Went to take off my wheels yesterday to mount up some new tires. Couldn't believe my eyes!

Checked all of the lugs and they were all at least 100 ft/lbs to remove, so they weren't loose!

These where strange screw in studs running with a steet wheel. Drag radials, Trans brake, 3740lbs, 1.38 best 60ft.

Good catch 8-)

yes...good catch!!

could have been a big OOPS...

Is that an 8.8 rear?

And/or put that thing on a diet! haha
Good catch!

Check the housing for straightness, good chance it's bent also.

Do i see the pic right? It looks like the holes in the flanges are bigger than the studs going through them. If so, that wouldnt provide the stud with any side support.

Edit...i see its a disc brake rotor on there.

I was shearing 1/2" studs in my "Cuda before I switched over to 5/8" drive studs. Never hurt a wheel again. It is a little work, though. Axles have to be drilled and tapped. Holes in brake rotors will have to be opened up. And it will be a pretty snug fit with the wheels, too. It will be a straight shot in, so you will have to be able to maneuver the wheel around in the wheel well for that.

Where are you gonna find steel wheels for 5/8 studs?
I remember Monte saying drag radial cars need to be built like a promod in the rear.

James... good eye, but it's actually explorer disc brakes on a Dana 60.

I can't imagine that the D60 housing is bent, but I'll look for sure.

What's scary is the reason I took the wheels off is to put the new PRO 275's on the car so I can get it to leave HARDER...(gulp!)

Might be time for some aluminum wheels, and a sneaky paint job to keep that steel wheel look.

I need to upgrade also.

Should be able to drill those and rechamfer the lug seat. Those wheels dont look like they have the raised chamfered area that disappears (like a stock rim) when going to a bigger diameter hole. I would make sure the locations were good though.

Maybe it's just the photo but the center hole in your wheel appeared to be larger than the register on the axle. If this is the case I can see how this would be hard on the studs.

Good luck with it all,
Bill

Happens a lot on steel wheels... the surface area
at the base of the stud isnt big enough.. with all
the torque they will move.. and pounds on the edges
of the base.. once its large enough it can do anything..
but see where the studs are cut down .. thats at the base
area

I agree, that register hole in the wheel doesn't match the axel register. That, didn't help at all. Probably the main cause. Second all the power at the hit, that your putting down.

Ya man, you be needin the big dawgs now w/that beast of yours..........

No...........the problem is drag radials. They are unforgiving and break EVERYTHING. And I would also bet the housing is bent from the spring perches out.

The issue with steel wheels and ANY size stud in something with power, is the way the wheel mounts. When aftermarket parts are involved, the wheel no longer registers on the axle. The hole in the wheel is bigger than stud and your sole means of support is the cone on the nut. Add drag radials and I am surprised it hasn't already broke the studs. So even if you do go 5/8 studs, you are going to have to come up with another way to clamp a steel wheel, if that is what you are going to run. The wheel MUST fit the unthreaded shank on the stud, as that is what supports the wheel

Mine snapped an ear off a Spicer 7290 u-joint 2 weeks ago running ET Street Pro's. I was surprised it happened at my power level! Of course it was trashing the Auburn sure-grip as well but I expected that.

What Monte said but I will add that the vee shape hole in the steel wheel is like a cleaver to the stud. It may be possible to get straight shank studs and open up the holes in the wheels to the straight size diameter, or maybe some hat inserts like Lamb sells for the front wheels. There is a yellow TT Nova here that sheared off the studs launching on a well prepped track (Raidalfest at Huntsville) two events in a row. He put new studs on this year after shearing them off last year, and the results were the same except this year he went into the wall. Steel wheels on threaded studs + traction + power = trouble.

Yeah, you dodged a bullet. Go buy a lotto ticket.

The narrow section width of the steel wheel is putting a huge load on the studs with the power you are putting out. A longer stud and thicker wheel should spread the load out. I saw a guy with a sleeper car like yours that had a pair of Holeshot wheels painted body color and he had the hubcap fastened on there somehow.

Looking at the photo of the rotor hat/axle end it appears the only place the wheel is contacting the hat is around the perimeter of the hat and right at the studs. I would take the hat off and lay it in the wheel to see how it fits the back of the wheel.

Nice catch BTW.

I just had the same problem. I was putting on my new M/T 315/60 Pros and noticed all my Strange wheel studs were bent as bad as yours. I am running HoleShot wheels and foot braking at 2950 lbs. I ordered a set of ARP studs and will see how they last.

May as well upgrade to 5/8 now

You can enlarge the holes in the axle flange with a 43/64" drill bit and run press-in circle track 5/8" studs and conical seat lug nuts. Of course, you must also re-drill and bevel the holes in your steel wheels.

Nobody so far is addressing your problem from this angle, but normal torque values 1/2" Fine Gr 8 are 90 ft/bs. I am not sure how one can relate removal torgue to tightening torque. It seems most are assuming they are the same, I'd want something to back that up. Further, the conical dry wheel hole seat, has got to significantly distort measured torque vales when tightening. And this all leads to the premise, wheels are meant to be secured to the mounting surface by the induced friction of 5 properly tightened fasteners of the necessary capacity for job. Shear resistance is not supposed to be a concern. And 5/8" studs allow typically double the torque values, with a corresponding increase in friction from the clamping they supply. I think being distracted by the centering concerns/hole design is not solving the real problem here.

On drilling out conical wheels to fit larger 5/8" studs, I would hesitate, I believe one aspect of the typical conical seat design is, it allows for a slight amount of give and tension to be applied and maintained thru use and temp, etc variations, kinda like a large circular lock washer, one of the reasons on steel wheels the metal directly behind the conical seat is not designed/intended to bottom out on the axle flange, but keep a space. With 5/8" larger studs, the metal is compressed greater, into a range a 1/2" stud could not approach, but wheel hub is the same thickness. Not sure this is ideal solution, if wheels weren't ever offered in the larger stud sizes.

I'd like to see the backside hub of the OP's steel wheels.

Easy fix. Some 10" centerline or similar flat style wheels painted green with big studs. 5/8" studs are upstairs, pick them up at the checkout.
Dad

[img:left]http://s61.photobucket.com/user/sktt1209/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20160729_181356_zpsmyjmuecl.jpg.html[/img]

It looks to me that there is a small shoulder on the stud without threads. Is it possible that the lug nut bottomed on the threads before the wheel was actually able to "center up" on the studs using the conical lug nuts?

I upgraded years ago, I broke studs on the starting line and the wheel/tire came off resulting in a bent quarter panel. The studs were only a few years old. Since I have Mark Williams axles I sent them to them and had 5/8 studs installed and they have been fine ever since, I also check the torque quite frequently. On my way to Carlisle last year I broke three studs on my H.Q.C. luckily I caught it and a fellow racer works at a 4WD shop near the route I was taking was able to fix it,but I had to leave the truck and buy a new wheel. The night before I decided to check my air pressure when I did the tire valve fell apart I got it fixed and put the wheel/tire back on in the rain, I swear I tightened up all the lugs with my impact apparently I didn`t and I should have checked again before I left.

Hey, my kids have a checkout counter like that, too. And one of those "You Break, I Fix" style garages in the backyard. I wish I had one when I was their age.

That thing had to be vibrating your fillings out, being that much off center from the wrong wheel/axle register

ya that was a good catch, id think an alum wheel would have more meat in the seat area and a better (more)contact area on the rotor than an oe style steel wheel

Father knows best...

Lots of plastic centering rings available these days. Check out some of those dub a dub or rice burner shops. I've seen a bunch come with wheels. There must be a listing for the rings by themselves.

Good catch!!! Makes me glad I sent my axles in to Moser earlier this year to upgrade to 5/8" studs.

I got Hub rings from this place. They are made from Alcoa 6061t6 billet aluminum. They aren't cheap.

http://www.motorsport-tech.com/hub_rings.html

I used them when I put new wheels on my 2003 Grand Marquis. I got some plastic ones from the company I got the wheels from but they were crap. I don't think the plastic would hold up anyway.

On the other hand, I ordered weld racing wheels for my 1965 Coronet and Weld specifically says they are lug centric and should not be balanced using the cone most shops use. There is an adapter that uses the lug holes to center the wheel for balancing.

5/8" hardware in the axles is one of those things that cost little to upgrade to but make a big difference in function and safety. No brainer for me in just about everything that will go to the track.

I am agreeing with jcc on this one. It is straight out of the Machine Design textbook.

Best way I can describe it is, the surface where the wheel center bottoms on the axle flange is EXACTLY like a clutch disk and flywheel. The axle studs are not supposed to see any shearing. If your wheels were contacting the studs and wearing on them, you have a "clutch disk" slipping because the "pressure plate" isn't clamping hard enough.

The 5/8" studs can be torqued tighter and that will provide the clamping force necessary.

The wheel centering rings are for mounting the wheel, getting it centered.

R.

You guys and your centering rings, properly nut installation is what centers the wheel on any application. Did old Volkswagens have centering rings ? Pontiac's with 8 lug wheels? how about semi trailers with lugs to hold the wheels on. If you don't know how to properly install and tighten lug nuts to the proper torque ,read up on it or ride the bus .

It all depends on how the wheel/hub is designed, hub centric or lug centric.
30 years ago, most semi trucks and trailers were lug centric, now most are hub centric.
Dodge D350's were lug centric till '93, they went hub centric in '94.
I'll take hub over lug centric.

Why stop at 5/8"? Go to 11/16".

5/8" is the thread. 11/16" is the shank diameter, which happens to be the same diameter as the mag style lug nuts.