Well, I've done the bent studs thing, back when I ran Ford LTD spindles 'n hubs. But- it was a hard hit, broke the steering rack and trashed the control arms. My current ones pilot correctly, but it's kind of irrelevant, because the hubs are The World's Most Indestructable Racing Part. I figure that Ford, back in 1960 or so, asked some old bald guy named Curly
to draw up 3/4 ton running gear for a Galaxie (Kevin's running gear is based on late 40's 3/4 ton Fords) - keep the tooling simple, spec out the good steel and heat treat, hasta use production hardware. (Stubby says he sends boxes of these down there, and the part # shows OK in the file, F-350 you think?) Curly called his buddy Lucky and got the print for a Linclon limo wheel center, and then made allowance for the long wheel studs when he drew up the machined hubcaps.
The thing I have noticed is that correctly configured pilots make the wheels very easy to change, particularly if they are awkward, and pretty much stupid-proof as far as centering, squareness, etc. Which is why the Nascar crewperson
can change one in 9 seconds, while the chump kid at Pile O' Tires
wreaks havoc on a Town 'n Country when he tries it. Chumplee
otta remember, too, that those beastly old truck studs will take 200 ft.lb., while the Chinee OENutz
round off at 55 or so.....
lurks, though, in a sloppiliy,cheaply designed system - like on the rear of our Freestar, Vanna! If you try, you can get them on cockeyed with all the nuts tight. Steel wheels rust to the short pilots on the hub (Half the people on this board have had to result to crude and dangerous means to get one of these off a car at least once), or the rust keeps the wheel from seating down tight. The Dad way to overcome this is to
pay attention
- push the wheel all the way on over the studs, and finger tightenthe nuts with the wheel seated all the way down. Lug bolts go easier if you start one , then square the wheel up and get a couple finger tight And don't put weight on the wheel until all the nuts are at least snug!