How's it going?

I have two broken wheel studs (lug nut studs) on my front driver axel. I was in the process of replacing them when I was unable to remove one of the caliper bracket bolts.

My question is.... Is it safe for me to drive about 50 miles on the interstate with two broken wheel studs? I have limited tools at my house and since I'm in the military I'm going to drive to the nearest post where I have access to their motor pool.

BTW...The broken studs are right next to each other so their is three good ones then the two broken ones.

Thanks in advance

 

Personally, I wouldn't drive that far on interstates. It might take you longer, but if the regular roads are not too bad, I would stick to slower speeds. You could run on the interstate with your 4-way flashers on at reduced speed if you wanted, but I definitely wouldn't drive at interstate speeds with 2 lugs side by side broken off.

If they were not side by side, I would be much more comfortable driving at higher speeds.

I'm a little gun shy about this due to the fact of having a wheel fall off at 55mph after all of the lugs failed. Granted, this was in my dad's spray truck with a full 1000 gallon concotion in the tank, but it wasn't fun, nor was it easy to keep the damn thing on the road or on its remaining 3 wheels!

One thing is for sure, if 2 lugs failed, then the other 3 are probably stressed. With all 5 in and working, the others will likely be ok, but while you are performing the work and have all of the proper tools together, you may want to think about replacing them all.

Hope this helps! Good luck with the repairs!!

 

Thats what I figured.

I don't like driving around town with two broken studs so I was a little nervous about taking it on the interstate.

I sprayed a lot of liquid wrench on it yesterday so I might try breaking that caliper bracket bolt off today.

Thanks for the advice.

 

NO, one stud yes, two studs on a 5 stud configuration, absoloutly not, in fact we cant even realease a car if more then one stud breaks we have to repair it, or else we cannot legally realse it back to the owner

i work on TFT, it happens alot, 3 is not enough to support it,

 

Safety, safety, SAFETY! Can you get a buddy at the motor pool to come back with a tow truck or a trailer?

 

Have you tried linking two wrenches together to increase your leverage on the caliper bracket bolts? A hammer on the wrench/rachet? I've popped out broken studs with just a punch and a 4lb mini-sledge hammer before. It's not as easy as it is with an air impact hammer, but it does work!

Just some ideas to fore go the trip to the motor pool!

 

I've tried everything to get that caliper bracket bolt off. I have a nice size breaker bar but still could not get the proper leverage without the blazer being on a lift.

Anywho, I ended upput $60 into the economy. Amazing how easy something is when you have the proper tools!!!!

Thanks for the advice and keeping me from driving on the interstate!

 

Glad you fixed the problem and didn't kill yourself. I tried to get to work once on 3 wheel studs and within 1 mile the tire was already loose. Had to pull over 3x on the road to keep tightening them up before I got to work. (I had tools there to fix)