Replacing Lug Nuts on Cronkhite Trailer

Question:

OK. Here is a strange question. I am restoring a Cronkhite trailer for Habitat for Humanity. It did not get any maintenance for a long time. When I took off the wheels, a couple of the lug nuts came off as expected. There was a crack sound and the the nuts just easily came off. However, there were some that I had to use a monster breaker bar and each 30 degrees of rotation of a lug nut was accompanied by the effort and crack sound. It has EZ lube axles. Do those use normal 1/2x20 tpi lug nuts? I believe it has 6 studs.

asked by: Ken P

Expert Reply:

If the wheel studs are 1/2 inch in diameter, they're most likely 20 TPI. It wouldn't hurt to use a digital caliper like # PTW80157 to check the diameter.

The wheel studs on a hub are usually driven in to the hub. The top of the wheel stud is usually knurled so it bites into the hub. The cracking noise you heard is likely the wheel studs turning in the hub.

If you can reinstall and properly torque the lug nuts without having the wheel studs rotate, you should be fine. If you do feel them slipping, you might be able to replace the bad studs. You'd need to drive them out and get the various measurements like those shown on the product page for part # K12WB2.

expert reply by: Mike L