wheel lug stud/bolt bent/striped

[PandaBear]

Back to that 1995 Corolla my mom crashed:

We replaced the door with a junk yard like color one, and bent it a little to fit the slightly bent body of the car. So it is sealed up ok with no leak now.

Today I got a call from my dad. He told me that he changed the oil (because it is time) and rotated the tire, and found out that the lug nut is hard to remove and almost/already stripped the wheel hub bolts when he remove it. Now he cannot put the wheel back on because the nut wouldn't go back in, and the car is on jack stand.

What surprises me is that not only the right side, where the car was hit, got the bolt bent, but the left side as well. I've driven the car after the accident for about 30 minutes and can definitely tell that the alignment is off. The steering wheel is at 20-30 degree to the right when you want the car to go straight.

So our only choice is to replace the hub at home because it is not going anywhere without the wheel on. What I'm thinking is in addition to the hub, we probably should replace the axles, ball joints, tie rod end links, bearing, front rotors (because they were at minimum thickness about 15k miles ago, and they may be bent along with the hub) and may be the control arm (may be not, that thing is pretty tough). This car has 187k miles already and my mom hit a few curb real hard before, and the alignment needed a camber kit last time to get the camber right. The strut was done 30-40k ago so I think they are probably still good.

How hard is it to get the spindle nut off without an impact gun? Would a breaker bar or a cheater stick with 1/2" rachet be enough? PB Blaster is on sale and I have some left over 4' 1/2" dia. water pipe somewhere.

Any recommendation? I'd figure doing the minimum is good because very likely my mom will crash something or hit something again, and she cannot drive anything harder to drive than a corolla without killing herself.

 

[PandaBear]

Have anyone heard of Febi Bilstein hub assembly? For some reason they are super cheap ($30-35) compare to Timken, SKF, Beck Arnley, or National. I know they are probably Chinese made although a German brand, but haven't seen them around and can't even find it on their website.

The stores selling them are in this google search:

http://www.google.com/search?client=safa...-8&oe=UTF-8

 

[The Critic]

I am not understanding your post.

Your dad stripped the lug stud while trying to remove the lug nuts. He obviously cannot reinstall the lug nuts because the lug studs have been destroyed.

So, wouldn't the proper fix be to hammer out the lug stud and replace it with a new one? Why should you replace all of the other components if you have not had the alignment checked to see which of the components are truly bad?

 

[[RT] ProjUltraZ]

yeah, get a good stud and try and pound it out. worst case you could get the stud straight enough to get the wheel on then tighten the other three 100 lbs torque and drive it slow to a suspension guy you trust and ask him. take side streets, etc. or you could just tow it if you have tow coverage.
then think about doing the work yourself when you get the straight scoop

 

[bepperb]

Replacing a wheel stud isn't that hard.

My advice would be the above "worst case you could get the stud straight enough to get the wheel on then tighten the other three"

Have the suspension guy replace the wheel stud when he fixes the alignment.

I actually replaced the entire rear wheel assembly on a 92 corolla, it wasn't that hard either, four bolts and half an hour. And at that point, I didn't have an impact gun yet, but probably had a decent cast iron pipe.

 

[Papa Bear]

Steel pipe, not cast iron.

Why are you spending so much time on a '95 Corolla? Get another one for $500....

 

[The_Jeff]

You don't know what's bent. On my car I've seen others where the control arm pushes the subframe in while remaining intact. Even leaving this bent a good alignment guy can compensate by moving the strut around or changing the strut-to-knuckle alignment slightly.

I'm sure the stripped lug nut is not at all related to the accident.

Rotors and hubs do not bend in accidents. Hub bearings might loosen up but you'd hear noise or feel play. The steering knuckle might bend but they're usually so heavy duty they transfer energy to the strut, tie rod, and lower control arm.

 

[PandaBear]

Can lug studs be replaced at home? or do we have to take the whole assembly out to have it pressed out of a hub?

The reason I was thinking about replacing all these is due to age.

 

[The_Jeff]

Yeah it's real easy, just take the brake caliper and rotor off, spin the hub to the position relative to the knuckle where there's a couple inches behind the stud, pound it inwards with a 2 lb sledge.

Work the new stud in, yank it back with a pliers or something, put a few washers on it and a lug nut, torque the lug nut all the way down it will pull the stud through. It's just a friction fit.

 

[PandaBear]

Cool, just got some new lug studs and rented the press from autozone. I don't have a dial indicator to check if the hub is alright. Should I worry about it at all?

Something is bent for sure because the alignment is done to perfection a little over a year ago, just not sure what else yet.

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: Papa Bear
Why are you spending so much time on a '95 Corolla? Get another one for $500....


1) Mom is familiar to this car, and will not get used to anything else (she started driving at the age of 60)

2) It is more than $500 here, anything that moves and is in good condition goes for at least 1500. We've done a lot to this car and the engine/transmission are all good still.

3) Very likely she'll hit something again, so better a cheap and familiar car than something new.

 

[javacontour]

Originally Posted By: Papa Bear
Steel pipe, not cast iron.

Why are you spending so much time on a '95 Corolla? Get another one for $500....


I've discovered the market for 4 cylinder used cars is insane right now.

I'm at the point with my 1994 Geo Prizm, with 250K on the clock - one tank of gas worth of miles, that replacement cars are likely $3000-$4000 for a car of comparable quality.

Sure I may need to do $1000 worth of work on my car. But right now, econoboxes seem to be pulling insane money if they are in good shape.

The problem is, at that price point in the market, the seller is likely to get that sort of money if they are a dealer.

Why?

Buy here, pay here. Folks shopping in that market segment often are shopping for financing, and the car is incidental.

The problem doesn't stop at dealers. When dealers advertise $4000 for a 1993 Honda Civic, and "get it" because they tote the note, private sellers think they can get $3000 for their 1993 Civic. So when you show up with $1500 or $2000, they say no because they think it will sell for more.

And many times it does.

Or folks bought it at a BHPH lot, and owe money on it.

So at the $500 to $3000 segment of the car market, which I forgot to add was largely decimated by cash for clunkers as well, it's often a frustrating experience.

So I took the 1994 Geo Prizm with 249,6xx miles to my mechanic and asked him to go over it. Check the compression and the oil pressure. Put it up on the lift and look for rust, damage, etc.

I asked him to tell me if it was worth doing a new clutch, fix the leaks, replace the other drive axle and while he's at it,please replace the rear struts and give it an alignment.

Today, he told me the engine has good, fairly even compression on all four cylinders, the oil pressure is good, and there is no rust concerns.

He suggested we not do the leaks or the clutch. (This guy is always talking me out of paying him for work.) Instead, just do the axle, the rear struts. (I already did the front.) and we'll watch the clutch to see if it needs work in the future. We then revisit the leaks if the clutch really needs replacement.

I really can't replace this car for $500 or even $1500. I know the car.

So given the crazy market, and given I know the entire history of this car, I'm going to spend "crazy" money on a 16 year old Geo Prizm/(Toyota Corolla) and see if I can get another 5 years and 50-75K miles out of it.

I can certainly see spending money on an old car like this if one knows it would cost even more to replace it.

It's not the value of the car that determines how much to spend, but how much it costs to replace.

 

[mechtech2]

A control arm can bend easily. There goes your pretty alignment!