I currently have what appears to be 1.75" studs (from bottom of head) in the rear hubs for my 1972 vette. The hubs are aftermarket which I replaced many years ago. I would like to run some aftermarket rear wheels which require some longer studs. From what I can see, even if I could get the existing studs out, I don't see any way to get longer studs installed without removing the hub...which I am not willing to do. I don't have my parking brakes anymore so those are at least out of the way but I only have about 1.5" of clearance behind the wheel hub. I guess before I ditch the idea I would see if there is something I am missing or if my assessment of the situation is correct. I see on u-tube videos (Other cars types) where people drill holes in the splash guard or bend them for clearance. I don't see where that is possible on my car.

 

On our 79, I simply cut one of the vent holes in the shield to be a little larger - see picture below. This gave us enough room to remove and install the stock size stud - it should work for longer ones also. We did this while it was on the car, but have since replaced the arms with rebuilt ones - thus the picture showing it off the car.

 

 

I have also done this on several cars. Drill or enlarge one of the dust shield holes. It is a ton less work than removing the hubs and nobody will ever see it.

 

here is what i did on mine. good luck.
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...post1600447976

 

Here are some pics regarding what I did. I used 2-7/8" studs and because of the 3/8" spacer and deep lug nut design I did not have to cut the studs down. The hole in the shield could have been smaller. I also probably could have cut just in front of the parking brake shoe bearing dimple instead of going all the way through to the existing vent hole. That way if I ever did want to re-install the useless parking brake I could have easily. That said, the ball joint press and the Lisle wheel stud installation tool and additional stud install bearing made removal and install a breeze. I cleaned up the holes with a drill bit and didn't need to use an impact gun for any of it. I checked each stud to make sure it was at 90 degrees to the flange. One was a little off but not enough to prevent installing the wheel rotor and wheel. I had to modify the ball joint press a bit with a hacksaw to get it in behind the stud far enough. Cost 40 bucks on Amazon. I am going to have to remove my rear sway bar. I also had to trim the ebrake mounting tab on the trailing arm to clear my wheel. It is a 9.5" x 18" wheel. Just barely fits.

 

damn straight

 

I did a similar mod to my dust shield and was able to pull 3 inch Moroso studs in last spring. I used a ball shaped grind stone and made a hole in the same spot as KJL. I guess it took about an hour each side once I got into it. I used a front end tie rod separator tool to press out the old studs.

 

Nice work. I probably should have done that so if I ever wanted to install the parking brake I could have. Doubt that I will however. I used some heavy duty foil duct take to fill over the hole. I did run into problems today. When doing the driver side I discover 3 of the studs were bent. I suspect doubling up on the stud installation tools were to blame. One stud just would not seat. Off to Summit tomorrow to pick up more studs. I am using Moser studs. They are black and threaded all the way to the tip. I am glad I had the c-frame ball joint remover, made getting my extra long studs out quite easy.

 

Update: so I have leaned a lot. Discovered the studs were stretched. I apparently was over tightening in order to seat the stud head. Also discovered the knurl was shearing off and collecting up under the head causing the issue with getting the head to seat flush. I also discovered that some of the studs were not going in straight causing issues with getting brake rotor back on and also causing issues with wheel nut to the wheel hub clearance. It does not take much to over torque and stretch these things. Being 2-7/8” long makes things worse if they are a little off. I have after market stub axles which may have smaller stud holes than stock. The method that seemed to work best was putting studs in freezer and then just starting them with an impact air wrench with a little grease on the knurl. This seemed to get them started straighter than by starting by hand. I would then finishing by hand. Check squareness with small square or use a long socket. I also ran a wheel nut all the way down to the flange. If the stud is stretched, the nut will become very hard if impossible to turn further by hand. This is a sign the threads are stretched. You can also check Stud diameter with a vernier caliper. I also recommend using the longer acorn type wheel nuts for better thread engagement. Buy a new pack of them. I used Moroso. This lessens the trauma on the stud threads by spreading out the load across more threads. After going through nearly 30 studs I finally got everything straight enough to get everything back together. I was concerned as my wheels are stud-centric so straightness is important. I assembled the wheels and torqued to 70ft-lbs and checked the wheels and all appears to be on center and looking good. Lesson learned here is beware of the bubba utube videos just zipping these things on with an air gun. If you are just replacing 1 with a stock size stud you can probably get away with it. If you are doing them all, need to not make assumptions. There is more to it than it seems. Mine are not perfect but certainly as good as could be done using this method. Pressing them in is really the best and safest way to do it regarding not stretching the stud. I think keeping them straight has lot to do with Proper knurl diameter, length and design. The stock studs I removed had MUCH less knurl length than the replacement studs which made the replacement studs much harder to install. Not much knurl is required to hold them in place. If I had it to do over again, I would have searched for studs with less knurl as I believe this was the main cause of all my problems.

 

valid points, especially about YouTube videos. They are sometimes very misleading check some of the rear bearing ones if you want to see wrong ways to do them.

For the longer studs, I just installed a set of ARP 1/2-20's in a new Tom's 31 spline axle. I machined them to a little over stock length and checked the holes for fit. I cut back the knurl so it is not beyond the flange causing a rotor fit issue. You can countersink or counterbore the rotor hat but it's best not to have any burrs sticking out from drawing in the stud.

There are several ways to install them. I use either my press or a Lisle stud installer. This time the Lisle tool worked easy and drew them in square. Threads are not stretched, a drop of Loctite added to the knurl.