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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Wheel studs

Tightening the rear wheel nuts by a short length socket before final tightening by torque wrench, I managed to shear the stud/bolt. Stud is clearly made of plasticine and at 3/8 or so it seems way under engineered.

A real pain getting the old stud out. No way could I drift it out, and I was fearful of damaging the hub if I got the sledgehammer out! I resorted to drilling the thing out - which took an age and several drill bits....

Just a friendly warning, though not sure if I could have done anything different...
Mark O

bad luck fella. . .your cure was likely the only way to resolve though
p bentley

Mark,
what were you going to torque to?

you don't need a sledgehammer to get the stud out a claw hammer will do it
Nigel Atkins

Nigel

Forgetten the torque on the nut as I never got there!
Claw hammer was certainly not enough. Stud/bolt was well in there! Plusgas didn't help either....
Mark O

Mark,
just remembered the last time I saw this on here was with Christian and IIRC it turned out he have the wrong Rostyles fitted (i.e. not midget ones, but ones with a slighly different PCD)

PCD = The term PCD stands for (pitch circle diameter) and is the diameter of a circle drawn through the centre of your wheels bolt holes. PCD is measured in inches (or millimetres) and also indicates the number of studs or bolts the wheel will have.
Nigel Atkins

ETA: torque is stated in the Driver's Handbook :)

perhaps studs are slightly angled if previous post was right

Plus Gas (or equivalent) left soaked in overnight has always worked for me on things like this, have patience let the chemicals do their work
Nigel Atkins

If you have alloy wheels, it might be worth fitting longer studs [Peter May can supply] as the standard ones are a little on the short side. Dont know if they can fitted with the half shaft in place as mine were done as part of an axle re build. The standard ones can then be used to replace the front studs as they are shorter.

HTH
Doug Plumb

I have several hairline cracks in 1500 Midget studs, MG Rostyles and not too much torque - probably too many wheel changes and a bit of fatigue.

I was quite surprised.
N Kirk

The studs are plenty strong and tough, and do not break if they are not overtightened. YOU did not break this one - it was a long cumulative process going back years, typically due to morons in tyre shops with air wrenches. It might be reasonable to assume that all studs on that hub, or the car entire, have been similarly overstressed, and are therefore suspect; very common to have sequential failures after replacing one stud.

The studs are pressed in, and are not difficult to drive out with a punch, although a press is preferred.

FRM
FR Millmore

I would hazard a guess that the car may have had rostyles at some point as I became aware years ago that the nut seats on many rostyles seemed to get visibly angled inwards, likely due to over tightening, and have seen the studs one such cars visible cracked and have seen them fail on tightening. As FRM mentioned they should come out easily but IIRC I have heard of them being welded in if the splines have been knackered. Pressing out is preferred as knocking them out could brinell the bearings.
David Billington

Just a little more detail regarding the PCD issue, Midgets are 4x 4 inch PCD (=101.6mm), small Japanese cars are commonly 4x 100mm.

It's easy to mistakenly fit 4x100mm wheels to a midget, but when tightened it bends the wheel studs a little and they eventually fatigue.



Growler

FRM is right....i had a mazda pick up years ago and went thur a rash of broken studs inside of a year... Due to idiots with air wrenches and nothing better to do then play.. how tight can i torque it after putting new tures on... Thats when i learned about leverage by way of a 6 foot steel pipe

Id buy at least 4 studs and not just one...PB blaster is a great rusty parts breaker ... As nigel said let it set over night


Prop
Prop and the Blackhole Midget

Well.... As aforesaid, no way was the stud coming out by use of brute force and could not get any purchase/tools to press it out. As ever "should be able to" is aften at odds with reality...

The studs were indeed slightly bent inwards - did have a bit of difficulty removing the brake drum. Wheels seem to be correct Rostyles - albeit refurbished - but I will measure the PCD.

Could well have been fatigue/overtightening problems in the past...

Thanks for all assistance as usual....
Mark O

The subject of Minilite wheels needing longer studs has been discussed before, and the general consensus was that longer studs were not necessary. I fitted new studs all round after one of mine broke, but they are the standard length. With Minilite wheels I get 12 turns of the nut,from just engaged to nipped up, this seems to me to be OK, and I can,t see that longer studs would be any advantage.

Dave
Dave Barrow

Mark,
I remember now Christian had Vauxhall Rostyles with 4x100 PCD

as Growler has put Midget Rostyles are 4X4" (101.6mm) PCD

also, theses are the later more common style of Rostyle wheels earlier cars had a different style of Rostyle

if you have chromed wheel nuts a short socket can crack the chrome, I used a deep socket but you need to pad it on the inside so that the socket doesn't rub on the wheel
Nigel Atkins

This thread was discussed between 06/11/2012 and 07/11/2012

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

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