drilling out lugs from hub, disc brake upgrade

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64longroof

64longroof

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NOTE: Before you drill out lugs, try to punch each lug out from the front side. I got lucky, and two lugs acutally popped out. (They may have been lugs replaced some time after the car left the factory.) It took 2 hours or more to drill out the remaining 8 lugs from 2 hubs. I used a drill press. A hand drill could be used, but you'd have to be pretty careful to keep the drill bit perpendicular to the hub, so as to not cut into the splining (grooves) in the hub that keep the lug tight in the hub. I start the holes with a 1/16 bit and gradually increase bit size to one as wide as the lug threads. You might need to go a bit wider. Use lots of oil, and drill slowly.

Start drilling before you grind off the flange (lip) at the base of the lug. I found this made it easier to center my drill holes. You can then use a grinder to remove as much of the flange as you can. A small ring ( lug on right below) will be left on the lug, because it is lower than the metal of the hub. This ring will crack off when you punch the lug out. If it does not, drill a little wider.
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Below, you can see where the lug on the left was drilled a little off center, removing some of the splines and cutting into the hub. You can also see on the splines on the right hand lug are flared out near where the threads begin. This deformation is caused by the swaging process that pressed the lugs in at the factory. This is why you can't punch out the lugs from the front -USUALLY.
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NOTE: You do not want to drill too deep, as you may end up punching out the threaded part of the lug, but leaving a ring of the splined (grooved) part of the lug left in the hub. You are only going to drill a hole LESS deep than the thickness of the hub. In fact, you may only need to drill down enough so that you can crack off that ring I mentioned, seen in the first picture. Deeper drilling will probably make the lugs much easier to punch out, which reduces the risk of bending the hub, though.

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With an old lug nut on the stud would seem like they would pop out with a good maul. I just popped one out of an 83/4 rear that I just got.
 
If You're not savin' the studs or drums, a 7" grinder w/a wafer-wheel will eat right thru the swaged jobs, then pop 'em w/a punch/air chisel.
 
save the splined holes, grind off the back and punch them forward from the back. The swedge in front will open up the splined hole if you power them out the back with a sledge and the new replacements will not seat.
 
And when the guy at the tire shop pulls your wheel off and the stud falls into the drum,cuz somebody loc-tited it in with a whole tube of stud and bearing mount, what happens next? That's right you get to pay $80 bucks an hour for to have it all taken apart and the wayward stud retrieved, lol.
Or if it spins, then what? Yeah, you guessed; this is even worse. Mo-money
 
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AJ/FormS said:
And when the guy at the tire shop pulls your wheel off and the stud falls into the drum,cuz somebody loc-tited it in with a whole tube of stud and bearing mount, what happens next? That's right you get to pay $80 bucks an hour for to have it all taken apart and the wayward stud retrieved, lol.
Or if it spins, then what? Yeah, you guessed; this is even worse. Mo-money
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Wait, First off... You would Pay someone else to have it taken apart??? I think your in the wrong technical fourms...
 
The studs are slightly wedged and must be removed from the rear punched out towards the brake shoes. If you grind off the heads and punch them out forward after removing the axles you are going to have a problem because then you are inlarging the hole because you're pulling the wedge forward not putting in the same way it was put in. Thus increasing the radius of the hole
 
They don't have enough to be removed from the rear if you cut the swage (or crimped) area off the stud from in front side
 
if they are stubborn (as in won't hammer out "easily") - I would go for the PBBlaster and some heat.. even a propane torch should provide enough heat to loosen 'em up enough...
 
tonysrt said:
With an old lug nut on the stud would seem like they would pop out with a good maul. I just popped one out of an 83/4 rear that I just got.
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The studs aren't swedged into a axle flange like they are into a front drum hub assembly.
 
440DART1971 said:
Wait, First off... You would Pay someone else to have it taken apart??? I think your in the wrong technical fourms...
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No-No, I worked in that tire shop,lol.
Not as a tire installer, but as the head tech. I'm the guy who fishes the junk out, and then attempts a repair.
I think I said "you", and "your"
As in not me or mine,lol
 
Killer6 said:
If You're not savin' the studs or drums, a 7" grinder w/a wafer-wheel will eat right thru the swaged jobs, then pop 'em w/a punch/air chisel.
Click to expand...

Same here, cut them off from the front side, hit with a little 3' grinder, and a little tap and they fall out. Should be swedged back in, you don't want the whole works spinning in a hole with the wheel on it when your on the side of the road. I have tacked them in place.
 
GeorgeH said:
Same here, cut them off from the front side, hit with a little 3' grinder, and a little tap and they fall out. Should be swedged back in, you don't want the whole works spinning in a hole with the wheel on it when your on the side of the road. I have tacked them in place.
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So to be clear. They SHOULD be removed or forced towards the brake pads. The way they were put in...Not pulled out the front towards the brake drum because they do have a tapper on them
 
440DART1971 said:
So to be clear. They SHOULD be removed or forced towards the brake pads. The way they were put in...Not pulled out the front towards the brake drum because they do have a tapper on them
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I go from the threaded side. I cut the stud off, hit it with a little grinder till the swedged part is gone, while it's hot hot hit it with some wd/pb and tap it out opposite the way it went in. They are tapered and if you drive them out through the front it can destroy the splines. Look at the pic above where the heads were drilled, they are splined only so deep, so you would be driving the larger diameter non-splined area through the splines opening the hole. I also do not sledge, maul, or frail, or hammer axle, hub, or anything that is being supported by bearings.
 
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Reinstalling the studs without power tools can be very difficult
 
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How did this get so controversial?
The pics in Post #1 make it perfectly clear what needs to be done, doesn't it?
A) Cut the swedge off, bash 'em back out the way the came in, or
B) do what the OP did; an easy solution to not having a cutter, but having the time.Drilling deep enough allows the shanks to fold in, and out they go.

Sure you can grind off the flanges, but that does not solve the shank issue.
Sure you could cut the stud off, but that does not solve the swedge issue.
Drilling as shown solves both issues. If I had this job ahead of me, I know what method I'd be using. I'm semi-retired and might have 2 or more decades ahead of me to get this done,lol.
 
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Msybe im reading it wrong....No. Post #1 is completly incorrect and a waist of time and effort in my opinion..
I dont like to advise anyone of anything that is incorrectly and may cause further damage or safety.
 
Well, I like it, and I pressed the like-it button. And you and your "fav tool!" can stay friends.
It may be that you missed that the OP is working on the front hubs.Notice how many times he writes the word hub;7 by my count.
 
Ahhhhh i now see what your talking about

The studs actually became out of round not allowing to go back out the way they went in!
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440DART1971 said:
The studs are slightly wedged and must be removed from the rear punched out towards the brake shoes. If you grind off the heads and punch them out forward after removing the axles you are going to have a problem because then you are inlarging the hole because you're pulling the wedge forward not putting in the same way it was put in. Thus increasing the radius of the hole
Click to expand...
Yes, grind the head off and push it out from that side. Swedge never goes back through splined hole.
 
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