Where can a person find longer wheel studs for a Model A? I want to run 15" steel wheels and there isn't much room left for lug nuts.
Why are they too short? The stock wheels were steel so what is different and keeping your wheel from seating properly. The inside edge of the of the wire wheel has a support that is built into the front hub is this holding your wheel out too far? When most people went to steel wheels they also used the 40 Ford brakes that go with them.
You might want to think about what 55willys said. The wheel may be contacting the drum to soon leaving a gap between the wheel and drum. 15's may do that?? 16's maybe not.
You don't just "Knock one out". They need to be pressed out by a shop with the proper knowledge and equipment. If you still have mechanical brakes your problem is probably shown at: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/40-ford-wheels-on-a-model-a.750368/#post-8330045 A friend of mine had steel wheels on his Model A with mechanical brakes. Everything was fine right up until the wheel fell off of the car. Good thing we weren't on the freeway. Charlie Stephens
DON'T try to knock or press out the studs, it will ruin your drums or hubs. They're a swedge fit stud, meaning the stud is put into the hub/drum and pressed together like a rivet. If they need to come off you need to either use a cutter or hole saw, cut the lip off from the inside and then push them through from the inside. If you want to run regular studs you need to ream out the hub/drums and then find the right press in stud to fit.
There are no press in studs that will fit the hole as it is. It will have to be reamed out. I know this because I have hours in the Dorman stud book and testing studs in the hole to no avail. Either wrong diameter or wrong configuration on the shoulder to fit. Macs, Sacramento Vintage Ford, Drake, Carpenter all sell the correct studs and the swedge cutter and swedge tool to reinstall.
X2 on what 55willys and timwhit said. The studs should be good for length. Check for other fitment issues.
you also need a steel flat spacer plate to make the steel wheels sit flush to the drum, that's why the longer studs are needed, that's only really if your using the stock model A drums and mech brakes, if you switch to hydro with 40-48 drums no need for spacers or longer studs
Check out this thread for the spacer you need ... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/model-a-wheel-spacers.507291/ I was looking into this and was going to try "extended thread" style wheel nuts so that there was plenty of engagement with the stock length studs. The link shows some extended thread wheel nuts - I was going to use the "E-T/Ultra Open End" ones, but I ended up with some '35 wires instead so didn't need to. http://www.gorilla-auto.com/lug-nuts-page-11
Your problem is that you need a spacer to get the wheel to sit flat on the drum. This was covered in posts 5, 7, and 11. I reference photos in my post #7 to show the problem. Extended wheel nuts will not solve the problem, just mask it temporarily. Without the spacer you are going to stress the steel wheel and eventually it will crack (and maybe fall of of the car). This is not good. Get the correct spacers or run wire wheels like bent spoke Kelsey's or '35 Ford. Charlie Stephens
I mentioned the spacer in my post 12 as well. I was going to use the extended thread nuts in conjunction with the spacer - sorry if that wasn't clear from my post.
I got longer studs at the auto parts store but they look CHEAP so I ordered from Summit and got hi quality. It was a few years back.
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