1941 Buick Special lug bolts

[Neal with an a]

Has anyone replaced the lug bolts on their 41 Buick with studs and lug nuts? If so could you please let me know how you went about doing it.

[Matt Harwood]

The problem with using studs is that the Buick drums are not designed for them. Wheel studs don't screw in, they're pressed in with a head on the back side. The holes in the drum are threaded all the way and simply pressing a stud in won't work. Here's a stud so you can see what I mean:

As you can see, there's a head to keep it from pulling through the hole and a shoulder with flutes to keep it from rotating once it's pressed into place. You'd have to bore out the bolt holes in the drums and hope that the head of the stud clears the brake components inside the brake drum. You may also not be able to find studs big enough to fit in the hole you need to make to eliminate the threads. It was never designed for studs and a retrofit isn't as easy as screwing some studs into the holes.

Alternatively, you can simply keep the wheel bolts. They've worked just fine for 80+ years and are still used by many manufacturers, including Audi. If you have the locating pins, it's not particularly difficult to mount the wheels on the hubs. 

[Neal with an a]

Thanks Matt , I was just curious as to whether anyone has ever done it. But on a similar issue are the front and back lug bolts different lengths? I’ve seen them advertised in sets for the front and back with different part numbers for them.

[EmTee]

15 hours ago, Matt Harwood said:

...and hope that the head of the stud clears the brake components inside the brake drum.

FYI, Matt's warning is something to consider even when replacing your wheel bolts.  I ordered a few new bolts from CARS over the winter to replace a couple of mine that had some thread damage.  When I installed one on the LR wheel I discovered before lowering the jack that the wheel would only turn about 90* before locking up with a 'clank'.  I could then turn it back the other direction until 'clank' again...

 

It turned out that some of the new bolts were a bit longer that the originals (~3/16") which was enough to interfere with the parking brake equalizer rod.  When i removed the drum and looked I could see the shiny spot on the rod where the end of the bolt had hit.  I didn't have any issue with the front wheels, so I think at least on my '38 the length isn't as critical there.

[Neal with an a]

That may be why there are different part numbers for the front and rear bolts 

[Neal with an a]

EmTee where are you located in NY ? I see you have center of NYS listed. I’m just curious because I live in Oswego NY

[EmTee]

9 hours ago, Neal with an a said:

I see you have center of NYS listed. I’m just curious because I live in Oswego NY

Roughly midway between Bridgeport and Sylvan Beach...

[Justinlb]

On 4/30/2022 at 8:55 AM, EmTee said:

FYI, Matt's warning is something to consider even when replacing your wheel bolts.  I ordered a few new bolts from CARS over the winter to replace a couple of mine that had some thread damage.  When I installed one on the LR wheel I discovered before lowering the jack that the wheel would only turn about 90* before locking up with a 'clank'.  I could then turn it back the other direction until 'clank' again...

 

It turned out that some of the new bolts were a bit longer that the originals (~3/16") which was enough to interfere with the parking brake equalizer rod.  When i removed the drum and looked I could see the shiny spot on the rod where the end of the bolt had hit.  I didn't have any issue with the front wheels, so I think at least on my '38 the length isn't as critical there.

I had the same issue, I ended up cutting the bolts with a cutoff wheel then using a de-burring tool on them so they're tapered. Worked great.