Broken wheel stud

[jusTce]

Hi!

I did something incredibly stupid.

I've tried to rotate the wheels myself and did it just fine last night. Today I went for a drive. Being cautious (and not quite trusting my own work) I've returned home and tried to see if all the nuts are tight. They all seemed to be quite tight except one.
I kept pushing it with my hand and it just never seemed to stop. Then it just snapped off. I didn't use my foot or anything. Just my hand (and I'm not that strong).

I will call the dealership Tue to see how much will it cost to fix (and if they can maybe cover it under a warranty). I doubt they will, but I have to ask. If I stepped on it and broke it I would chalk it under stupidity but I used just my hand - and as I said I'm NOT strong at all.

I have a few questions for experts:

1. How much does a broken stud on a rear left wheel normally cost to replace?

2. Is that something I can do myself? I've read on some sites that once you remove the wheel and the drum, the stud can be hammered out. It was not a Solara-specific advice, so I would appreciate any pointers.

3. Being my car is 2.5 yrs old and with only 20k on it (no rust, major wear... nothing; it's been pampered 2.5 years) is it safe at all to drive to a dealer on 4 lug nuts? Dealer is about 25 miles away. It's all highway driving and that's what worries me. I have AAA, so I'm thinking about towing it.

Any and all advice is appreciated. Just don't beat me over this. I've been beating myself over it for several hours now.

Thanks!!!

[ThatVietGuy]

My friend used to drift his 240 on 4 out of 5 lug nuts, so I think you'll be fine

I've done two studs on my front driver side wheel and it wasn't hard at all. I don't remember how much new studs cost me, but I know it was somewhere between $10 and $20.

The only hard part is getting the new lug to press into place. That's where patience and ingenuity comes in to play.

If you don't feel up to it though, you can take it to any mechanic and they should be able to do it.

[Americanctm10]

Pepboys, Discount Tire, and places like that can press a stud back on for you, just buy one and if you can't do it right, take it to them.

[BadAngel]

Its easily done... I remember on one of my dads cars we had to do this... basically the stud has almost like a star shape (or some other non-circular shape, depending on the car) on the end that attaches to the wheel which stops it from turning while tightening the lug nut, and it has like a cap on it that is larger than the hole to stop it from going through the hole (so the only way the stud can come out is through the back of the wheel).

http://z.about.com/d/autorepair/1/5/x/0/-/-/Studs1.jpg

If you take a hammer, you can just basically beat it out of the hole by hitting the top where the lug nut would bolt on. Since you said it snapped, i am going to assume that there might not be any of the stud exposed, in which case you can probably just stick the part that you broke off up against whats left of the stud and hit that with the hammer (of course you need to be more careful this way to make sure you have the broken piece over whats left of the stud, or your just beating the broken piece into the wheel)

To get the new one back on, if i remember correctly, you can take the wheel off and line the star shape end on the end of the stud with the hole and hit it on with a hammer. OR, you can get it partially on this way, and then put the wheel on and tighten the lug and this should almost press fit the bolt into place, either way, you need to get the stud partially into the hole (i don't think this can be done on our cars without taking part of the wheel apart or off because i think theres some sort of metal shield behind it so you cant access the back of the wheel)

[Gadgetjq]

At some point, someone has over torqued that (and probably all the other) lug nut(s). It's also possible that one nut was cross threaded at some point but whoever did it managed to get the nut off but the stud had already been twisted. Anyway, not your fault.

As another forum member has indicated replacing the studs is simple. Take the wheel off and hit the bad stud with a hammer (a sledge works nicely). It'll just pop out the back of the axle flange. Replace with a new one by pressing the new stud in as far as it'll go then put the wheel on and tighten the nut. That'll pull the stud all the way into the hole.

BTW proper torque for the lug nuts on your car is 76 foot pounds.

Cheers

[jusTce]

Hi!

Thank you all for very useful responses. I have decided to try and do it myself. I do have another question:

After reading the post by BadAngel it seems that there may be a barrier (metal plate) behind the brake drum (and the wheel assembly) that may require further disassembly to be able to access the back of the brake assy. and push the new stud in. Is there something like that on the rear left wheel of an '06 that will require further disassembly, or can I just push the stud from the rear without the need to disassemble the thing any further than the brake drum?

I have searched for a diagram to no avail, and it's been raining on and off since yesterday so I couldn't do anything on the car to check it out myself except try and feel the back behind the wheel, and there does seem to be a metal plate behind the assembly (I could be wrong, though).

I did look at the service manuals in the sticky post, but they did not have what I needed.

I appreciate all your help, guys

[CASTRO]

i did mine myself. Just a lot of anger and force with a hammer will do. Hahaha. To get it in, I used a the spare and and old nut to pull the new stud into place.

My studs actually came with the H&R spacer kit I ordered so dunno about price. Easy to pull it in so no worries.

[sydemoid]

wheel studs @ autozone are like $3

getting the stud in... not too hard.

1) remove wheel
2) take brake caliper off
3) remove brake disc
4) hammer out broken stud <- millions of variants on how to do this
5) once its out, you can see the exposed hub, line up new stud from behind
6) get about 5-6 washers that fit the stud, and tighten with a nut until it is fully in place.
7) re-assemble brake assemblies, and put wheel back on
re check your torque on the studs.... have a nice day.

[jusTce]

Thanks!
What about the rear drum brakes?
How do you get the drum off? Hammer it lightly off, pull it off, or?
Once the drum is out what's next?

Thanks

[kingkakyle]

gen 2?
i thought all gen 2's had 4 disk brakes including the 4cyl

[Gadgetjq]

gen 2?
i thought all gen 2's had 4 disk brakes including the 4cyl

Gen II's have 4 wheel disks but on the rear there's a drum provided in the center of the disk for the emergency brake. The emergency brake uses old fashioned (but rather small) brake shoes.

The rear disk/drum assembly comes right off the studs just like the front (after the brake caliper is removed).

Cheers

[jusTce]

THANKS EVERYONE!

I have replaced the broken stud about a week after posting here (thought an update is in order). It took me 1 hour having never disassembled any of the wheel components before, but it was a happy ending after all.

Thanks for all your advice and help.