Who did you get spacers from?

 

3 mm from Pfadt $55/pair
5 mm from some place in Indiana. $50/pair

Elmer

 

Sigh, reopening this little chapter.

I've decided that the 5mm spacers on the front restrict the lugs from getting a sufficient purchase on the studs. I have purchased some ARP studs 100-7708 that are 1/2" longer than the stock studs.

I thought this would be an easy swap! Sadly, I can remove the studs without taking off the hub but the increased length of the ARP will not allow for installation so...


I am going to remove the hubs to get it done. I made a "look" to see what this entails and found that I don't have the proper sized torx drivers. I ordered a 55 and a 60 sized torx driver from sears. When they arrive, I'll jack up the car and replace the studs.

Just another little irritant to get it done correctly.

Elmer

 

Last chapter on this mod. I was not comfortable with the number of threads that my lug nut captured so I went to the store and bought 10 ARP studs part # 100-7708. I looked into having the studs installed but they wanted 2.3 hours per wheel to do the work. The only thing stopping me from doing it myself was the size 55 torx socket. SO I bought one from Sears.

The book says you have to remove the hub from the car to do the fronts. Well, that is actually not true so here is how I did the task.

Jacked up car and placed front on jack stands

Remove right front wheel and spacer

Remove 2 21mm caliper bolts and remove caliper from rotor. I set the caliper on a small box under the car so as not to dangle the caliper by the brake line.

Remove the rotor.

Take a hammer and strike the stud inward and loosen from hub. Rotate hub to ~4 o'clock and remove stud. Rinse and repeat until all 5 are out.

Use 21mm socket on the ball joint nut and remove nut.

Use floor jack to support the lower control arm. Put it under and raise it just enough to touch the lower control arm. Do not put any more pressure than that on the LCA.

Use pickle fork and separate ball joint.

Raise the steering knuckle up about 3/4" to allow access to the bottom hub bolt. I simply took the caliper bolt and placed it under the steering knuckle to keep the tie rod stud out of the way.

Turn wheels full to the right.

Remove bottom and front hub bolts with size 55 torx driver.

Turn wheels full to the left.

Remove rear hub bolt.

Straighten wheels.

Gentle pull on hub to give a little space to get in the new studs. Be careful, there is a wire still connected but you don't have to fool with it if you are gentle. Insert all 5 new studs and then push the hub back into place. Put loctite on the hub bolts. It calls for 95 lb ft of torque but I only put 85 as the loctite is liquid and would give me the wrong torque.

Take out the caliper bolt and let the knuckle drop back down. Put the rod nut back on. You may need to hold the nut in place (crescent wrench) and use a smaller torx driver to get the nut snugged down to where you can then put a 21mm socket on it and torque the nut down. 20 lb ft +180 degrees

Put 5 or 6 washers on a stud and put on a regular lug nut that is NOT capped. You cannot use the stock lug nuts on this step You MUST have an open lug nut that can go way down the stud shaft. Now hold the stud by the threads and turn it while you put very light pressure on the back of the stud. As you turn it you will "feel" the knurls of the stud going over the ridges created by the knurls of the stock studs. Get the stud to a "valley" and stop turning the stud, put good pressure on the back of the stud to hold it in the valley and then turn the lug nut tight as you can by hand to hold the stud in position. I then put my air wrench on the lug nut and gave it hell. Keep cranking on it and watch the head of the stud as it will slowly be drawn in to the hub. When the head makes contact, stop with the air wrenching. Reverse the air tool and take off the lug nut and washers then rinse and repeat for the other 4 studs.

When all 5 studs are installed, put on the rotor (and spacer if you use one). put washers on 3 studs and snug down 3 open ended lug nuts to hold the rotor in place.

Install caliper. Use 21mm socket on caliper bracket bolts. Torque to spec. In my case, locktite and 65 lb ft. Use the torque settings that apply to your specific situation.

Remove the 3 lug nuts and washers.

Install your wheel and torque to 100 lb ft.


Now, move all your **** to the other side and do the same steps for the other front wheel! :p


It was about an hour, maybe an hour and a half per wheel for me. I wasn't rushing and I was being careful to not screw up!

I think I'm going to go out today and get some new lug nuts that have a deeper dome in them to make sure I'm not getting close to bottoming out inside of the front lug nuts. It didn't feel as though I was but I'm just being cautious.

Enjoy. Sorry for no pictures but I can't operate a camera and work on the suspension at the same time plus, it's dirty work with the brake dust and grime under there.


Elmer

 

You are lucky that you didn't destroy the ball joint boot when you used the pickle fork. A better way to remove the ball joint is to let the control arm hang with the jack a small space just below it. Then hit the control arm near the ball joint with a large hammer this will knock the stud loose so you can drop the control arm. Sometimes it takes a few whacks and you have to test to make sure the stud isn't loose after each one since it isn't always obvious that it is loose. This way you aren't jamming that fork into the boot and possibly tearing it. I always leave the nut at the top of the stud so the stud can't pull all the way out of the control arm while I am working on things.

Bill

 

You could have just got a set of extended thread lug nuts that would have made up the 3mm and 5mm difference and then some.

for example:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/GOR-68137L/

Or according to this member, one doesn't need either when using 1/4" or less spacers.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/1574366353-post11.html

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/1574368317-post14.html

 

You can get some real nice custom ones made from Motorsport Tech, down to as thin as 3mm.

 

Extended thread lug nuts? How is that going to make my studs longer? With the 5mm spacer, I lost 5mm of thread to grasp with my lug nuts. Different lug nuts won't do crap in getting more threads. I put the linger studs in and regained what I lost with the 5mm spacer. I had 4 turns and got 100 lb ft. I was not happy with only four turns of the lug nuts.

My wheels are fully clamped now using the stock lug nuts.

Elmer

 

I got the 3 mm from Pfadt. The 5mm from a different source.

Elmer

 

Well, to get at the bottom fastener of the hub you have to take the nut off and lower the threaded stud out of the way.

Elmer

 

LOL...take a look at them before speaking and you will see how they gain you threads. It doesn't make the studs longer. Those lugs give you .30" (7.6mm) of more thread over a stock lug, so you have a net thread -GAIN- of 2.6mm when using a 5mm spacer. You lose 5mm of threads with the spacer but you GAIN 7.6mm in the lugs = 2.6mm net GAIN.

 

+1 for the BFH. Works like a charm every time.

 

Changing the studs is a really big job because the hubs are tough to get off. I did mine when I did the Pfadt kit because everything was already apart, but getting the hub out of the knuckle is real challenge. I wore out two torx sockets getting the bolts out.