tight as i could get them after the first 150 miles of running them as it says in the paper that came with them.. same thing happened about 6 months later.. and now this morning it about did it again..

I changed the brakes about 600 miles ago and tightened the wheels about 100 miles after changing them... i dont know wtf is going on but its getting annoying.. i tighten them lets just say good enough..

 

[87manche]

this was after tightening the new wheels as tight as i could get them after the first 150 miles of running them as it says in the paper that came with them..

i tighten them lets just say good enough..

have you considered that if you over torque the lug nuts you'll stretch the stud, and when the stud stretches that the nut will come loose.
Get a torque wrench, tightening something "as tight as I can with my 130 Lb ass" may be the problem. I myself weigh 130 lbs, and can easily tighten a lu nut to 110 ft lbs with a torque wrench, so applying all your weight to a wrench may be torquing them to well over 200 ft lbs.

 

[DenLip]

Sorry for the shaddy camera phone pics but its all i have..

1 tight lugnut
1 loose lugnut, all the way backed off..
3 broken studs w/lugs attached..

One thing I see... if that wheel is "tight against the hub"... the studs look to be WAAAY too short. Normally, the stud will stand a good 1/2" or more "proud" of the hole.

And I'm in full agreement that these wheels don't look to use a normal tapered-nose lug nut. The wheel mfr (or one of their dealers) could point you to the right style of nut.

Are these on spacers as well? The wheel can't possibly be that thick.

Having two wheels almost fall off in a short period of time is a sure pointer that SOMETHING is wrong. Most folks never have a wheel fall off in a lifetime, dude!!

Den

 

[langer1]

Something is wrong, those are the wrong nuts for those wheels or the adaptors are missing.

Those wheels use this nut.

 

[CJ~Abuzer]

Something is wrong, those are the wrong nuts for those wheels or the adaptors are missing.

Those wheels use this nut.

Those are the nuts I was looking for, but I posted one of the first images I found that looked similar on google image search. I am at work and didnt have a lot of search time. Notice that I said "sorta" like this?

 

[AKswampheep]

wow.. lost for words lol
now i feel really stupid..
But thanks all for helping me pinpoint my problem..

BTW no spacers.. the rims are pretty thick
Fixed the broken studs.. only took about 5 minutes to replace 3, very happy about that considering anything else i try to do takes 4 hrs longer than what it should, hence the rear leafs front frame bolts nut spinniing inside the pocket.. PITAAA

BTW DenLip - Maybe youre looking at all the broken studs lmao.. but yes the rims are thick and you cant really tell how far they stick out.. but they do stick out plenty far..

 

[langer1]

Well the nuts I posted are not for short studs, but are used because of the large bolt holes as well.

If those are Crager wheels the have there own nuts and washer system.