I once took a 10 Ton tandem dual wheeled trailer in to a tire dealership for
a new set of tires. It had 16 inch tires on ton style rims. I had just
bought it, and hadn't made it back to my shop. I was talking with the
owner, a long time friend, and after a short time, a teenager came up to him
and said that he had a problem. Well, the problem was that he had twisted
off eight wheel studs on one wheel while removing the tires. Seems that he
had no idea of what left handed studs even were. But, to add to his
confusion, the front set of tires on the same side came right off. It seems
that the previous owner's mechanic had swapped hub assemblies on just one
axle side for side during a teardown. So I had both left and right threaded
studs on both sides. We laughed it off, and chalked it up to a learning
experience for the teenager, who was really upset by it, for a change. We
rode him hard about how expensive those special studs were, and had him
wondering how he was going to pay for that date with his new girl with no
money left in his paycheck. We got lucky and the local NAPA dealer had
studs in stock, I replaced them and then I swapped the hubs while they
replaced tires. The shop owner paid for the studs and nuts, and I replaced
them, so it worked out OK, and he sold me the tires with no mounting
charges, which made it even more OK. The teenager learned something new,
and we all had fun out of the afternoon. I think he had to do some extra
tire stacking on a Saturday to pay for his mistake, though.
Lesson being, always look at those studs BEFORE letting loose with a
powerful impact wrench. It's a lot more work replacing those BUDD studs!
Heavy work too!
John
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