FAQ - Drum Studs, Bolts & Lugs

[bajaherbie]

the doo-hickey that skidmark posted works good............

[Leatherneck]

I used the press in studs from McKenzie's... I bought the correct size drill bit, then shopped around and bought a piloted end mill to spot face the material on the inside of the drum. This allows the head of the stud to sit flat, and clear the brake shoes. If you don't do this, the head of the stud can rub on the outside edge of the brake shoes...

DRILLED


SPOT FACING THE DRUM


READY TO PRESS THE STUD


STUD PRESSED IN

Can this be done with a drill press? I will be needing to do this in the near future.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

As long as your setup is correct (perpendicular to the bore) you should be able to accomplish it. Machining is not the hard time consuming part, it is the setup of the part(s) and tools.

Lee

[bajaherbie]

yep, i did my front drums on a drill press.....i wouldn't feel comfortable trying to do it with a hand held drill.

[Dale M.]

Whole world of information on studs, nuts, lug bolts and drilling drums and pressing in stud here....

https://www.dormanproducts.com/catalog/ ... rdware.htm

Scroll down to Section 10 (pages 131 to 289) and go from there....

Also...





Dale

[Leatherneck]

Stinking piloted end mills are a, well they are not easy to find. This is what I have so far. http://www.icscuttingtools.com/catalog/page_182.pdf

[bajabob3]

I am in the process of installing studs. I found the end mill tool at a place call "mc fadden and dale" In santa ana. $25. since i am on the topic, i bought the studs from moore parts and i am alittle nervous about the length of the knurls they seem to be a bit long. They are 15mm, when pressed in will this be too much knurl outside of the drum?

[bajaherbie]

i might have drilled mine out a bit too deep but my BTR's bolt up fine anyway..... sorry no picture.

[sideshow]

... i am alittle nervous about the length of the knurls they seem to be a bit long. They are 15mm, when pressed in will this be too much knurl outside of the drum?

Welcome, and I also have more knurl that drum on my daily driver. As long as with wheel and rim I am only using thread all is well.

[Leatherneck]

i might have drilled mine out a bit too deep but my BTR's bolt up fine anyway..... sorry no picture.

How far did you drill into the drum? What is a good depth? Just enough to bury the head halfway?

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Based on the material/materials that the drums are made from and the design of the drum being usually to minimum thicknesses to start with, you should be concerned with is: is any machining in that area going to be too much to hold up; not much metal removal should be made is my guess (I have seen cracked and boken brake drums before after being modified. I would look at spot facing first before considering doing too much counter boring.

Do yourself a favor and do some measuring. Put a piece of modeling clay on the backside of the drum (no stud) and put the drum back on usomg proper tightening sequences then slowly and carefully rotate the drum just enough to make contact with the shoes, slave cylinder or anything else inside but not to pull off the clay. Take off the drum and measure the thickness of the clay where it as made contact. Remember, each drum and bearing setup is going to be different and set lower or higher than another one (tolerance build-up/wear). Add a couple of thou and that is your clearance/counter bore dimension.

Lee

[bajaherbie]

seems like i have less than half of the head recessed...

[BAJA-IT]

I find that the stud tends to hit the brake shoe retaining spring and keeper, so I put a small washer on the pin before I put it through the backing plate so it won't stick out as far, then the spring and retainer doesn't get hit by the back of the stud as the drum goes around.

[Dale M.]

As absolute minimum for facing inside of drum, I would only take enough off so head ok press in stud has flat surface to seat on t.... No more UNLESS you have interference problem between head and some brake parts.... Then investigate what problem is and possible fixes.... I personally would keep as much material on drum as possible for strength...

MY personal choice for a 12mm stud would be DORMAN 610-254.... IT has thin head and only 8mm knurl (shoulder) area...

https://www.dormanproducts.com/catalog/ ... rdware.htm

Section 10, page 162....

Dale

[dustymojave]

Just glancing around through the Thread Hall Of Fame sticky and ran across this thread. Quick read through and found that nobody has covered the issue of Sway-A-Way brand vs BugPack brand studs. There are other brands such as Dorman, which are intended to fit all sorts of other vehicles and are intended to be replacements for factory equipment studs. Nuts for those fit some brands of wheels, but any wheels made specifically for VWs SHOULD have spherical shaped shoulders to contact the wheels. There ARE a few brands of cast wheels which require non-original equipment lug nuts or bolts. These are uncommon. Porsche has used studs in certain models and has used aluminum lug nuts on those. Great stuff, but the Porsche studs are quite pricey and the expensive nuts are rather frail and need cautious handling to avoid crossthreading.

The original lug studs sold specifically for VWs were those by Sway-A-Way. These are available in a couple of lengths which have different length of spline as well as different length of thread. SAW calls for use of a 9/16" hole in the drum. They have "SAW" stamped in the head.

Then the Bugpack ones are not quite as nicely made. Although I've never had any problem with them. The nuts seem to be pretty equivalent in quality. The tip of the studs look like they were sheared off when hot and are rather rounded compared to the SAW. BugPack calls for 37/64ths hole size in the drum or hub, which is 1/64 larger than the 9/16" for the SAWs.

I've seen drums where somebody tired to press BugPack studs into 9/16" holes and the drum was fractured around the stud. To give the guy some credit, he didn't know that BugPack offered studs and thought they were SAW studs. He had bought them from a shop having asked specifically for Sway-A-Way studs. When he asked me why I thought they had fractured, a quick glance at the heads of the studs told me the answer. 2 brand new drums wasted (1 was re-purposed as a base for his reloading press and the other as a base for a small bench grinder so they weren't a TOTAL loss). So if the heads of the studs are NOT marked "SAW", the studs may require a different bore size in the drum or hub flange than the SAW 9/16".