@#&$@!
So yesterday, my special ordered 1 3/4" long bullet lug nuts show up. I start putting them on and everything is fine until the very last one. This was on the right front wheel which I believe NTB had taken off when I had it there a couple of weeks ago. All the lugs were super tight. It took a breakover bar to get them loose. All seemed okay, so I went about putting the new nuts on. Well, I think they stretched the threads on one of them because about halfway down to getting the last one on, it stripped the lug nut and then didn't want to come back off. With no other choice, I forced it back off and destroyed the stud. No biggie, I got an old hub with five good ones still in it, so I decide I just use one of them. I was more pissed at the time that I now had 19 new shiny lugs instead of 20. Another $7.50 for them to ship me 1 replacement.
So, today I take the day off and decide to replace the stud. Shouldn't take too long right? WRONG!
Alrighty, anyone see the difference in these two studs?
The one on the left is the damaged one I am replacing. It is out of the replacement hub assembly from Advance Auto Parts. The one on the right is the stock factory wheel stud.
Yeah, needless to say the stock factory stud is way too loose in the hole of the replacement hub assembly. The splined part on the ones that came in the replacement is considerably larger in diameter. So off to both local part stores. They both try to sell me a stock stud. I had both of those pictured above with me and I showed them the problem. Neither of the stores had one any larger. Off I went to Blue Springs. I went to Advance since that's where the hub came from and they immediately handed me a stock stud, even after explaining to them the problem. Finally the guy digs around and finds one that is very similar to the one I needed except for it had a longer spline/shoulder part on it. I figured that was no problem since the disk brake rotor and wheel had to go over it anyway.
Well, this one won't sneak thru since it's threaded all the way to the end instead of having a non-threaded part on the tip, so I ground a flat spot on the head and it went right in.
Now, new problem. The longer shoulder turns out to be an issue after all. I don't know if it's because I have the F-Body brakes and different rotors, but the holes in the rotor ride right up against the edge of the studs. Since the wider shoulder sticks out about 3/16", the rotor now hits it and won't sit flush on the hub. Back to the bench grinder and I grind a flat spot in the shoulder of the stud after drving it back out of the hub. Put it back in and rotor fits fine now. Please note, I only ground down the shoulder, not any of the splines.
So, just a warning if you have replacement hub assemblies. The stock wheel studs may not fit. Since the stud he found me really wasn't where it should have been, I'm not sure on the part number. From Advance Auto Parts' receipt it looks like 98520, but be warned, you may have to do some creative grinding to make it work.
The good news is the car is back on the ground and fixed.... finally.
Here's the new nuts.
