Broken lug bolt

[CtxAggie]

Need to replace a broken lug bolt on front axle of my tandem axle trailer. Was broken by previous owner and I’m finally making time to fix.

Can the bolt be removed or will the hub need replaced? If removable, can it be hammered put and how does one identify size of lug bolt?

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[CtxAggie]

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[MtnMan210]

Are they bolts or wheel studs? Either way they should be a standard size, any trailer supply should have them. As far as removal you might get lucky and be able to smack it out with a decent hammer but most likely you'll want to you at minimum an air hammer, of course easiest would be a press.

[chpthril]

Does not look like that axle has brakes. This should make it simpler. Safely block and raise trailer, remove wheel. With a large punch and hammer, drive the stud out of the hub from the front to the back.

To reinstall: If you have room to hit it from the back, place the new stud in the hole and gently tap it so its holding its own and straight looking, then drive it home until the back flange is seated against the back of the hub. In some cases, you may need to use a lug nut and wrench to pull the stud into place. Usually need to use an over sized nut placed over the new stud between the hub and your lug nut. This prevent the lug nut from bottoming on the shoulder of the stud.

[CtxAggie]

Thanks for responses. Sounds like an easy fix on my day off.


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[UNSTUCK]

Generally speaking, this kind of thing happens from over torquing. More than likely the other 4 also suffer from the same fate and are stretched and weakened. If this was my trailer, I would replace all 5 at the same time. Pop out all 5 as mentioned above. Take one of the "good" ones to your local auto parts house and they should just be able to match it up. Take the 5 new ones and reinstall. The best way to do it is to remove the hub and put in a press. If you don't have a press you can remove the hub and hammer the studs in. If you do this, support the hub flange with blocks so you can get a good hit without worrying about the hub trying to tip over or do any flange damage. I would avoid trying to do any hammering with the hub still in place on the trailer. Every hammer hits puts all that impact load right on the bearings. You should not try to force it in by running a nut on the stud as mentioned above, unless you can do it with out over torquing the stud as that puts you right back where you started. I highly doubt the stud will pull in without going over.

Your inner seal looks to be leaking anyways, so you may as well pick one up with the new studs and do a full service on the hub bearings too.

[sandm]

follow unstuck's advice.....

I had to have a stud replaced many years ago and every quote I got said it was a tear down to press in and an axle rebuild with new bearings and the such since they were in there. they said there is a tool you can use to press a stud in while still on the axle but all said to do a rebuild while in there. all said absolutely not to the hammer method while still installed but I didn't ask why not. unstuck's example makes sense.
I paid to have all 5 done but none of the shops said 100% to do that. they recommended it but said the other 4 could go 10 years and never fail.

[DaronF]

Generally speaking, this kind of thing happens from over torquing. More than likely the other 4 also suffer from the same fate and are stretched and weakened. If this was my trailer, I would replace all 5 at the same time. Pop out all 5 as mentioned above. Take one of the "good" ones to your local auto parts house and they should just be able to match it up. Take the 5 new ones and reinstall. The best way to do it is to remove the hub and put in a press. If you don't have a press you can remove the hub and hammer the studs in. If you do this, support the hub flange with blocks so you can get a good hit without worrying about the hub trying to tip over or do any flange damage. I would avoid trying to do any hammering with the hub still in place on the trailer. Every hammer hits puts all that impact load right on the bearings. You should not try to force it in by running a nut on the stud as mentioned above, unless you can do it with out over torquing the stud as that puts you right back where you started. I highly doubt the stud will pull in without going over.

Your inner seal looks to be leaking anyways, so you may as well pick one up with the new studs and do a full service on the hub bearings too.

Good info. My buddy got this new trailer project and have at least two broken lug bolts on hubs. We'll just finish installing the brake kit and continental tires on the current Wrangler project and we'll take a look at the bolts. It sounds like they got over torqued as well.