Wheel studs: 4 or 5?

[Rex Schimmer]

I am working with a friend that has a Porsche 914-4 which means it has 4 lug wheels, per section 2.G the minimum required for wheel retention is (5) 1/2 inch studs. I did some basic calculations and (5) 1/2-20 wheel studs, based upon the threads root diameter have a total area of .76 sq. inches, if we convert to (4) 5/8-11 wheel studs, much easier to do, the area of 4 studs is .85 sq. inches which is about 12% greater. So based upon the tensile and shear area it looks to me that the (4) 5/8 inch dia. studs are a better way to go.

Comments.

I have sent a request to Lee Kennedy regarding this, I'll let you know his response.

Rex

[manta22]

Rex;

I was faced with something vaguely similar. My rear hubs were Porsche 996 with a 5 x 130mm bolt pattern and I couldn't find any Porsche wheels with the size (diameter, width, & backspacing) that I needed. A bit of scale drawing showed that the 130mm bolt pattern was close enough to the circle track standard 5 on 5 that the hubs could be easily machined to accept 5/8" wheel studs onto where the existing metric holes existed before.

If there is a chance that you could machine your hubs to a 5 stud 5" diameter circle, you will then have the opportunity to use circle track racing wheels. These are inexpensive and are available in lots of widths & back spacings. Most are 15" wheels but there are a few other sizes. Look at Bassett, Aero, Marsh, Speedway Motors, etc.