Replacing Wheel Studs
 

Need some advice. I am considering putting 21mm spacers (not adapters) on my rear hubs. Do I have to remove the calipers
to remove the hub so I can install new 66mm studs?

Guy Chiattello
82SC Black coupe

Yes, but it is quite simple to do. Just make sure you use something like an old wire close hanger to hang the calipers from while you are working on the hub. Don't just hang them from the brake line.

the hub is not removed. just the caliper and rotor. the old ones can be hammered out and the new ones pulled in with the stack of washers and steel nut method. an impact wrench makes the install much easier. if the new studs are too long to get them started in the holes, remove the e/brake cable and pass the studs thru it's orifice.

John,

Do you push the studs out to the back? In other words, just the opposite of how you pull them in?

Appreciate everyone's help. I'm a real amature.

Guy Chiattello

I'm not John and will never pretend to be, but the studs are flared in the back, so yes you hammer the studs on the threaded end and they push out the back.

I'm not John either and I respect his advice and knowledge on this forum, but i couldn't bring myself to beat out the studs with a hammer. Hard on the bearings and hard on the hub if you miss. I'm a carpenter and I miss sometimes after having used a hammer every day for 30 years. If I were to hammer them out, I would want them on a bench supported by wood blocks.

You could try this for a less traumatic method. Get a BIG C clamp. Place a large 1/2" drive socket over the button on the back side, place an old 3/8" drive socket on the stud for a flat surface and place the clamp over both. As you screw the clamp in, the stud will retreat in to the bigger socket. Once you move the stud about 1/2" it will just about fall out. Poor man's press or race track press.

use a large ballpeen hammer with a large face and you will be less apt to miss, and the weight of a large hammer means fewer blows than with a tiny one. more like a press. hold it with both hands, and aim. the stud won't be reused, so if the threads are dinged, so what? i'm sure the small amount of jarring the bearings suffer from the hammer is nowhere near what they put up with on the road. if you have an air hammer, they come out even easier. the idea is not to have to remove the flange, which ruins the bearing, creating much more effort and expense.