Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting car's on jack stands, kinda need help

alright, a while back the studs that the lug nuts sit on for my right front tire snapped, and were replaced. the guy did such a crappy job (and ripped me off too), and yesterday one of the studs got stripped on about the last half inch trying to get the lug off. I went and got 2 new studs (another one was kinda messed up too) and a new lug nut. I've been told to just hammer the old ones out, and hammer the new ones in. do I need to take off the rotor to do this? I have my car up on jack stands right now, and I was banging away at the studs, but they weren't budging and I'm afraid I may miss eventually and hit the rotor. should I just bang harder or what? also, it seems pretty hard to get in behind the rotor to bang the new ones in, so am I going to have to take it off? any help would be greatly appreciated, seeing as how my car is 2 feet in the air right now and I'd like it back on the ground some time soon

yes take off the rotor and if youre able to get your hands on a press it makes it very easy...i did this on my explorer and its not to bad...

well, it just started to rain so I guess I have a little break to figure this all out. I liquid wrenched the back of the studs and banged on them some more while I was waiting for replies, didn't work. I guess the next step is just take off the rotor. searched, but I can't find anything...I'm assuming I unbolt the brake with the two bolts behind the rotor, and then it's just the big bolt in the center of the rotor? should come off pretty easily after that, no? I'll look it up in the haynes manual while I"m waitin, but any replies are appreciated.

alright, let me update. got the rotor off, had to muscle those damned bolts quiet a bit though. the studs are really easy to get to right about now, but they just wont budge. I've sprayed liquid wrench all over the two I'm replacing, and whacked them pretty good with a hammer, and they just wont move even the slightest bit. any suggestions?

Put another hammer on the backside of the spindle just beside the one you want out...and give er a good blast with the hammer...they are just splined to hold them in place. If not you could drill them in the exact middle just dont drill too big..keep your drill slightly smaller than the stud. Should be able to beat them out though. Do yourself a favor and wear safety glasses...Ive seen particles fly off on those hardened steel things before.A good heavy hammer as a brace and a good solid wack and they should just pop out. I would only use heat as a very very last resort.

They are usually hard comming out, due to all of the metalic flakes that come off of the brake pads. some good lube and a good hammer. Note: I usually put the lug nut back on the stud or you may mushroom the stud in the impact area, then you will need a good file. I'm usually in reach of a good neumatic bench press, if none of that works.

On the flip side, putting them back in, is just the reverse of what you are doing, hammering them back into place. sometimes, using the lug nut, you can "screw" them back into place, put that's mabey what happend with the first mechanic.

Lug nuts....if they are too loose they can fall off, or because of wobble break off....if they are too tight, they will snap off with time. Each car has it's own torque specs but usually fall with in 100ft.lb., you should be safe with that figure.

Good luck

if you are beating them with a hammer and not using a
punch i would venture to say that you are not delivering
100 percent of the hammer force on the stud....you are
probably forcing the studs to the side, bottom or the top.
move the hammer away from the stud and then drive it directly to the stud(straight on) and it will back out...
i used a 2 to 3 lb. hammer and they came out very easy....
remember they are very tight and you have to hit them directly to drive them out(you cant just go nuts with a hammer and expect them to move)....
get a good sized punch they are cheap...

well I was up searching the boards for a good hour yesterday looking for ways to get these suckers out, cause muscle just wasn't working. liquid wrench (which I had been using oh-so liberaly) is now a thing of the past. in so many posts I saw people using PB blaster, so I went up to walmart and got a can for about 4 bucks. one good soak, and about thirty seconds later, they popped right out with relative ease. stuck them through the back and "screwed" them in wit a lug nut. there was no way in hell I was banging them in from the back, no clearance for a hammer at all. got them in, tire back on, and everything seems to be working out just fine. thanks for all the help fellas

Check those things a couple of time each day for the first couple of days, then again at the end of a week. Just to be sure they don't work loose.

Just for the record the studs can be removed with the rotors on, but you need to do a very tiny bit of grinding on the hub to accomplish it.

If you grind a half-moon in the hub (IIRC at about 7-8 o'clock on the passangers front for example) you can then just get the stud out past it.

I've had three studs break, and one stripped in the hub (fortunately the stud gave way rather than the other way around.

Anyway, the little grind method makes things go much quicker.

Regards, Alan