Extended Wheel Studs Installed - Which Brands Work

For those of you running an aftermarket wheel that will not allow an ET style lugnut - this should help you out in achieving proper lug nut thread engagement. I installed a set of Rays wheels which accepts the typical conical style lugnuts. After mounting them to the Taco and using the McGard Spline drive closed end lug nuts, I felt there was not enough turns using the OEM toyota wheel studs. I experimented with (3) different wheel studs and believe this should help anyone out.

The Toyota OEM wheel studs are approximately 40mm or 1.5" in length, 14.20mm knurl

Front Discs:

After doing a lot of research, I went ahead and ordered (30) Dorman #610-463 which is for a Toyota Matrix, Pontiac Vibe. They have the same specs as the Tacoma, but are 55mm in length.
https://www.dormanproducts.com/p-8122-610-463.aspx

Illustration of exposed OEM stud threads with the aftermarket wheels:

Dorman 463s:

Dorman vs Toyota OEM lengths:

I started with the front and got the Dorman 463s installed with ease - just had to bend back the dust shield a little to get the old ones out/Dormans in.

Heres a picture of the thread engagement of the OEM (right) and Dorman (left). Believe it was 6 versus 13 (8 turns is the recommendation).

Illustration of Dorman stud thread exposure on the custom wheels:

Rear Drums:

Proceeding onto the rear, the Dorman studs would not fit through the hub hole once I had an OEM stud knocked out. It appears the smooth shank is a mm too thick to go through. For whatever reason they worked on the front, but was not going through the back. It was time to explore different options.

Ordered some studs from WheelAdapter.com (https://www.wheeladapter.com/product/extended-wheel-studs-for-toyotas) that stated they were 1/2" longer (Which turned out to be longer really). Once they arrived - they were no different than the Dorman 463s with the super thick smooth shank. Those got returned.

Those familiar with engine building will recognize ARP. They make extended studs for the Lexus IS300 #100-7715. Ordered (3) packs for the rear as they only come in sets of (5).

Sadly they have to be cut down as they are about 3/8" too long for my lug nuts, plus you will either have to pull the axle or drill a 3/4" hole in the drum backer plate to get them fed through(if keeping the ARPs their original length). I used a cut off wheel for an angle grinder and they took quite some time to cut through - good signs of quality metal. Cut off about 3/8" from each stud & filed the edges off clean and made sure a bolt would back off and back onto each stud.

Once cut down, I was able to feed each through within the drum brake assembly and feed each stud through with my fingers. Once I pulled through, was able to stack a large bolt and some washers with grease in between and use my impact gun to tighten a stock lug nut in order to pull the splines into the hub opening. They fit perfect and had zero shoulder issues unlike the Dorman or Wheeladapter.com

Comparison of ARP vs the OEM stud length:

ARPs fully installed into rear hub:


Now I can sleep better at night knowing I have exceeded the recommended lug nut thread engagement of (8) turns which is now 13-14 turns!

 

I have the ARP's up front and had to cut them down, no issues.

 

Yeah - wasn't about to remove the Dorman 463s which fit in the front fine. The rear only can accept the ARPs from what I've learned.

 

@Arcticdc5 Thanks for posting this. I'm about to have to do something similar. I'm on stock TRD Sport wheels with a hub centric 1/2" spacer. I don't get 8 turns on the OEM lugs so I'm exploring longer studs. I'm also looking at this as I've had a few lugs seize up and snap off as I removed them. I've had this truck for 13.5 years and I've never encountered this before and I suspect it has to do with the extended lug nuts that I fitted as a solution instead of doing longer studs.

What are your thoughts on these linked below? I think studs that are a quarter inch longer would be enough for my purpose and still will work in the rear without having to chop them down.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1738889068...ajkCgvHa4Slqr7JsdbagYBXt72gI7E3hoCrTIQAvD_BwE

 

Had to do the same thing when I installed Venomrex wheels.

OEM stud on the left, H&R stud cut to length on the right.

 

Seeing that the thread length is 50mm, that will gain you an extra 10mm or .39" of threads which should put you in the sweet spot. However I am not familiar with that brand and it's probably made in China (but what isn't at this day and age?). Another user had good luck with the wheel adapter.com studs fitting on the backside, but my crescent wrench measured the same as the Dorman shafts so I proceeded with the ARP ones on the rear. Why the Dormans wouldn't fit through the back is beyond me.

 

Beautiful job on the clean cuts and perfect angle at the start of the bolts. Care to share your strategy on how you achieved that?

 

For something as critical as wheel studs, especially on the front, and especially if running spacers;

DO NOT CHEAP OUT.


I used the Lexus ARP studs and cut them down to be flush for my Spidertrax spacers.






Still not running the spacers yet though and hopefully I never have to.

 

Here is another source of extended studs, a la carte only. But, currently out of stock. I bought their half inch spacers when they used to carry them. https://www.ichibausa.com/searchresults.asp?cat=956

 

Yeah I'm not looking to cheap out but I'm also not wanting to buy the wrong size studs and then proceed to cut them down. I'm looking for about 50mm if possible. That set I posted looks pretty darn good but like stated above, I'm not familiar with them either.

If ARP had a 50mm (or close) stud that worked, I'd be all over it.

EDIT: If they exist please post a link because I'd seriously buy ARP in a heartbeat.

 

To be honest, I just took my time with a vice and angle grinder.
The finishing touches were done on a bench grinder.

I Perma Blued the newly exposed metal and smeared on a little wheel bearing grease.

Took about an hour and a half, but I was comfortable with the results.

If my notes are correct, the H&R p/n for anyone that's interested was (H&R1254544)

 

Dorman is made in the USA and those fit in the fronts perfect. you will need a lug nut that will allow for ~1" of threads though as I used McGard spline drive which has a rotating collar.

 

I'd like to reuse the OEM lugs if possible since they worked perfectly with the OEM wheel and never gave me issues in 180k miles. Since I'm doing all of them, I need the rears replaced as well so I don't think the doorman will work for my use.

The ones I posted say they are a grade 10.9 rating which I believe is the same as OEM. I'm contacting the seller to see what I can find out. I'll let you know what I hear.

 

I just reached out to ARP inquiring if they could make a 55mm stud for us Tacoma/4Runner owners as our options are limited. All they have to do is make their IS300 studs shorter which is nothing like starting from scratch.

 

I decided to try the ones listed in that ebay posting. They look fine and are claimed to be 10.9 grade just like OEM so I'm going to try them. I do think I'm going to have to drill some sort of a port hole in the back of the drum to pass the studs through to the hub. There's just no other way to get a stud this long through. That said, overall length looks great and it would allow me to use the OEM lug nuts which I'm pretty pumped about. I say that because currently, the extended lugs have a shank long enough that it's deeper than the wheel and it MUST pass through the wheel spacer to fully tighten. What's tricky about that is the hole in the spacer is nearly the exact same size as the lug shank so that spacer has to be EXACTLY in the right spot for it to work. It's a real pain in the ass.

 

I've read another member drilling a 3/4" access hole in the drum brake backer plate as well, so that seems to the best method. Otherwise you're pulling the axle assembly apart and its quite a process. It appears that anything over 2.25" in shank length will not fit the back without drilling/pulling axles as there is very limited space between the hub and backer plate.

 

If anyone is interested, I bought the extended wheel studs from wheeladapter.com that I am not going to use. Like the OP, I ended up buying ARP after seeing he had issues. But when they arrived, they look like they would work just fine, but just need to be cut down if need be.
Here are some pics:



If anyone else wants this set, send me a PM, I would like to sell them!

 

Well I just got some bad news....I replaced the front hubs a few years ago and wouldn't you know it, the hubs have a slightly smaller stud bore and OEM size studs don't work with them.

Can any of you help me find something that fits? Apparently the bore for the holes is 12.8mm so .503" or .504"

What the heck are my options?

 

Wow - that is awful. You could go on Dorman's website and enter the dimension paramters and it will bring up matches to what could work. If I were you I'd get some OEM front hubs and call it a day. Going to look up that part now and see what they cost... ($161.69 as of today https://toyotaonlineparts.mcgeorget...b-Left--Right--Front/63011844/4350260201.html )

 

What I did to fit the ARP studs into my aftermarket wheel bearings/hubs was to drill out the stud holes with a 17/32" drill bit. It was a snug fit, but all of the studs went in. I know that is not a common size drill bit, but it seems like either a 17/32" or 35/64" drill bit would work (17/32s ~ 13.49mm, and 35/64s ~ 13.89mm).