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MG MGB Technical - Wheel stud remove

I'm getting ready to refurbish a set of disk wheel hubs, and the front ones have several missing studs, and one broken, which'll have to come out. These look like a press fit, and I'm thinking that I may be able to remove the broken one using a vise and socket, with a lug nut on the end of the stud. Is this feasible, or do I need to take them to the machine shop to be pressed in/out? Should I use heat beforehand? I got a pretty good deal on these and don't want to break a hub. Would stud installation be possible at home as well? Thanks for any advice. Joe
Joe Ullman

Easy to do at home, and useful to carry a spare. To remove, support the hub on two bits of wood next to the back of the stud, and just hammer out, if you look at the new studs you will see they just hold with serations on a taper shank.
Tatty

Thanks Tatty, I'll give it a try then.
Joe Ullman

Tatty's got you covered. I suggest also using a piece of hardwood or the like to take the blow of the hammer, just to avoid trashing the threads (if you plan on keeping them).
Dean Lake

Do as suggested in Porter's book, thread on a nut flush with the end of the stud and proceed as Tatty has detailed.

Mike Zaffarano

Not sure exactly what Porter suggests, but if the idea is for the nut to absorb part or all the blow, I'm not so sure it is a good idea. Transfering the blow to the threads down the shaft of the stud by striking the bolt in any way would seem undesirable. The nut would protect the threads at the tip of the stud, but the threads could be damaged down the shaft of the stud from the transfer of the blow. I'm no engineer, but I wouldn't expect that threaded fasteners are designed or meant to incur those kinds of impact stresses. Any automotive engineer types out there who can elaborate or correct? Intuitively, Dean
Dean Lake

Dean,

I'm no engineer but, I do work with nuts all day:) It seems that there is a large amount of surface area on the combined threads to spread the load imparted from the blow. I believe the nut would tend to rotate as struck as well which would also lessen the impact. I have not tried this technique, I am just regurgitating

-mike
Mike Zaffarano

Why worry about the threads? You are driving it OUT by pounding on the threaded end, and it should be going into the trash anyway, or why take it out? Driving the new studs in is done from the back, non-threaded, end.

Larry
Lawrence Hallanger

Doesn't hurt anything to pound out a broken stud without a nut. Pound away but if you mushroom the threads too much it won't fit through the hole in the hub - so use a drift.

If you're going to reuse the studs, drive them loose with nuts on them, flush with the top of the stud - just like you do with the nut on the steering shaft when removing the steering wheel.

Wayne
Wayne Pearson

'Preciate all the input. The only stud that has to come out is the one that's broken off about 3/8" above the hub, so the threads on that one don't matter. Three studs are missing from the front hubs however, and have to be replaced. My first try may be to put a socket behind the hub and try to push the broken one out with the vise, and I'm thinking a vise may be my choice to put in the three new studs too. Anyone see any problem trying it that way? As long as I know the hub can take a lot of pressure or shock, it puts my mind at ease, and you all seem to agree that's the case. Thinking about it, they must be forged pieces, so should be able to take a large amount of strain. If the vise doesn't work, it's the hammer treatment. Thanks all! Joe
Joe Ullman

Larry, you've got a point there - I was thinking about the time recently when I was removing perfectly good studs to replace them with longer ARP race studs. Most folks most of the time, like Joe, are only removing trashed studs. Whack away! Joe, I tried to press mine in, but ended up using a BFH with no worries. Dean
Dean Lake

Not on a B but another BL steed I just drifted the old ones out and new ones in.
Paul Hunt

Worked just like you guys said it would: ball peen hammer, drift, 4 or 5 whacks and thirty minutes later, all studs were removed. I decided to take them all out to see if there was rust between the studs and hub. That was negligible, but the hubs and studs have some light surface rust. The hubs'll go with a batch to the electrolytic stripper, but I'm up in the air as whether to replace all the wheelstuds, or just the three missing/broken. Guess I'll see how they clean up. Thanks all for the info; it went fine after I got over my shyness at hammering on the hubs!

Joe Ullman

This thread was discussed between 21/11/2002 and 24/11/2002

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