Wheel studs - fully insert without a press?

[82DMC12]

I had my wheel studs pressed out while refurbishing my front hubs, and didn't think it would be any big deal to pull them back into the hub using the wheel mounted on them and just cranking the lug nut with a breaker bar and socket until it stops turning. That mostly worked but if I set my hub on the ground, studs to the ground, it is not even and rocks a bit side to side so I know at least one stud is not fully seated. I don't want to use an impact to tighten it with the wheel mounted for fear of damaging the wheel and making it much harder to repair if the stud breaks.

Could I make some spacers up using thick washers / cast spacers to simulate a wheel over the stud and then use an impact to re-check the stud seating? I get that using a press would have been ideal and I'll do that if it's not advisable to do anything else.

[Dickey]

I've used washers with a little bearing grease and a backwards lug nut many times to pull a new stud into place. I wouldn't have thought to use a wheel I intended to drive on for the task though. Seems like the aluminum would get boogered up or crack way before the stud seated but I've never tried it to know for sure.

[82DMC12]

I've used washers with a little bearing grease and a backwards lug nut many times to pull a new stud into place. I wouldn't have thought to use a wheel I intended to drive on for the task though. Seems like the aluminum would get boogered up or crack way before the stud seated but I've never tried it to know for sure.

Yeah I tapped the studs in as far as I could on a work bench first, then mounted the hub and wheel, then used a breaker bar to tighten the lugs and stopped when the lug nut stopped, not applying any further force than a good 'ol "ram it home" tug. I do not want to use my electric impact in the forward direction against my wheel, but I have seen online people stacking up spacers and using the impact. What do you mean by a "backwards lugnut"? I would think turning the normal lugnut onto the stud against some spacers would pull the stud further into the hub, isn't that correct?

When I first found the studs were not sitting flush on the ground, I used my bench vise with moderate pressure to squeeze each one , one at a time, but none of them made any significant movement.

Here's what my studs look like right now - they all appear to be seated but clearly something isn't quite right if all four studs don't sit flush on the ground together (I'm talking like 1 to 2 mm difference). I just want to be comfortable putting this back together that I'm not going to loose a wheel. I can measure with a calipers this weekend to figure out exactly which ones are not seated as deep the others.

PXL_20211029_133806672.jpg

[Bitsyncmaster]

If they look seated, it may just be a few are shorter.

[Nicholas R]

For what it's worth, they do make tools to assist with the installation. I have one of these and used it recently to install 10 new studs. Worked great every time. Its essentially a spacer with a thrust bearing to reduce the amount of friction you have to overcome to draw the studs in.

This is the one I have: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

612xvm9wDCL._AC_SL1500_.jpg

This one is also not bad, especially if you're going to use a tapered lock nut to draw the stud in. In my case I bought flat face nuts specifically to draw the studs in so I used the other tool.
https://www.amazon.com/Lisle-22800-W...dp/B000ETUD22/

[82DMC12]

For what it's worth, they do make tools to assist with the installation. I have one of these and used it recently to install 10 new studs. Worked great every time. Its essentially a spacer with a thrust bearing to reduce the amount of friction you have to overcome to draw the studs in.

This is the one I have: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

612xvm9wDCL._AC_SL1500_.jpg

This one is also not bad, especially if you're going to use a tapered lock nut to draw the stud in. In my case I bought flat face nuts specifically to draw the studs in so I used the other tool.
https://www.amazon.com/Lisle-22800-W...dp/B000ETUD22/

Oh snap, that looks exactly like the right kind of thing to use. I'm in no big hurry so I'll grab one. Thanks Nick!

Andy

[Dickey]

Yeah I tapped the studs in as far as I could on a work bench first, then mounted the hub and wheel, then used a breaker bar to tighten the lugs and stopped when the lug nut stopped, not applying any further force than a good 'ol "ram it home" tug. I do not want to use my electric impact in the forward direction against my wheel, but I have seen online people stacking up spacers and using the impact. What do you mean by a "backwards lugnut"? I would think turning the normal lugnut onto the stud against some spacers would pull the stud further into the hub, isn't that correct?

When I first found the studs were not sitting flush on the ground, I used my bench vise with moderate pressure to squeeze each one , one at a time, but none of them made any significant movement.

Here's what my studs look like right now - they all appear to be seated but clearly something isn't quite right if all four studs don't sit flush on the ground together (I'm talking like 1 to 2 mm difference). I just want to be comfortable putting this back together that I'm not going to loose a wheel. I can measure with a calipers this weekend to figure out exactly which ones are not seated as deep the others.

PXL_20211029_133806672.jpg

What I meant by backwards lug nut: Lug nuts usually have a taper on the side that seats up against the wheel. For regular acorn lug nuts that are threaded entirely through, as I typically have on hand due to metric tractors vs correct ones, they can be reversed so the flat outer edge goes first. Which is what I've done when I found myself in a similar situation as you have. This won't work with factory DMC lug nuts because they aren't threaded entirely through but any nut with the correct thread pitch will do.

[82DMC12]

What I meant by backwards lug nut: Lug nuts usually have a taper on the side that seats up against the wheel. For regular acorn lug nuts that are threaded entirely through, as I typically have on hand due to metric tractors vs correct ones, they can be reversed so the flat outer edge goes first. Which is what I've done when I found myself in a similar situation as you have. This won't work with factory DMC lug nuts because they aren't threaded entirely through but any nut with the correct thread pitch will do.

Ah OK I understand now! Thanks for explaining that.

[82DMC12]

Today I received the Lisle 22800 Wheel stud installer. Seems like a good quality tool like most things by Lisle. I was disappointed that it doesn't fit flush on the wheel hub - it's too wide. So, I had to improvise.

PXL_20211105_000559950.jpg

I stacked up some washers on either side of the stud so that the installer was just slightly above the lip on the hub. Then I threaded on a long M12-1.5 lug nut that I got at O'Reilly (Dorman #611 221). I cinched it up tight by hand, made sure the washers were in place, then rammed it home with my electric impact. I think I pulled them in a millimeter each so it was worth the effort.

At first I tried to hold some washers opposite the hub lip on the outside of the stud, with the installer resting on the lip. I did a couple of studs this way before realizing that a seam on the installer was denting the lip. I had to file the lip slightly both along the side and along the top to fix it so the hub would sit flush on the wheel again. Don't do that.

PXL_20211105_000607161.jpg
Here you can see the installer is too big for the hub. Ah well, I made it work.