mxmike27

My truck is a stock 06 2500 Megacab 5.9 4X4. After running my stock wheels for about 18 months with no issues I bought some American Racing, Fuel, aluminum wheels, from Tire warehouse. I had BFG 315s mounted. Shortly after, I began breaking wheel studs. I broke a total of 26 over the next 18 months. Tire warehouse paid for replacement, admitting it must be the wheels, though they didnt know why. I always brought the truck to them for tire rotation and then back for retorque. American Racing said they were the correct wheels and lug nuts, and claimed the lugs must have been defective. I'm now running my original wheels and tires. Tire Warehouse wouldnt take the wheels back so now I'm thinking of going to small claims court.
I drive my truck like a grandmother, never off road. I only hauled a motorcycle trailer about 15 times. It's really just used as a passenger vehicle.
So my question is, have you guys ever heard of something like this? Are dodge lugs weak?
Thanx, Mike.

blderman

I don't have an answer for you, but it is interesting that you bring this up. I was at a dealer two nights ago looking at an 06 Mega Cab that had aftermarket wheels on it. I passed on the deal cause half of the lug nuts were broken off......I know the torque specifications are different depending on the material the wheel is made of. Maybe these aftermarket rims are a harder material and the studs are being over torqued????

15 Digger

I don't know about aftermarket wheels but on my stock wheels my mechanic friend rotated tires and used air gun to tighten. Shortly after I was hearing clicking on turns. Checked lugs and many had loosened. After buying torque wrench and torquing to factory specs all good. I read that unlike steel wheels aluminum needs to be done right being different metal. Maybe when some are loose the others get the stress and break. JMO

DaveB.inVa

Somebody covered this a while back. There are retaining washers on every other stud (that's why half of the studs on the MC you saw were busted). The factory wheels have recesses built in to accommodate them and aftermarket doesn't. Knock off the retaining washers and get some good studs and you should be set!

DNRCustoms

I use my factory spec click of the elbow on my breaker bar and never had one issue!!!



What is the correct torque though??

Sinbadd

My book says 140 ft. lbs.

Mocho

I have had about 8 different sets of rims on my truck, most aftermarket and some of the retaining clips still on never any issue. They are all off now, but I HIGHLY doubt they have anything to do with it.

I think the biggest thing is people using impacts on them, and don't know what they are doing. Don't know how many times when I go to take off tires some vehicles i've had to stand on the breaker bar to break them loose because they are SO tight, easily 250ft lbs. I always just do mine by feel to what I think is about 135 ft lbs, and never any issue.

mxmike27

The shop that replaced the studs took off those retaining clips. He thought those were the problem because the aftermarket wheels dont have a recess for them. The lugs were first torqued to 140, then the next times they were torqued to 120.
Mike

Fisherguy

Anyone got a picture of these retaining washers? I've had my wheels off lotsa times, don't remember seeing any clips..?

Raspy

26 broken studs in 18 months!!!!! Ouch.

Something is definitely wrong. I'm just wondering if they are metric 8 bolt wheels instead of our 8 bolt pattern? I know the Fords went to metric 8 bolt. Will those wheels go on but with the studs not centered in the holes?

Either that or extreme overtightening. I'm careful no to overtighten mine and 140 ft lbs seems high to begin with. I know it's the spec, but I usually don't go that high.

The other thing is galling or cross threading or forcing a metric nut onto SAE threads. These things require big time torque to overcome and can easily snap a stud.

Are the studs breaking while you drive or at installation?

torquefan

Yes, this can be a very important issue if the wheels don't have recesses for the retainers.

The next thing that comes to mind is that the aftermarket wheel may be thicker than the OEM one, and there is not enough stud sticking through for the nut to thread onto completely. Longer studs may be required. Also, with new wheels I would be very careful to retorque them after every drive, until I was satisfied that they were staying tight consistently and no problems were showing up.

Recently, I had the wheels off someone's 2500 diesel truck, to replace a wheel speed sensor or something. They were a nice looking aftermarket aluminum wheel. As I took the wheel off, my eye caught a sticker on the back of it that said "max weight 2400 Lbs." I was a little shocked that someone would have sold these wheels to put on a 2500 truck, and also that there would be a market at all for an 8 bolt wheel that light. Anyway my point is that you really need to watch what you are getting with aftermarket stuff, and generally I just don't trust it as much as OEM stuff.

.boB

There's only one thing that will break that many studs - lateral tension. Wheel studs are pretty strong in tension, and can take a lot of shear forces. What they can't take, is bending. Sounds like the holes in the wheels are not matching the studs like they should.

Jack up the tire, and remove all the lug nuts except one. Don't even touch that last nut, leave it tight.

Use blue machinist dye, and mark the lug nut contact area. Screw the nut on an empty stud carefully by hand. When you first get contact with the wheel, stop. Not much contact, just enough to get a mark through the dye. Do all 7 lugs.

Take a look at the contact patch on the nut and the wheel. If you get blue dye on only part of the contact seat, then the lug is off center. Or, the nut is out of round. In either case, that's your problem. When you torque the nuts down, it puts a small bend on the lug. Pretty soon, it snaps.

Raspy

I'm thinking the wheels might be for a Ford with a pattern of 8 on 170 mm. Dodge has a pattern of 8 on 6.5 inches. Thats only about 6mm difference in diameter which makes each stud 3mm off center in the wheel's stud hole. The wheels might slide on over the studs, but the studs would be off center in the holes. Then when the nuts are tightened it bends the studs.

The thin retaining clips are only about 20 thousandths thick and would cause a little extra strain in the wheel, but probably not a difference on the studs.

kawiram

The metric ford pattern will not even fit on a standard 8x6.5. Meaning, you cant even get it on the studs.

OOPS

So what do you think each corner of the truck weighs? I know the front corners weigh more then the rear. If the corners do not weigh more then 2,400 pounds, the wheels are fine.