Snapping wheel studs... please help!

[Thanx SVT]

Hey guys,
I have a 2003 Explorer XLT (4-door, 4wd). I installed a set of
American Racing Rogue wheels, size 20x8.5" about 18 months ago.

I snapped a wheel stud off about 12 months ago on the right rear, but didn't think much of it as I figured it was a weak stud or overly large pothole. I just snapped another three studs on the left rear wheel, and actually had to have the truck towed as it was unsafe to drive.

Has anyone ever heard of Explorers with larger wheels snapping wheel studs?

The wheels are hubcentric, and I have been torquing the lug nuts in a 2 step process (70 ft/lbs, then 95 ft/lbs).

Anyone have a clue as to what may be going on? Should I try replacing the studs with something a bit more heavy duty?

Thanks for your help... I could really use some insight here.

 

[RoadBully]

That sucks man, I've never heard of that.
How's your camber?

 

[JCUZ]

Are you 100% sure the wheels fit properly on the centre part of the hub. If they do, it's the hub that takes the weight, the studs really only hold the wheel to the hub (ie they bear very little weight). My point is you wouldn't snap studs if the rims were sitting nice and snug on the hub locator centre thingy bit (or whatever the technical term is,lol). Some rims require a little plastic rim (around 1/16", or 1.5mm thick) to fill the gap between the hub locator and the rim - mine certainly has these and no issues so far (see below, but ignore as it was due to poor workmanship).

I have snapped one front left stud, but that was because the place that fitted my rims neglected to tighten that one rim properly - needless to say, they fixed it for nix.

I have just fitted 1" hub adaptors to mine, and they are very, very snug on the standard hub, and they require the same plastic ring to go in between their hub locator and the rim. Only just done this today, so haven't driven it yet, but hopefully it will be OK.

 

[joefnh]

I have! I did put slightly larger tires on the stock alloy 16" rims, but that did not cause the stud snapping problem.

At the time that I put the new tires on I also had replaced the rear rotors with a Bendix rotor purchased at NAPA auto parts. I actually had the wheel fall off! on one side and when I checked the other side, 3 studs were snapped.

I initially blamed it on the tire tech getting overzealous with the air wrench. But after replacing those studs I had additional ones snap.

After that I figured that it was either the tire or rotor. I had never heard of a rotor causing this and the tire was slightly larger (just .5" wider) I then replaced the rear rotors again with some cheap ones just to test my theory.

The replaced rotors fixed the problem. When comparing the new ones with the Bendix rotor, I noticed that the placement of the braking surface (the rotor faces) were actually about 1.5" further out from the car on the replacement ones form Autozone

In about 45 years of working on cars that was a first for me.

Good luck

--Joe

 

[RoadBully]

That's crazy.
Well, at least you got er fixed up.

 

[manaen]

What are you torquing your bolts to when installing the wheels?

 

[Thanx SVT]

Thanks to all for some ideas. I'm really at a loss to figure out what's going on. I know a bunch of people run 22 inch rims without a problem, so I wouldn't think it's my 20s that are the problem.

I'm torque the wheels using a tourque wrench. 70ft/lbs, then 95 ft/lbs.

 

[CDW6212R]

I'll suggest that it is a fitment issue also. Check the clearance and fitting of all parts again, very carefully.

 

[JohnJ]

Also, be sure you haven't got any rust or oxidized aluminum between the rotor and wheel or between rotor and hub. If you do, you need to get rid of that corrosion.

Any corrosion in there can cause two problems:
1 It can cause the wheel to be slightly crooked (out of plane) when you bolt up the wheel
2 It can grind up and effectively shrink as you drive
Either way, it can have the effect of loosening your lugs and make them snap off.

 

[Thanx SVT]

OK, so I got the truck back yesterday. The mechanic also had no clue what was causing the problem. He confirmed that the rims are hubcentric, and corrosion does not appear to be an issue. The only thing he could point to was the possibility of my lug nuts somehow loosening up or my torque wrench being off.

I went ahead and had him replace the 3 snapped studs, as well as the two remaining. The cost was like $140 plus parts, which seems relatively reasonable given the involved labor.

I'm going to go ahead and replace the lug nuts on this wheel (can't see how they could matter) and will also borrow a buddy's torque wrench to compare to mine.

I'll post if I have any more issues or insight with this.

Thanks again for the help!

 

[manaen]

are you the only owner of the vehicle? it almost sounds like someone was on those things with an impact wrench and weakened the heck out of em' by over torquing them.

 

[EasyRhino]

are you the only owner of the vehicle? it almost sounds like someone was on those things with an impact wrench and weakened the heck out of em' by over torquing them.

This is what I'm guessing - somebody in the past torqued them to the point of yielding, resulting in a weaker stud that then failed over time. I think you were right on the replace all of them on that wheel. Have you seen this with the other wheels?