Wheel spacer studs free spinning

[TheMegalodon]

Hey guys,

Title speaks for itself and the issue showed up today when attempting to take off my wheels. Had the rear of the car jacked up, went to remove the wheel lugs nuts and they started free spinning without loosening off on the driver’s side.

I have 25mm (1") CJ Pony Parts spacers https://tinyurl.com/ydgbg6xv that i installed on the car 2 years ago around this time. I've only used factory wheels with them. The spacers stay on year round. Right now the wheels installed are the ecoboost PP 19x9" wheels with the split 5 spoke design that has the wheel nuts sitting in pretty deep.

At this point I can't even remove the wheel but the lug nuts are still tight to the wheel so no vibrations or safety issue (I'm assuming as the car drove home okay).

It looks like I may have to drill through the lug nuts to the studs to get the nuts off or cut the nuts off the studs. Anybody here had any experience with free spinning studs in a wheel spacer? I'm pretty mad about this and have reached out to CJPP to see what they can do tell help me since this spacer is likely a throw away.

Any advice on removal of the lug nuts?

TLDR: wheel spacer studs are free spinning, can't remove lug nuts, help needed.

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[opengl]

Are you attempting by hand or with an impact? I'd imagine if you had somebody apply outwards pressure (pull on the wheel/tire) while you used an impact you could get the lugs off.

 

[TheMegalodon]

I tried with my torque wrench and impact gun. 4/5 nuts were spinning. Because I had to be able to make it home from my folk’s garage, I didn’t mess with it too much and stopped before I made it worse (no they were not around, we’re being safe with distancing).

Given how freely the nuts were spinning with the studs I’m skeptical that pulling on the wheel for that pressure against the nuts would work but it’s not a bad suggestion. I’m really not sure what to do to be honest. Thank you

 

[TheMegalodon]

Update: Spent some time last weekend drilling out the spacer’s studs using cobalt drill bits on a hand drill. Was definitely not an easy process but managed to get all 4 studs. Went from 1/8” pilot to 1/4”, 5/16” and then right up to 1/2”.

Managed to keep the damage to the wheel to a minimum with only some minor spots around the holes. They’re my winter EB PP wheels so no big deal.

Realized this fiasco is a result of a Ford tech using an impact gun on my rear wheels when he took them off to inspect my suspension. I was there with him and while I was checking something else he blasted the nuts on the driver’s rear. I’ve only ever used hand tools to put wheel nuts on and torque wrench to torque them down.

Ordered new spacers from LMR and installed them with 150 lbft to the hub and used only 100 lbft for the wheel to spacer.

Lesson learned - never let a dealer touch your car in any way without providing clear instructions of what they shouldn’t do.

 

[dn1984]

you have your torque reversed. 150 is for wheel to spacer studs, 100 (or 95) is for spacer to hub

 

[aleccolin]

I use the factory torque spec (150 ft-lbs) for both and have never had a problem.

I can definitely see a big impact stripping out the knurling where the steel studs are pressed into the aluminum wheel adapter/spacer. Stay away from that and they work fine.

 

[dn1984]

I use the factory torque spec (145 ft-lbs) for both and have never had a problem.

you know what's funny, is when i rechecked my spacer stud to wheel torque, a few seemed to loosen a bit after about 100 miles. but the spacer to hub was still fine

 

[aleccolin]

Honestly this thread has me reconsidering upgrading to longer ARP studs and just pressing the studs out of my spacers. It's kind of a PITA job and a little expensive, but I really wouldn't want to have to drill these bitches out like that.

 

[dn1984]

Honestly this thread has me reconsidering upgrading to longer ARP studs and just pressing the studs out of my spacers. It's kind of a PITA job and a little expensive, but I really wouldn't want to have to drill these bitches out like that.

extended studs aren't necessary on the bolt on style spacer but i would be more comfortable with some high quality studs on there regardless, unless you have some expensive eibach spacers or something like that. but on any of the cheaper spacers, the quality of the studs is unknown and could be a failure point. although the factory studs to spacer seems like a potential failure point too since i imagine having the extra leverage farther out can put more stress on the factory studs.

i think the strongest option actually isn't the bolt on spacers, but some high quality hub centric slip ons like https://www.opmustang.com/store/p215/20MM_Hub_Centric_-_Wheel_Centric_-_Wheel_Spacer_-_Pair_.html#/ in conjunction with ARP extended studs

 

[aleccolin]

extended studs aren't necessary on the bolt on style spacer but i would be more comfortable with some high quality studs on there regardless, unless you have some expensive eibach spacers or something like that. but on any of the cheaper spacers, the quality of the studs is unknown and could be a failure point. although the factory studs to spacer seems like a potential failure point too since i imagine having the extra leverage farther out can put more stress on the factory studs.

i think the strongest option actually isn't the bolt on spacers, but some high quality hub centric slip ons like https://www.opmustang.com/store/p215/20MM_Hub_Centric_-_Wheel_Centric_-_Wheel_Spacer_-_Pair_.html#/ in conjunction with ARP extended studs

No I'm talking about using the adapters as SPACERS, like the ones you linked. Press the studs out of the adapters and BOOM, 25mm spacers. Need longer wheel studs in the hub to accommodate.

 

[dn1984]

No I'm talking about using the adapters as SPACERS, like the ones you linked. Press the studs out of the adapters and BOOM, 25mm spacers. Need longer wheel studs in the hub to accommodate.

oh i see. i guess that could work. i would wonder about the integrity of the unit without all the studs it's designed to have going through it. i'm assuming you're talking about just using 5 studs straight through a spacer/adaptor instead of the extra pressed in set as well. i still think a dedicated high quality slip on spacer would work best for that since that's exactly what it was designed and tested for

 

[TheMegalodon]

Obviously you can buy thicker spacers without built in studs but then you will have to use extended studs on your hubs. I don’t want to bother with that these days because I’ve done it in the past and it is a PITA. Sure it’s less of a hassle than drilling out studs though.
I’ve used spacers on multiple vehicles and this is the first time I’ve had an issue.

I originally used 150lbft on bother spacer to hub and wheel to spacer; however, I’m no longer willing to put 150 lbft on studs that spline into an aluminum spacer.

I truly don’t understand why Ford insists on 150lbft of torque on the wheel nuts when few other cars I’ve seen use that high of torque. I’m happy to be schooled as to why this is. Normal torque specs for a 14 mm stud are 80-95 lbft from what I’ve seen.

 

[dn1984]

Obviously you can buy thicker spacers without built in studs but then you will have to use extended studs on your hubs. I don’t want to bother with that these days because I’ve done it in the past and it is a PITA. Sure it’s less of a hassle than drilling out studs though.
I’ve used spacers on multiple vehicles and this is the first time I’ve had an issue.

I originally used 150lbft on bother spacer to hub and wheel to spacer; however, I’m no longer willing to put 150 lbft on studs that spline into an aluminum spacer.

I truly don’t understand why Ford insists on 150lbft of torque on the wheel nuts when few other cars I’ve seen use that high of torque. I’m happy to be schooled as to why this is. Normal torque specs for a 14 mm stud are 80-95 lbft from what I’ve seen.

My understanding that their higher torque spec is partly due to people never checking their wheel torque, and partly due to the larger diameter studs vs. the S197

 

[shogun32]

oh i see. i guess that could work. i would wonder about the integrity of the unit without all the studs it's designed to have going through it. i'm assuming you're talking about just using 5 studs straight through a spacer/adaptor instead of the extra pressed in set as well. i still think a dedicated high quality slip on spacer would work best for that since that's exactly what it was designed and tested for

there is no difference between the two. You are just losing the (often crap) secondary wheel studs.

 

[shogun32]

Obviously you can buy thicker spacers without built in studs but then you will have to use extended studs on your hubs. I don’t want to bother with that these days

$330+ and you just swap hubs.
https://www.americanmuscle.com/frpp-front-wheel-hub-kit-arp-studs-1517.html
https://lmr.com/item/M1104AB/15-17-mustang-front-wheel-hub-kit-ford-performance-m-1104-ab

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