1948 Wheel stud Question

I'm having a hard time with this simple issue. I have 1948 hubs (outside the drum) I bought new drums and wheel studs by Dorman said to fit 40-48. The knurled section is .620 but its about .010 too small. The old style studs that Mac's sell are the same size .620 but I dont have the tools to swedge them in with. What is everyone using for studs? Thanks guys.

 

This is on Fordbarn. Very interesting

Posted by Richard (EV8G) from cache-ntc-ab01.proxy.aol.com (207.200.116.65) on Thursday, March 13, 2008 at 12:43PM :

In Reply to: 40-42 Ford Front Brake Drums posted by Harry from 69.177.26.201.adsl.snet.net (69.177.26.201) on Thursday, March 13, 2008 at 11:02AM :

There are USA-made new drums and South
American-made new drums. I do not recommend
or sell the SA-made drums...

The USA drums are made to install on hubs
where the hub flange is on the INSIDE of
the drum. Because the new drums are made
entirely of cast iron, there is a warning
that states to NOT use studs that must be
swaged against the drum. Since the drum
centers are thicker than the original stamped centers, original studs will be too
short to swage anyway. New studs must be
used that are serrated and which can be
pressed into the HUB FLANGE. These also
require that the holes in the hub be resized for the stud to fit properly, and that the
holes in rear drums be enlarged accordingly.
The holes in the front drums are ok, as the
front studs have a smaller shoulder than do
the rears. Also must grind "flats" on the
edge of the heads to bear against the ledge
on the original hubs, which prevents the
studs from rotating. The studs that I use
may not be the same as those supplied by
other vendors. When the new USA drums were
first available, I discovered that the studs
recommended/supplied did not fit correctly.
I then located studs that would work. I do
not know if that problem has been corrected?

The new USA drums will not fit hubs where the
hub flange is exposed and the drum fits on
the REAR of the hub flange. The only new
drums available for this style of hub are
the SA-made drums. Because the studs must
not be pressed into the cast iron drum center, there is no good way to mount these
drums to the inside of the hub flange. The
originals have a stamped center and the studs
are swaged against the (outside) hub flange.
Because the cast drum centers are thicker,
original studs will not be long enough to
swage as originally done. I have seen some
installations where welding and other measures were taken in an attempt to overcome the problem. None of them were
methods that I could recommend.

 

I have recently used Dorman 641-3208 for installation of Buick drums to the late hubs. I had to make spacers as the studs are too deep. I would drill out the stud holes in the cast drums and install the mentioned studs with some spacers to get the lenght right.

 

Thanks Andy. Its funny, Fordbarn is basically saying if your using the "SA" drums (like I'm using) your totally screwed! haha. Never would have thought putting a drum and a hub together would be such a big complex deal! I'll give your studs a shot.

 

Try napa#641-1138, worked for me.

 

I would also suggest getting a cheap micrometer- I also had to change out some studs (from left to right threads) and found almost all the new dormans failed to meet their own specs. They are listed with the correct knurled dia. but if you check them they are under to the point of spinning when you try to tighten them. My local parts house had to go through about 25 to find me five that actually met the size of .620. All the new shiny ones were small- The books also listed my app. as needing two different sizes from front to back which was also incorrect in respect to overall length. Take what you need and compare them in regards to studs- looks like we can't just ***ume that the right stuff is any more.

Good luck,

 

I had the same problem, after much agravation, I ended up getting larger studs and drilling the holes in the hubs and drums to match.