Stripped lug post on 2010 MFI trailer

[jetboater4life]

Well I finally got rid of my bias ply tires today. They were cracking all over on the side wall and had quite a bit of wear on the inside treads. I had discount tire install four new Maxxis M8008 205/75/14. They had to be special ordered. It's funny cause when I ordered them over the phone the guy tried to tell me that the Maxxis were lower in quality than the Carlisle or TracMasters even though the Maxxis were more expensive at $107 per tire. I told him "I ain't puttin no china bombs on my trailer!" and he promptly ordered the Maxxis. While talking to the guys doing the install they said that they were getting tons calls for the Maxxis and thought they were the best choice, meaning the guy I talked to was probably trying to get rid of their in stock china bombs.

Now on to my problem. While they were removing the lug nuts one of them would not come off and just spun with the air ratchet. It required a plyers to hold it in place on the back side. He said I could pull the trailer with only 4 and that should be OK for the short term until I get it repaired. Anyone disagree?

I asked him about the fix and he said they only do tires and don't carry the tools to fix it. So he handed me the lug nut and installed the rest of the tires. He said the fix was simple and the lug posts were only a couple of bucks from Napa. Basically you just tap out the old one and tap in a new one. Sounds easy right? Has anyone replaced a lug post? Is it that simple? Any tips? My next stop is youtube for info.

Here is a picture of my brand new Maxxis M8008.
It's before they cleaned it up.

 

[tdonoughue]

Never did a lug post before... So I can't shed much light on replacing it. I always assumed they were spot welded. If that is the case, you would not even need to buy a new one. Just reweld the back of the existing, add Loctite and go. But that is just my assumption.

I would not run 4 lugs for anything much beyond the run home or to the shop. The 4 lugs should be checked frequently as they will loosen eventually. Also your balance will be a little off. Doubt you will lose a tire or anything on the way home. Or even in a short run to the lake or two. They are over engineered, so the strength is not the problem. A little vibration is the problem, as that adds up. Check them and you will be fine for the short term.

 

[Gym]

The guy is correct...sorta. Yes, you CAN run on four lugs, you can also run on two but neither situation is as safe as running on five so I wouldn't advise it.

He was correct. The fix is pretty easy. You need to remove the wheel so as to not mess it up. You can punch the old lug out with a hammer. You may want to put a nut on the old lug to give you more striking surface. The new lug just pushes in from the back side. When you tighten the lug nut it pulls the new lug snug to the wheel.

 

[jonw9]

When we built a wheel install for GM, we only had a single hub assembly to test on, so after a bunch of test runs the threads would wear and we would hammer out the stud and pull a new one in. This went on for days/weeks.

While I would not recommend doing this repeatedly, you will be fine in this case. I assume the stud is softer than the hub assembly, and was the part that stripped allowing it to turn in place.

 

[Bilmon]

New stud looks like this. Take old one with so you get right size.A tire shop that can't handle a broken stud???. Can,t believe a thread on lug nuts gets this much interest!

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

I found the only lug nuts I will use is enclosed nuts , they shield the studs from the water and that solves the problem.

 

[jetboater4life]

I found the only lug nuts I will use is enclosed nuts , they shield the studs from the water and that solves the problem.

@Cobra Jet Steering LLC Is this what an enclosed lug nut looks like?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Boat-Trailer-Short-Chrome-Acron-Enclosed-Lug-Nuts-1-2-20-Thread-For-Short-Studs-/261138992745
If so then that is exactly what is on my trailer. Are there any tricks to keeping them sealed? My boat only sees freshwater and only for the short MN summer. I can't imagine how bad this stuff gets on salt water dunked trailers.

 

[motorboater]

I had a stud break off when removing a wheel on the interstate within a month of the boat being brand new. The piece of shit bias ply tire exploded with less than 300 miles and bent the hell outta the fender. So later on I removed the fender to straighten it... and thats when a couple more studs broke when trying to remove the wheels. Then I found unpainted surfaces on the fenders and trailer so ended up removing both fenders and painting them. A couple more studs broke on the other side. I replaced all of the studs and lugnuts. My assumption is that they were overtorqued at the dealer or factory.

Sorry... long story short... Its easy. A tire shop that cant replace a stud? LOL whatever. Was the guy 12? It requires nothing more than a hammer and lugwrench/impact, unless the hub splines were stripped out but thats quite rare. Even that is as basic as it gets though to replace a hub. Driving for a while with 4 good studs is not a problem.

The studs are 1/2-20 x 1-11/16. You can buy them from MFI, or any auto parts store. Buy new capped chrome lugnuts too. Use the old nuts to install the studs. I use a larger nut as a spacer and draw the new stud up with an impact wrench. Be carefull with the impact torque. You will hear/feel when the new stud bottoms out against the back of the hub. Put anti-seize compound on the splines before installing them, and on the threads before installing the wheels.

Torque spec for the lugnuts is 90 ft/lbs.

 

[jetboater4life]

I called up MFI and ordered up 5 studs and 5 chrome plated lug nuts. Should have them in a few days and then can begin the install.

 

[tdonoughue]

Can,t believe a thread on lug nuts gets this much interest!

We are not on the water. We are bored...

 

[jetboater4life]

We are not on the water. We are bored...

Exactly. We have some severe flood conditions going on right now. Both major lakes near me are in no wake status.

 

[farrelltravis]

Flooding in some parts and drought in others.....dang.

 

[maboat]

Flooding in some parts and drought in others.....dang.

Maybe the GubMint should get a group of Army engineers to build reservoirs to help contain, control, and equalize this wide swing in water levels between different parts of the country....
....oh wait....

 

[maboat]

...A tire shop that can't handle a broken stud???

A tire shop that cant replace a stud? LOL whatever. Was the guy 12? It requires nothing more than a hammer and lugwrench/impact,

I was thinking the same thing. Don't think I would go back to that shop. They were probably the ones who stripped it out with an over-eager kid and an over-pressured impact tool

 

[farrelltravis]

Love it @maboat

 

[jetboater4life]

I was thinking the same thing. Don't think I would go back to that shop. They were probably the ones who stripped it out with an over-eager kid and an over-pressured impact tool

It was a discounttire.com store. I was right there watching him do it. He seemed like a seasoned tire guy. It started spinning quickly. I was surprised that they don't carry the lug studs. Guess they only do tires.

 

[jdonalds]

Same thing happened to me at America's Tire (they don't do alignments either) only two lugs that time. I took the trailer to the Yamaha dealer who had a difficult time finding the correct lugs locally. They charged me $80!

 

[jdonalds]

Can,t believe a thread on lug nuts gets this much interest!View attachment 7377

Trailer issues seen to be much more common than Yamaha boat issues.

 

[jetboater4life]

I had my brakes flushed on Monday. Apparently there was some air in the line on the left side. After a trip to the lake the braking does seem a little better. There is definitely resistance when I back up with the lights unplugged. They also fixed the two stripped lugs for free. Brake inspection, brake flushing, and labor was not cheap as I didn't go to my regular shade tree mechanic. Here are some photos of the new lugs (for a 2010 MFI trailer) and the stripped lug stud.

 

[Ronnie]

I had the same experience as jdonalds did at my local Americas tire, no alignments and no lug work must be a company policy although when they lost the lug nut key the last time I had them replace my tires they wasted no time breaking the old locks off and putting the new locks on, free of charge of course.

Back on topic, I had a stripped lug nut and it was not as simple as go out buy and install another because the splines on it and hub are stripped. Rather than be unable to remove it on the road should I get a flat I cut it off with a Dremel. I will replace it eventually and possibly the hub as well. If I don't replace the hub I will probably just buy a cheap pair of vise grips from harbor freight to keep the bolt from spinning. When a lug bolt on the other side somehow got cross threaded I simply beat it out with a hammer rather than risk stripping that hub as well. Bottom line check the splines in the hub if they are fine you a probably looking at a $5 fix plus a few minutes of your time. Of the splines in the hub are stripped out the fix is more complicated.