Hi,

I had a slow leaking front driver side tire recently and when I took it to the tire repair shop, 2 studs broke. Searching the forum, it looks like I would have to remove the wheel bearing to get behind the hub to replace the studs. Is that the only way? I read on this forum, someone removed the rotor without removing the wheel bearing. If that's possible, then I would think I have access the stud to replacement. Unfortunately, there was no instructions on removing the rotor without removing the hub. I'm trying to avoid a messy job and potentially getting foreign particles into the wheel bearings.

Thanks

Howdy. You can't remove the wheel studs without removing the rotor, and you can't remove the rotor without removing the wheel hub assembly. It's all gotta come off the truck, and then the bearings have to be pre-loaded correctly when re-installing.

Source: me; I've installed longer studs up front on mine to run wheel spacers.

Thanks. I was afraid so. My thoughts were to move the bolts holding the rotor to the wheel hub and put the rotor back an inch or so to give the studs clearance. Will still give it a try, but I'll get the tools to do the wheel bearings also.

Last month, I replaced the wheel studs on my rig before I install my new wheels. It was pretty straightforward though I went to my buddy's garage because I don't have an air impact. We removed the brake caliper and rotor also and then we used a hammer to knock the old stud out.

Thanks. Did you do this without removing the wheel bearings? I ended up removing the wheel bearings and repacking them. The shielding for the rotor looked like it would have prevented the rotor fro going back far enough.