It seems the Explorer is just more prone to wheel stud failures than any other vehicle I've owned. When installing new brakes on the '98 Sport, I encountered 3 issues:

1. A sheared stud.
2. A stripped stud.
3. A spun stud.

Note: While it seems simple enough, the parts are a PITA to aquire. I contacted 5 stores and only 2 of them had the studs I needed, each having just 1 stud. They are different than the front's and are easy to get mixed up. They are not interchangeable and you can damage your ride if you try to force them. Best to remove the broken/stripped part and bring it with you for comparison.

Here's what I did:

The first two problems were on the same axle (RR), and repaired the same way. Removal of the old stud is quite simple on the rear axle: Strip the affected wheel down to the bare axle (leaving the E-brake alone). Rotate the bad stud to the rear of the vehicle, even with the center. Use a large hammer to drive the stud back, in towards the differential (one hit, usually). Fish the old stud out through the bottom, between the two emergency brake shoes.

Look at the picture (below), at roughly the 1 o'clock position, you can see a ring around the old stud hole. This is where I used a method found on this board that involves stacked washers, grease and a 1/2"-20 nut. Well, it might work in a pinch, but all I got was an overheated lug nut, a questionable stud (stretched threads?) and the washers galled, marring the axle face.

http://www.rogueperformance.com/pix/Explorer/Brakes 005.jpg

Now for the best way:
The new stud is wiggled in from the TOP between the emergency brake shoes and slowly lowered to the rear position. You will see that the two rearmost backing plate bolts are in the way, and you will have to turn the axle slightly to get the new stud in position. You can also go in from the Front (Great for "South Paws"), since there is a lot of room there as well. You may have to rotate the axle slighty in each direction to work the stud in, especially if it is longer than stock.

http://www.rogueperformance.com/pix/Explorer/Brakes 010.jpg

Pull the new stud through the hole until it stops. Next you will need some penetrating oil (or other lube), a pneumatic impact gun, and a stud installer. Place the hardened spacer over the stud and thread the puller on to the well oiled stud threads. Once the puller is threaded down, slide the spacer over the end of the installer and thread the assembly down until it is flush with the axle. [You can see the flange of the stud behind the axle.]

http://www.rogueperformance.com/pix/Explorer/Brakes 011.jpg

I ran it for a few seconds, then backed it off for a cool down and reoil...
[stud flange is pulled in towards axle, stud shoulder and knurling visible on outside of axle flange.]

http://www.rogueperformance.com/pix/Explorer/Brakes 012.jpg

...repeat as needed...

http://www.rogueperformance.com/pix/Explorer/Brakes 013.jpg

...and reassemble using some grease on the axle face to keep that rotor from sticking.

http://www.rogueperformance.com/pix/Explorer/Brakes 019.jpg

Now for the "spun" stud. This is what happens when the lug's knurlings lose their hold in the hub/axle. Instead of the stud staying put, it turns as you try to install/remove the lug nut. If you can hold pressure to one side (tilt the wrench) you can normally get it to release the lug nut without incident. If your luck runs like mine did, the lug nut is seized to the stud...

http://www.rogueperformance.com/pix/Explorer/Brakes 014.jpg
-The arrow points to the one stud that spins, keeping me from finishing my PowerSlot rotor install :rant:

Clamp on the bad lug nut with a pair of Vice Grips to keep it from turning, and with an electric drill, a 1/2" hardened bit, some cutting fluid and a slow, steady pace, use the lug nut as a guide to drill down the center. Only go a little way in, because we want to use this 1/2" drill to center our pilot hole with the support of the lug nut. Now drill in through the centered hole with the pilot drill (hardened 3/8" bit) until you reach at least the level of the rim. Then switch back to the 1/2" bit and go just as deep. Using a large hammer, whack the lug nut from the side, snapping it flush.

http://www.rogueperformance.com/pix/Explorer/Brakes 017.jpg

Since I was installing a new hub, all I had to do was pull the old one, since the 4x2 uses a "hub/rotor", all 5 studs will be replaced at once. 4x4 use a separate hub abd rotor, so you will need to do remove the hub to do the install.

http://www.rogueperformance.com/pix/Explorer/Brakes 021.jpg
-Old and busted...

http://www.rogueperformance.com/pix/Explorer/Brakes 024.jpg
-The new hotness

If you have to reuse this hub (or, again, if you have a 4x4), you will have to remove the hub, and pull the speed ring on the rear of the hub to retrieve the remaining pieces. Then you can install a new stud, the same way we did before, and reinstall the speed ring.

This is a perfect time to use some synthetic grease to repack those front bearings (inner and outer) and seals!

Easy huh?

Do you think it would be done the same way on a first generation? (I drive a 1993 Mazda Navajo.)

great write up thanks alot, i have a striped stud on my 8.8!

This should be a sticky thread.

Great write up! At first I didn't even think it was possibly to fish a new Wheel Stud in there it's so tight. This definately showed me its possible.

How common is this problem, I can honestly say this is the first I've seen it mentioned..

Wheel studs have been known to break. Sometimes the lug nuts rust in place, and break the studs off when you try to remove the wheels. The proper torque is 100 Ft/Lbs. Some people over torque them, and either strip them or crack them off.

Hm... this worries me a little bit..

On the bright side.. we don't have much of a rust issue here...

I know this is an old thread, but I think it's worth noting that the wheel stud failures as noted by the OP are directly caused by running non-hub centric rims. Have a look at the pic of the rims fitted, and you can see a gap between the centre bore of the rim and the hub. What this means is that the wheel studs are doing 2 jobs - they are holding the rim on, as well as carrying the weight of the truck; the wheel studs for an Ex were only ever designed to hold the wheel on.

This is the VERY reason you should run hubcentric rims on an Ex, or at the very least, run a hub to rim adapter that fills the hub out to whatever the CB on the rim is; that way, the hub carries the weight, and the studs simply stop the rim from falling off.

Thank you for straightening that out.

at the very least, run a hub to rim adapter that fills the hub out to whatever the CB on the rim is

Where can I get one of these? I have American Racing wheels.

What's with your display BonesDT, looks like something happened to your rims??

that's what happens when you don't run hub adapters!

Very funny, are you busting my chops? It's picture resizing distortion. Just like everything on my Ex, I never got around to fixing it.

Ah, it looked weird... Anyways... Man.... I heard hub adapters are bad... This just ruined everything... the rims I was dead set on getting aren't hub centric... not many rims are...

what size would I need for a hub centric rim? Like what size is the axle part so I know how big the hole should be on the rim? bore size i think its called???

I've been looking around and there is a lot of info out there on "hub centric rings".

Here's a great article on it:
http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geu.G6.i1J22wBLrhXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEzY2t0MWU2BHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDNQRjb2xvA2FjMgR2dGlkA1IyMDZfMTM1/SIG=12a59kaj9/EXP=1227836474/**http%3a//www.prestigewheel.com/Catalog/HubRings66_67.pdf

Here's a good diagram of what's going on with these rings:
http://www.justforwheels.com/index.jsp?cat=hubcentric&sub=how&track=GHR

This site has a ton of options/sizes:
http://www.1010tires.com/hubrings.asp

American Racing makes a limited amount and apparently steel ones too, but their site sucks right now.

However, all the talk is about correcting "alignment" issues and the majority of the rings are made of plastic. Is this adequate for "support"?

Now that I think about it, my AR rims came with plastic center hub caps, which you would think were for aesthetic purposes only, but I noticed I had these alignment issues when I temporarily installed the wheels without them. The center caps helped center the wheel on the hub, but the thin plastic definitely doesn't offer any support.

Maybe it does, Plastic squeezed up between two pieces of metal in a ring... what would happen? It's all tightly put in there, and nothing is really moving... to break or wear down the plastic...

So the "wheel stud installer" (http://www.lislecorp.com/tool_detail.cfm?detail=261 was $33 and I don't own an impact wrench ... so I tried install the wheel studs with some metal washers, regular 1/2"-20 nut and breaker bar.

Yea, that didn't happen.

You NEED the $30 installer and you NEED the impact wrench (I bought an electric $180 DeWalt 350 ft-lb'er with plans to return it, but now I'm debating, these things are awesome!) I don't know where Fredness got that hardened lug nut, but I could of used one of those too. I also didn't oil and cool down, so I broke and stripped a couple of studs.

Moral of the story: do exactly what Fredness says and buy twice as many studs as you need (Dorman #610-368).

Moral of the story: do exactly what Fredness says and buy twice as many studs as you need (Dorman #610-368).

Good call :D

On a side note, we have not had a single issue since, so I can not comment as to the validity of the "hub-centricity" issue.

Yeah I've had problems with mine one day I'm driving home and yes my brakes are getting alittle long in the tooth and my wheel starts making some noise you know different than usual and I find out that not one... two... but three (3) of the five wheel studs came loose and now I can't get my wheel off to fix them... after hours of trying everything from drilling to grinding to pulling ect I got a welder to drive to my house and torch them off.. k a cheap $100 dolar bill later good to go replace both front Discs n pads grease and clean hubs and lockers and vala.. the same passenger siede disc loosened off as soon as tightened it but only one... so I drove to annother welders shop and nobody wanted to torch it so we pounded the stud with a sledge to bend it and it pulled tight then just unthreaded the nut... problem solved ... luckily the second NEW disc I bought worked out ok! Cheap Junk! lol :thumbsup:

Great stuff..very helpful

Yeah I've had problems with mine one day I'm driving home and yes my brakes are getting alittle long in the tooth and my wheel starts making some noise you know different than usual and I find out that not one... two... but three (3) of the five wheel studs came loose and now I can't get my wheel off to fix them... after hours of trying everything from drilling to grinding to pulling ect I got a welder to drive to my house and torch them off.. k a cheap $100 dolar bill later good to go replace both front Discs n pads grease and clean hubs and lockers and vala.. the same passenger siede disc loosened off as soon as tightened it but only one... so I drove to annother welders shop and nobody wanted to torch it so we pounded the stud with a sledge to bend it and it pulled tight then just unthreaded the nut... problem solved ... luckily the second NEW disc I bought worked out ok! Cheap Junk! lol :thumbsup:
been there had the same trouble thank god i was not far away from home ended up having to drill out 4 studs 1 bit at a time all the way up to 1/2 inch not alot of fun,but could have been alot worse i guess, but sence that i make sure i check those aluminium rims that have a habit of loosining of quite often .

Wow thanks a lot Fredness!!!

I've just had to replace a stud today and after drilling out the stud to remove the wheel I wasn't sure how to get the new stud in there. If I hadn't have read this post I wouldn't have thought there was room to get the new stud in with all the parking brake bits in place.

cheers,
Tim

Thank!!! Had to replace 2 studs today made it easy!


Josh

Thanks for posting this ... I just upgraded to Elite Membership ... knew I would eventually, but this post saved me enough time and grief, I was glad to offer my support right now.

Just got my 98 Sport a month ago. This weekend, I was changing over to some alloy rims and tires I got. In the distant past, some butt monkey with an air wrench screwed all the wheels it waaaaaay too tight ... at least 150 ft-pounds. I am very surprised that my brake rotors seem OK. I could barely turn the lug nuts using a big breaker bar.

My right rear axle ended up looking just like the first pic posted by Fredness... two snapped studs. I live in Florida ... no road salt. In 30 years of wrenching on cars, I have never broken one ...much less done it while removing a lug ... slowly :mad:

I had to walk away from "Sporty" for a while ...

Calmed down ... found this post. What a time-saver! I was sure that I was going to be popping the axle open and taking the axle shaft to a shop to have studs pressed in. Instead, I had two new studs in there in about an hour, and wasn't rushing to do it.

I wanted to add a couple of tips ...

Got the new studs and lug nuts from NAPA ... less than $2 each and they are definitely grade 8 hardware. The local Ford dealer did not have any in stock ... (probably ran out .... ;) )
Not sure about the markings on the original studs ... "CH" and no bars ... does that mean "case hardened" or "China"? :D

Bring a lug nut with you to the store ... they list two different varieties.

I don't have a stud installer ... got good results by this ...

Got the stud in place by sneaking it in there from the bottom and using a long skinny needlenose pliers to basically line it up. Could not get it directly in there, but jacked up the other rear tire (limited slip rear) and had my wife turn that just a bit, the side I was working on followed, and the stud popped into place.

Lined up the splines, and put a 1/2" stack of Grade 8 washers on the stud. Grade 8s fit tighter to the bolt and help assure that it is going into place straighter. They also won't gall like softer ones. Then, I turned the lug nug around backwards so that the flat face was on the washers, lubed it all up with PB Blaster, and started turning it all into place, using a 3/4" open end wrench.

Once the splines are about 1/2 way home, it starts getting a bit tighter, and you need more leverage. I took the washers off and scrounged an old spindle nut that I had here. It is probably a 3/4" thread and 1/2" thick. The conical end of the lug nut fit into it well, so I turned the lug around and used a breaker bar on it. Again, make sure everything is oiled... have a small puddle in the lug nut. Turning the lug around also makes use of some other thread area on the stud, hopefully not over-using the same ones you started with. This got the stud home. You can watch your progress and right as the stud gets there, it all snugged up and really did not want to turn any more.

Take your time ... if the lug nut starts feeling warm, let it cool down. Be slow and deliberate about this, and you will get-er-done. :thumbsup:

Again ... thanks for starting this post!
I was really thinking this was going to be much more of a job than it ended up being.