I recently had these loosen up on me and one of them broke off. I can get the broken one to turn with an EZ out but it refuses to come out of the hub due to screwed up threads. What are the odds of catostrophic failure if I just run for a wheeling trip w/o one stud? I would normally replace it but am having a hard time finding one in time for the fundraiser I am attending next week.

Thanks!

I would not do but that is just me. They put six on there for a reason, equal clamping force. What type of hubs are you running? If they are anything but Aisin get rid of them. Aisin are the only ones that use the "dreaded cone washers" and that is what keeps them tight. I have never had an Aisin hub come loose, but I have seen many of the after-mark ones come loose, break all the studs and locating pins.

These are actually the asian ones and all the cone washers were still there. it was the studs that actually worked their way out from the hub, the nuts didnt move at all....weird.

I figured its best to have them all in place but I have to wheel next weekend so if i cant get a replacement one by then, im just gonna see what happens I guess.

I always put a couple drops of red locktight on the studs before I screw them into the hubs, double nut and snug them up pretty good. How are the holes in the hub where the locating pins go, they are supposed to be a snug fit.

Keep a socket near by and check thehubs when you stop.

I was removing (forever) my Warn hubs yesterday and found the nuts were not very tight (almost didn't even need a wrench) and one of the locating pins was broken. I was planning to drill it out and make a replacement pin the same size. Does anyone know how deep I can drill into that? I don't want to drill too deep and mess something up.

Guess I'm lucky I didn't break all the studs off too. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/shiner.gif" alt="" />




Oh well it will give the paint time to dry on my Aisin hubs.

Well I started drilling it out. I got about 1/2" deep and it seems to have hit a harder steel at that depth, so I'm thinking that the pin was softer than the hub and thats the depth of the pin. I'm just stepping it up in diameter now. It was snapped off at a pretty steep angle so getting and keeping the hole centered has been a task. I may go ahead and tap the hole and use a cutoff bolt for the new locating pin. I guess I'll keep the same diameter pin so if I need to swap out the lockout sometime the new lockout will swap easy. But going to a bigger pin would be stronger. If someone wanted to really beef up the union you might be able to use some extra pins around but it would mean drilling the lockouts too. Anyone have thoughts on this?

At one time Hendrix Motorsports was doing this conversion. Send them your hubs and they would drill and install 6 large OD studs and drill your locking hubs to match. Not sure if they still offer that service or not.

I'll keep that in mind if I trash the studs sometime.

Despite my best efforts to keep the hole centered (center punched dead center and started with a small bit and worked my way up in size) I wasn't able to keep it in the middle.



So I had to finish up with a dremel and carbide cutters and small grinding bits. to get the remaining broken stud out. I was able to chip some of it out with a punch and hammer. What a PITA, took me 2 days to replace the hubs. I can't even image the PITA if all the studs and locations pins sheared off. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" />

One little tip to keep the metal shavings out of the axle grease is to cut up a plastic cup until its just the right size to fit inside the hub.



I decided not to tap the hole, I just used red locktie and a tight fitting replacement stud.