Lug stud on the rear

🙁🙁

If this was on the front you would have a basically minor job.

if both the bad studs were on one rear axle then the job would just be a major PITA.

but since you have one stud on each rear axle that needs replacing, your job is now one of the worst PITA tasks a Pantera owner can  face

you will be disconnecting both of your half shafts, removing both of your uprights, disassembling both of your uprights, hopefully finding your axles are still within tolerance, likely replacing bearings and then reassembling everything

all of this is necessary to get to the back of the wheel studs that need replacing.

sorry……

Larry

this photo is showing the reassembly of the stub axle into the upright with a freshly installed bearing

Any special tools, you ask.

there was a specialized tool set issued by Ford and provided to dealers. They occasionally appear on eBay or other obscure places, but that can be years in between and they seem to sell around $1500

A well equipped repair shop should be able to improvise a safe and proper process.

One specialty tool you will undoubtedly need is a proper axle nut socket, as those nuts are torqued to about 400 foot pounds

The aftermarket units are actually improved and stronger than the OEM sockets. I have one that I will gladly ship/loan to you if you have the need.

Larry

Holy cow! that is a job I'm not looking forward to. I will try one last ditch effort to chase the threads with a dye and get a new nut. If that doesn't work I will definitely take you up on borrowing your socket. What size and pitch are those studs?

So you have to do all of that work if you need to turn the rotors??

How do you remove the front rotors??

I dodged the bullet. My lug on one side was stripped so, I had a spare nut and I lubed and chased the studs ( all 10) and they torqued down nicely. So I guess turning the rotors would be mucho denaro and a PITA! Might as well put some good binders on when you do a brake job.

Rob,

you might be able to find a shop that could surface the rear rotors while still mounted. I know this can be done on front rotors but I believe for the rear on a Pantera you would have to disconnect the drive shafts

as for the front rotors it is a very simple process.

Unbolt and set caliper aside, remove spindle nut, remove rotor and hub assembly, have rotor surfaced.

Larry

Thanks Larry. Glad to hear that the front rotors have conventional removal. I have a brake pull issue from the car sitting so long, so I will be taking everything apart up front.

Rears look ok for now - thankfully - as it sounds like a lot of work!!!

Don't get too 'vigorous' with handling the wheel studs on either end. They are hardened steel and will crack if bent very much. Besides being a pita, they are/were $16/ea (x20) last time I priced them. Those flat stud heads are needed to clear everything in back during assembly so there are no known cheapies.

FYI, while the rear uprights are disassembled; it's not too tough to convert the rear brake rotors to outboard mounting like the front. Wilwood makes the appropriate rotor hat (part #: 170-0636), that places the rotor in exactly the same location as the regular Pantera hat. This is not the Wilwood hat in the photo but it's dimensionally the same.

The Wilwood hat David mentioned is no longer available do to lack of sales.

David

Do you have the part number for the rear rotor to go with this hat?

Forest

Forest, I don't have the part number but any 8 x 7.62" bolt circle rotor should have fit.

Sounds like this is a moot point though. I had a feeling it might be NLA. Before posting the part #, I did a search on Wilwood's web site and the hat still appears but if Scott says it isn't available, it isn't!  I wonder if there's a hat available with a different rotor bolt circle or one that could be modified to fit. The offset (2.10") is the critical dimension.