Thread: Miss Lucy Threads ‘serves’ 5 BIG studs
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Old Aug 25, 2010 | 08:20 PM
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waldig
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From: VA
Talking Miss Lucy Threads ‘serves’ 5 BIG studs
This may be a little more racy but youll like how we can poke a little at the rear as she has to handle all the heavy action. Now don’t get too crossthreaded over this topic, it all natural and is nothing that has not been done before, at least by some among us.

We all need to be open minded about things that we may not have personally done ourselves, Butt it is something that makes an interesting read for those that might wanna do some ‘’ experimenting’’ late one dark night.

Iam always trying things that I think up or read in some “magazine” and so I thought that Id like to try going out of the normal bounds of and see what it feels like first hand. I went on line and ordered up the stuff that looked helpful for my first attempt when I started playing with the REAR end. Ive played with it too much in the past and lucy goosy did not really describe it and it was not as tight as it used to be, leaving me with Lucy Threads and some studs that were not getting it.

That’s right the rear end was getting stripped from all the in and out action over the last 2 years of activity. So I decided to drill – bore out that hole and see if I could not tighten it up to be as good as the day I first screwed in the studs. I have used antiseeze in the past and that was some good and some not what you wanna do.

I was going to get radical and go to 14 mm studs and really heavy up the studs. Anyone interested in 14 mm tap and Helicoils???? Anyway I drilled out the rear axle and went to tap the new holes with the 12 mm helicoil inserts. It went really easily and I have been testing and driving the rear to see / prove the integrity of the FIX.

To drill the holes, I drilled each hole out three times using bigger and bigger bits to allow the metal to be cut out without snagging or going off center with my trusty black and decker drill. The helicoils include a tap and inserts plus a thread inserter which is a black plastic carrier to assist getting the threaded coil started. To add belts to the suspenders, I wet the hole with red locktite as I added the inserts to add that bit of assistance in retaining the coil.


Now the disclaimers, the activity is not hard and I rethreaded each hole in about 5 minutes of effort and a quiet pace, with XM blasting Ozzy in the background for inspiration-energy. You must take the brake rotor off to see the progress which means that you have an opportunity to change pads if so inclined at this time.

With the rotor off you can see that the insert helicoils are not too deeply inserted. I used 9/16” inserts and suspect that ½” inserts are a better match. If they are too long the rear ones will hit and interfere with the e-brake springs and make noise. They can also snag and pull the insert into a long messed up slinky thingy.

I used long inserts and had to use a dremel cutoff wheel to nip the turns to keep them with in the rear axle assembly. The photos attached in my gallery show the steps I followed, drilling, tapping, adding the inserts.

Now I have ten helicoils to insure solid fastner torqued studs. I use about 90 pound feet with a torque wrench. The helicoils are unique in that the stud on a typical car is pulling on the first few threads due to deformation of the metal. Pull a little more and then you start shedding threads till you have a stripped hole. Helicoils flex and have some bit of give which share the torque and pull out forces equally.

This allows you to have greater retention with less stress to the parent metal. Taaaa Daaaa. I believe that it is a win win upgrade. Now the inserts are also made of Stainless Steel so they don’t gall like the steel on steel axle/stud combination.

Me I wore the rear out with so many rear wheel changes, see the present stack and remember that there are still 4 more on the car. Street tires, slicks, different slicks, streee……..you get the idea. You may never see this amount of wear or need the helicoils, but you know a bit more than before and have it in your back pocket if you need it.


BTW the 14mm studs don’t fit in the 12 mm wheels because the ball of the stud requires a matching hole in the wheel. Some of the bigger Mercedes use 14mm studs. Not us……..

Hope you gained some info of the old rear end get a chance to see all the photos, especially the close fitting springs on the rear brake which have bedeviled so many with too long studs.

Enjoy, Woody

Rear axle dimentional information:

Brake rotor thickness at the wheel bolt 0.180

Axle hub thickness 0.472

Total thickness 0.652

The length of a bolt that may protrude
Behind the axle without hitting rear spring
Support for the parking brake 0.100

Total length that a wheel stud may extend beyond
The wheel mounting surface safely 0.752”

If you wanna be safe, then the wheel bolts when fitted into your wheels, they should be about and not longer that ¾ of an inch.

Adding helicoils to the rear - CrossfireForum.org Gallery
 
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