Help!! Can't move my Bronco!

[75Denver]

Hey guys (and gals). I thought I run this by you all and see if anyone's come across something like this. I had a set of tires on my project Bronco and got a crazy idea the other night that I didn't like the look. So I sold my old set of rubbers on CL and bought a new set of BFG KM2s. AWESOME TIRE!!

Now the problem: I can't move my Bronco. I thought since the tire guys were at my house (mobile tire service) and they had an impact wrench and I had a set of new tire studs/nuts, why not kill two birds with one stone?? Well, I killed the bird and I think the Bronco too. I jacked up the Bronco, pounded out all the tire studs and when we went to draw through the new one (1st one of the entire set), it pulled through roughly 1/16" shy of full seating and then started to spin! I double checked the size of the stud and then found more problems (see pics). The stud lengths and spline length all differ. Only a few on the front axle have the short spline but the majority are full spline for better grip, at least that's my guess. Going back to the stud we tried, it is now stuck on the axle. I can't hold on to the back of the stud to keep it from spinning and I don't want to damage threads due to my wrench being stuck between the nut and axle. What do I do? I don't have a torch but I could use a cutting wheel for the nut. However, that won't solve my problem. I now have a Bronco that can't move from the jack stands and I don't have an impact wrench to draw the lugs up through. I tried pulling through one stud in the rear and got roughly 1/8" from seat. That was using a breaker bar and a wrench capped with a steel pipe for leverage. I'm not a weak guy (so I think) and I couldn't hardly budge the nut. It just started stripping the outer edge and spinning on the wrench.

So, do I have to pull the brakes out along with the axle shafts? I'm thinking that's my only bet now. Will a brake shop be able to install those with it off the vehicle? Last but not least, what do I do about the varying lengths/splines of studs? Pics are left (rear) to right (front) studs. Given that the one stud we installed up front spun at the end, does that mean the splines needed to be longer or is the axle hole too large? Can I get a larger diameter stud and still keep the remaining features specific to this application?

Hopefully someone can answer a few of my questions. Every step forward with the Bronco has been 10 steps back. I really thought I could save myself time yesterday but here I am. Enjoy the pics though;D.

 

[75Denver]

Sorry for such small pics. If you highlight them and increase size you'll be able to see the stud splines and lengths better. The two studs on the left are the rear and the three on the right are for the front. As you can see, the old ones varied a bit up front.

 

[tasker]

sorry bud, no pics show up. You can email them to me and i post them....
taskerbroncoguy@yahoo.com

 

[kayakersteve]

we're waiting on pics

 

[tasker]

me too ;D

 

[DirtDonk]

Until tasker gets your pics up, were the different lengths on the same wheels? Or just a difference in front and rear studs? Or was it that the new ones brought by the mobile guy were all oddballs?
No reason I can think of that they'd be different on the same wheel, other than a PO put different ones in when some broke or some scenario like that.

As for spinning, is that with a brake drum or rotor installed? Or just the studs in the flanges?
And yes, a shop should be able to install new (correct!) studs in anything you bring to them. So if you can get the axles out of the rear, and the hubs off of the front, I can't see any reason they couldn't do it. If your holes are buggered though, you may have to punt. Pretty sure that with the plethora of different stud designs and sizes available, something should be able to fit a slightly larger hole if necessary. Some axle companies even use bolts instead of studs. On the rear especially, they just thread the holes and use 1/2" or 9/16" bolts as studs. Never seen it in the front, but it might be possible if there's clearance in the back for the head.

Oh, and I'm sure it's in the pics, but just how is a wrench caught between the nut and axle? Just curious.

Good luck.

Paul

 

[75Denver]

Until tasker gets your pics up, were the different lengths on the same wheels? Or just a difference in front and rear studs? Or was it that the new ones brought by the mobile guy were all oddballs?
No reason I can think of that they'd be different on the same wheel, other than a PO put different ones in when some broke or some scenario like that.

As for spinning, is that with a brake drum or rotor installed? Or just the studs in the flanges?
And yes, a shop should be able to install new (correct!) studs in anything you bring to them. So if you can get the axles out of the rear, and the hubs off of the front, I can't see any reason they couldn't do it. If your holes are buggered though, you may have to punt. Pretty sure that with the plethora of different stud designs and sizes available, something should be able to fit a slightly larger hole if necessary. Some axle companies even use bolts instead of studs. On the rear especially, they just thread the holes and use 1/2" or 9/16" bolts as studs. Never seen it in the front, but it might be possible if there's clearance in the back for the head.

Oh, and I'm sure it's in the pics, but just how is a wrench caught between the nut and axle? Just curious.

Good luck.

Paul

Pics will soon appear. Not sure why I can see them but you guys can't%). The studs differ in length between the front and rear but the font axle had a few mismatchers from the PO. Everything the PO did was mismatch! It's been a fight just getting it back on the road and done so properly. In the pics you'll see the two different kinds that were up front. Of course the shiny ones are the newbies but they're still longer than the pre-existing ones both front and rear. I got the studs from NAPA and they were correct for '75 (at least that's what their books said. The wrench however was used to give me enough gap between the thread and the axle to ensure a full seating of the stud on the back of the axle. Pics will explain this. Thanks again.

 

[tasker]

Here you go....with a Dollar Bill thrown in for good measure ;D

 

[75Denver]

Thank you Tasker!! To answer your question, NAPA is where I got the studs. Should they be full spline studs? The majority of the bolts were...

 

[tasker]

why the replacement in the first place? was there a problem with them? i'd get the correct ones

 

[75Denver]

I was replacing them because every time I tightened them up, they would crank down so far that the brake drum would press on crooked and the wheel wouldn't turn. I figured it to be the result of the differing studs (front: 2 furthest from the right), not to mention I could torque all the wheels down to spec expect for the drive side. Not sure what the hell's going on but it's not right. Does anyone have a pic of a TRUE original stud?

 

[Dude seriously]

Does anyone have a pic of a TRUE original stud?

Edit, I just looked again and reminded myself that you have drums, so my first statement wasn't correct.

 

[Revelation]

Does anyone have a pic of a TRUE original stud?

Here you go!

 

[kayakersteve]

@Rev - How did I know thaT was coming??%)

 

[half cab]

Does anyone have a pic of a TRUE original stud?[/QUOTE]

 

[jw0747]

now that's damn funny right there....

 

[75Denver]

Thanks for all the stud hunters out there;D. However. Not the one I'M looking for....any original pics of OEM studs??

 

[DirtDonk]

Good pics so far! Sorry I don't have any original ones laying around 75Denver. Rear axles were traded for a set of 31 spliners a few years ago, and the front drums are laying around buried somewhere.
If I get to the drums at some point, I can take one out, but hopefully you'll have pics long before then.

Good luck.

Paul

 

[mudmagnet63]

Sorry I just couldn't resist. I've been watin months to post this