[blackstratus]

So I had my T&C in for service for a front right ball joint / lower control arm replacement last week and decided today to rotate the tires today. I know they had to remove the tire for the job. Well one of the lug nuts was tight and i mean really tight. Someone got over zelous with the impact wrench or something. So i get the 3 foot pipe out and crank and snap, I snapped the lug nut off half way down the stud. I have never had this happen before. Anyone have any ideas? I have a bolt out kit from Sears but there isn't enough of the lug nut left to get enough bite to remove this lugnut. The van has the factory 16 inch honeycomb rims with the recessed lug nuts so a bolt splitter won't work. Do I get an air chisel or something? I am at a bit of a loss. I appreciate any thoughts/ ideas, thank you!

 

[dana44]

Trying to figure out for sure what you are saying. If the stud broke, it is a matter of knocking the old stud out and pressing/knocking in a new one from the back, NAPA carries the studs in their box of bolts and can be gotten easy enough. Snapped the lug nut halfway down the stud, can the wheel still be removed from the remainder of the stud? Last thing you want to do is damage the rim itself, so drilling the center of the stud first with a smaller drill bit to get the center first, then drill with a larger drill bit, finishing off with one that is as large as the bolt inside the threads themselves but leaves the threads intact and drill it out. You want to leave the threads, after it is drilled to the inside or end of the rest of the lug nut you should be able to take a chisel and hammer and knock it loose, then rejplace the stud. Use oil to help the drill bit cut, clean it after afterwards. Don't feel bad, I had the dealer use an impact wrench on my oil pan plug and after about three years it stripped out and I had to use an oversized plug or change the pan out.

 

[valiant67]

If you are saying part of the lug nut is still on it, you may end up having to drill it out and replacing the stud given the right clearances inside the wheel recess.

There's probably a chance they forced it on cross-threaded and even if it hadn't broken you'd still have issues with it.

 

[chuzz]

Yep, I'm guessing they cross threaded it too. Just take the other nuts off, pull the wheel, knock the old lug out and go get a new one along with a nut at your local parts store.

 

[blackstratus]

Thanks for all the help. Does anyone know if these sealed bearings on the front of the minivans accepts new studs? I guess first i need to get the wheel off. Otherwise i can see a new bearing is in my future . I am thinking it is crossthreaded because i busted the nut . I wish this wasnt a recessed nut otherwise this would have been alot easier. The fun of letting other people work in your cars.

Trying to figure out for sure what you are saying. If the stud broke, it is a matter of knocking the old stud out and pressing/knocking in a new one from the back, NAPA carries the studs in their box of bolts and can be gotten easy enough. Snapped the lug nut halfway down the stud, can the wheel still be removed from the remainder of the stud? Last thing you want to do is damage the rim itself, so drilling the center of the stud first with a smaller drill bit to get the center first, then drill with a larger drill bit, finishing off with one that is as large as the bolt inside the threads themselves but leaves the threads intact and drill it out. You want to leave the threads, after it is drilled to the inside or end of the rest of the lug nut you should be able to take a chisel and hammer and knock it loose, then rejplace the stud. Use oil to help the drill bit cut, clean it after afterwards. Don't feel bad, I had the dealer use an impact wrench on my oil pan plug and after about three years it stripped out and I had to use an oversized plug or change the pan out.

No , the rim can not be removed, the van has those chrome covered nuts and they are recessed so i can see in the back of the hole the ridge of the lugnut holding it on. Thanks for your suggestions!

 

[John Wood]

I'm sure you can replace the studs, but a special tool is used to press them out. If you just try to pound one out, you are likely to damage the bearing.

 

[webbee]

I'm sure you can replace the studs, but a special tool is used to press them out. If you just try to pound one out, you are likely to damage the bearing.

He's right and some of the AP box stores have the tool sets in their free tool loaner program.

 

[blackstratus]

So i finally got to the lug nut today. Ended up running a drill through the stud and drilling the whole thing out that way, replaced the stud and all fixed. Took over 2the hrs but it is done. Was not an easy job but wasnt the hardest either, just really slow. Thanks to all for the help. Hopefully this doesnt happen again

 

[dana44]

The only problem I have with dealerships is the air guns they use on everything. Wife had the oil changed there once on the PT Cruiser, three times later I had to redo the oil plug because it was stripped out. When I can't get a bolt undone with a ratchet and my own arm, there's a problem. I break ratchets, nuts, bolts, wrenches, you name it, and when an oil plug is too tight and I have to take a second chance of getting it loose, something is definitely wrong.

 

[Doug D]

That's one reason I trust the Firestone dealer I go to. Their techs use torque wrenches for the final tightening sequence when remounting wheels. Not every shop does that. I don't know if the dealership I patronize does or does not. In addition to the 20+ car bay they have as part of the sales building, there's another seperate building with 30+ bays behind the main building. Quite often my vehicle ends up in the 2nd building when it's in for service. That said, I've never had a problem with the lugs when the dealer has performed service that required removal of the wheels.

 

[blackstratus]

Dana44 , your advice on the drilling the stud out was great, a good sharp bit and alot of patience and it was done. I don't know what happened, I have never had trouble with the dealership I go to always except this one time. I am not a fan of the impact wrench, I have one and like it's capabilities but if not careful, they can sure do damage. Who knows, but an experience to know what to do if this happens again to me or for others have this issue.

 

[cass]

Thanks for all the help. Does anyone know if these sealed bearings on the front of the minivans accepts new studs? I guess first i need to get the wheel off. Otherwise i can see a new bearing is in my future . I am thinking it is crossthreaded because i busted the nut . I wish this wasnt a recessed nut otherwise this would have been alot easier. The fun of letting other people work in your cars.


No , the rim can not be removed, the van has those chrome covered nuts and they are recessed so i can see in the back of the hole the ridge of the lugnut holding it on. Thanks for your suggestions!

At first I couldn't understand how your wheel could still be on the hub with a broken stud. However, you noted that part of the lugnut was still on the part of the stud that was attached to the hub. Does this means that the stud broke off with half of the lugnut stil attached to it? That is, did the lugnut itself shear at the same place that the stud sheared? I've never heard of this, but your explanation makes it plausible. German cars (like my Crossire) use lug bolts instead of nuts, so breaking off one of these wouldn't keep the wheel on the hub. However, getting the threaded bolt end out of the hub would be more difficult than simply pressing out the stud as would be done with the American design.

 

[blackstratus]

Well what happened is i heard a crack sound and thought the stud cracked. It turned out the end of the actual lugnut cracked halfway though. I dont know how it happened, the socket was fully on the lugnut. But all i can think is with the leverage we gave it to try to budge it, we did something to the lugnut and it cracked halfway through. The stud was fully there yet, i just turned the broken part off with some force thinking the whole stud cracked and all i had to do was put a new stud in. That wasnt the case. Trust me i was totally amazed, never had this happen before. Yes i know exactly what you are talking about with the crossfire. That car has a different design. Have a black 2004. Havent taken tires off it much though because of the inability to rotate the tires.