Wheel Studs / Tires / Rims

[jsikora]

So I have a 2006 Fleetwood. This spring I upgraded all the rims and tires to Aluminum Alloy Rims and new tires. On our way out of town last Thursday we broke all 12 studs on the right side tires/rims/hubs. Once we got the vehicle stopped and road side assistance arrived they were able to move one hub from the left side to the right so we could slowly head towards home. Well 10 miles from home the last alloy rim snapped all the studs. Long story short the camper is in my driveway but am in search of a place to find good studs and reasonable rims and tires. The studs are 1/2-20 RH .560 knurl 2-3/4" long. I was able to find a suitable stud at Advanced Auto however just a bit shorter. Tires are 225 75R15 with a 6 lug rim.

Called all the local RV dealers and they are over 200 for a steel wheel and tire. I was able to locate some online, however am curious to know how many folks run Bias vs radial ?

[mchero]

OK, I'm about 6 miles down the road from that track. Have a safe trip!

RM

jsikora wrote:

mchero wrote:
Heading up to Hew Hampshire EH? Business or pleasure?

Robert (Concord NH)

Pleasure...Louden NH for the NASACAR Race. About the only real vacation the wife and i will get this year so we are going up a few days early to see some sights and relax (hopefully)

[jsikora]

mchero wrote:
Heading up to Hew Hampshire EH? Business or pleasure?

Robert (Concord NH)

Pleasure...Louden NH for the NASACAR Race. About the only real vacation the wife and i will get this year so we are going up a few days early to see some sights and relax (hopefully)

[mchero]

Heading up to Hew Hampshire EH? Business or pleasure?

Robert (Concord NH)

[jsikora]

Well an update for all of you. My particular axles were built by Quality Axle. Quality Axle is now Rockwell Axle - http://rockwellamerican.com/. I called them and the lady on the phone was excellent. Thry shipped me all new replacement studs, lug nuts and grease caps for less than I could imagine. If any of you need parts on these axles this has been the best place that i have ever dealt with in customer service, shipping and costs. The parts cost less than I could get them anywhere local and I know they are the exact parts being they used my serial numbers to find what i needed.

I did buy new rims and tires online. I went back to steel wheels as i never ran into issues prior on them. The wheels and tires arrived today and the tires brand i have never heard from, but it will allow me to move the trailer. This winter I'll replace them with some goodyears.

Insurance was here today and covered 90% of the damage which made me happy. I am hoping to make it to New Hamshire next week as long as no issues are found in alignment of the axles.

[mapguy]

Up to and most 7k trailer hubs use 60 degree conical lug nuts. Trailer specific wheels do not use shouldered lug nuts with washers. Use of improper wheels and or lug nut system results in stressed lug studs that break.

[Charlie_D_]

The conical seats on sonme automobile lug nuts will not always seat in the cone of trailer rims. The I.D. of some of the trailer (aluminum?) rims are too small for some lug nuts. Speaking from experience.

[LarryJM]

sc3283 wrote:
mapguy a lugnut with too long of a shank will bottom out on the drum before pulling the wheel tight to the drum...this will allow the wheel to remain loose..the wheel wobbles on the stud ans shank of the lug nut...the stud breaks.

It does NOT take much movement at all from a loose wheel to work a lug stud to the point of breakage

while none of this is rocket science...it is easily overlooked and even easier of a person doesn't deal with mechanics on a daily basis.

I don't think shank length should be an issue since AFAIK all trailer wheels will have the conical seats and as long as you are using the conical seat lug nuts as mentioned about the only two things to cause stud failure is over torquing or torque too loose and my bets would be on the former since with the conical fastening system you can prevent most wheel slippage that can cause stud failure.

The flat two piece washer and the conical seat fastening system are not directly related to whether a wheel system is lug or hub centric. However all flat washer fastening systems will be found only on hub centric systems and wheel with oversized hub pilots and which are commonly referred to as "LUG CENTRIC" will have the conical fastening system. HOWEVER, you will find the conical fastening system used on some HUB CENTRIC wheel systems.

BTW you will only find HUB CENTRIC wheel systems on factory OEM motorized vehicles. Trailers and unmanned towed vehicles don't really require the precision of a HUB CENTRIC wheel system because minor NVH issues are not a problem like they are in manned vehicles. Thus I think you will find ALL TRAILERS and towed vehicle wheel and wheel systems will use the conical fastening system or at least an extremely large percentage of them.


Larry

[sc3283]

mapguy a lugnut with too long of a shank will bottom out on the drum before pulling the wheel tight to the drum...this will allow the wheel to remain loose..the wheel wobbles on the stud ans shank of the lug nut...the stud breaks.

It does NOT take much movement at all from a loose wheel to work a lug stud to the point of breakage

while none of this is rocket science...it is easily overlooked and even easier of a person doesn't deal with mechanics on a daily basis.

[mapguy]

Nuera Trailer parts has trailer wheels and mounted tires/wheels in many sizes. They offer free shipping over $99 with some restrictions.

Nuera Trailer Parts

Wheel stud breakage is typically from 2 causes:
1. Over tightened -impact wrench without a final hand torque
2. Loose -not properly torqued.

Improper wheels could cause a situation that prevented proper torquing.

Did you use trailer specific wheels -that is 0" offset. Very few automotive/light truck wheels have the proper offset and the weight capacity needed for trailer usage, especially in the 6 on 5.5 lug pattern.

[RJsfishin]

I believe the OP knows why this happened He already took full blame for why it happened. He did not ask why it happened.
Why not answer his question ?

I wouldn't be caught dead running bias tires in hot weather. But if that is the only way to get the correct wheels, buy'm !

[sc3283]

if the lug nuts had a shank that fit into the lug hole in the wheels, make sure the shank does NOT protrude past the inner flat surface of the wheel...if so the lug nut is bottoming out on the brake drum....which will give you a torque reading on your wrench but due to being bottomed out on the drum, the wheel is not tight to the drum...a very common and simple mistake.

lug studs just don't sheer off for no reason...even with alum rims

[othertonka]

LarryJM wrote:

fpresto wrote:
I agree with down home. There are two basic types, hub centric where the hub centers the wheel and lug centric where lugs center the wheel. Using the wrong type can cause your issue.

Never heard of that and since you evidently know something so can you please explain how that would sheer the studs.

Thanx,

Larry

I believe that you purchased the wrong wheel type. believe you bought HUB piloted wheels instead of LUG piloted wheels. Hub piloted wheels center on the HUB and use lug nuts that have washers attached to them and cinch up against the flat part of the wheel. You probably used the LUG piloted lug nuts that fit into the cone shaped lug holes but since your new wheels did not have those type of lug holes, the lug nuts did not seat into the holes properly since the were not tapered, and when the lug nuts came loose it allowed the wheel to shift and sheer off all the lug nuts.

Here is a link to a description of the two types of wheels, you can google hub piloted wheels for further descriptions
Hub Piloted wheels

[LarryJM]

fpresto wrote:
I agree with down home. There are two basic types, hub centric where the hub centers the wheel and lug centric where lugs center the wheel. Using the wrong type can cause your issue.

Never heard of that and since you evidently know something so can you please explain how that would sheer the studs.

Thanx,

Larry

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Nothing is sadder than spending a lot of money on a supposed improvement only to find out is is inferior, substandard and even dangerous. My heart goes out to you.