Pictures Thread Has this ever happened to you: Wheel Stud Snapped!

[lovesick]

Hello,

I am not a Tundra owner, but I was approached by a customer who owns a 04 Tundra 2WD and wants me to service the front brakes on his Tundra. The customer complained about the right side wheel shaking under braking.

The right rotor was resurfaced twice before, whereas the left rotor was only resurfaced once.

After everything is removed, I noticed that on the right caliper the lower brake pad pin is missing!! The closest Toyota dealer doesn't have one in stock, so I had to get an aftermarket one and luckily there was a pair in stock for $7. The rotors were turned and were within specification. They did not have the pin clip in stock, so I had to use a small cotter pin instead.

Is a missing lower pin a normal phenomenon? On cars such as the 350Z, MK4 Supras, 300ZX, the clips that hold the pins in place are tighter than on the Tundra.

While putting everything back together, one of the studs snapped and fell off. I was not torquing it. It just fell off. Here is a picture:


I told the owner the situation. He told me the left tire was recently repaired by a tire shop that used an impact gun to tighten the lug nuts. I told him that was probably the cause. I had to use an impact gun at 130psi in order to remove the nuts. The nuts were on extremely tight. I torqued all the other nuts to 90lb-ft of torque and they were all fine.

Anyway, just thought I'd share!

[03_Tundra_Limited]

yeah i broke one off using a 1/2 ratchet,i was just guessing at the right amount of torque, but honestly i didnt think i was putting near enough torque on it to snap it. my guess is it was already weak from a tire shop using an impact gun to tighten the lugs just as you mentioned. luckily autozone had some replacements in stock for like $2 or $3 i also learned to make sure in the future my torque wrench is in my posession before i start taking wheels off.

[NoKz]

Tightened to 130 lbs?! WTF were they thinking!?

[03_Tundra_Limited]

sounds like a new tire shop is in order, i saw an article in an offroad magazine a year or so ago about a wheel completely coming off (i think it was an older fullsize suburban) while going 45mph down a paved mountain road after the lug nuts sheared due to extreme overtightening, no one was injured luckily but i believe it said something like 1/4 of the rotor was grinded down while sliding on the pavement. moral of the story overtightened lugnuts can potentially be very dangerous!

[Jaynelson]

I've snapped a few wheel studs removing wheels that either hadn't been off in a million years, or were overtightened....it happens when whomever installed them is a savage LOL

[tempetom]

Back in the late 60s a guy I worked with needed help putting on his snow tires in Rochester, NY. I offered to help him and sheared off a couple of his studs trying to remove them. I finally gave up and found out his Chrysler product had left handed threads on the lugs. They changed the design soon afterwards, but I guess it happened a lot.

[spennrocks]

That might be why more vehicles came out with a hub-centric wheel mounting.

85 lbs is all you need. wheel's aint goin nowhere....except round...

[lovesick]

Yeah hub centric reduces stress significantly on wheels!

Left handed threads! I guess that's how things worked back in the 60's...

Most tire shops, EVEN garages or repair shops never bother torquing wheels with a torque wrench. They simply guess with the impact gun trigger!!! That's shoddy work, but unfortunately almost all of them do that.

[ctateusa]

We use an impact but we have a special tool called a torque stick, there are different torques that they tighen to and dont go over. On my tundra I think its either 90 or 100lbs. And on our honda's we service its 85lbs. We check a new set when we replace them with a torque wrench to make sure the sticks are calibrated right and have never found a bad one yet.

[single]

I use an 80# torque stick on my wheels. Always checks with a torque wrench to between 79 and 83.

[Boosted27606]

It is always a good idea to add a tiny bit of antiseize lubricant onto each stud so that next time you rotate your wheels or such exercise, every nut comes out easily.

And make sure you always use the proper torque value as well ( 85 ft.lbs or so )

[CJM_T100]

I second the anti-seize and I usually put the tires on just snug and never had an issue with the air gun.

FWIW I did use my snap on cordless 1/2 impact to put my fancy chrome wheels on the t100 one day, got distracted and I overtorqued one of the wheels badly. I had to snap 5 of the 6 studs off.. 76ftlbs is more than enough, iirc thats the old spec for the trucks and various other toyotas.

I love going out to people or working on cars who had work done at tireshops or such. They always over torque the nuts and either the stud snaps or they are on so tight it takes a breaker bar and a pipe over it to get them off.

[lovesick]

I had a conversation with the customer yesterday. He came to me to book an appointment for some suspension and brake work on his Civic. He said that the tire shop is willing to repair the broken stud for him free of charge. As it turns out, the customer lost the key to his wheel locks a month ago, so the tire shop had to use a special tool to "remove" the wheel lock. They assume that's how the lug nut got damaged. Nevertheless, the tire shop is willing to repair the damage, which is a relieve for everyone. The tire shop retains another customer. Everybody's happy!

I believe Toyota specifies between 80-90lb-ft of torque, as do many many other manufacturers. When in doubt, 85lb-ft is always a safe setting for passenger vehicles. The class, grade, and the thread pitch used by many wheel studs and nuts are capable of up to 120lb-ft of torque safely. They can handle this kind of torque and stress without any problem. Manufacturers usually suggest a lower torque specification for easy removal. When the torque far exceeds their specifications, they risk failure. Lug nuts and stud failure are rare, but they do occur if you are unlucky. Higher quality studs and nuts generally can handle more torque and stress than their rated specifications.

Anti-seize is always a good idea. Remember, a little amount goes a long way.

Anyway, while testing and bedding in the brakes on the Tundra for this customer, I noticed that the truck's oil temperature gauge was at 3/4. Is this normal?

[gquenstedt]

Originally Posted by lovesick

Anyway, while testing and bedding in the brakes on the Tundra for this customer, I noticed that the truck's oil temperature gauge was at 3/4. Is this normal?

Is it an aftermarket gauge? I wasn't aware there was such a thing. There is oil pressure, and it varies depending on rpms, the highest it usually goes is 3/4

[DevinSixtySeven]

You're probably looking at the oil pressure gauge, if that is the case, all is well.

The factory torque specification for the lug nuts on early 1st-gens is 83 ft-lbs. I'm not sure OTOH if it was changed before the 2nd-gens.

Missing a pin is not normal, however .

The shop I use runs a low-value torque stick across the hub, then does final torque by hand with a wrench...they're a good crew...

-Sean