how are the lugs being put back on? Using an impact wrench?

 

No. just finger tight and then torqued with a torque wrench.

 

They really shouldn't break that way..... Cross-threaded? or just too small studs?

 

It may not be the studs, it could be the lug nuts. Apparently they have had a problem since the 1970's called swelling, apparently if you take them off and on multiple times the lug nuts tend to swell up a bit IE stretch outwards and a lug socket or wrench will have a hard time going over them. I replaced mine with Gorilla Automotive forged lug nuts. Now having said that, I have still had them snap off after replacing the lug nuts, but not having the swelling problems. The OEM studs do suck... I would replace all mine with ARP studs if you can find find them or other branded forged studs. When the swollen lug nuts problem happened to me I had 3 out of 20 studs snap off in one tire rotation, since replacing the lugs only 1 more has snapped off. https://amzn.to/3v8s4qZ These are from DPA Ascessories, and I do believe they are forged. I actually got the long Star shaped ones back in 2016 because that's what was in stock at the time. https://amzn.to/3jYua66

Edit: Looks like Dorman or Yukon Gear and Axel are the only ones that make replacement studs (first two in this list should work fine) https://bit.ly/3xGVmOL

 

On my 2017 1500 Tradesman with steel wheels I was the first to remove tires for rotation... None of the factory lug nuts would spin back on by hand. The studs seemed fine when I ran a known good lug nut onto all of them. I ran a clean-up tap through all the nuts and did take off some meat, but used them until I could get a new set. Bought a new set of factory lug nuts and torqued them to spec (130 ft lbs). Next time I rotated tires half of the new nuts would not freely spin on...the studs worked fine with a known good lug nut. I take my lug nuts off with an impact, and put them back on with an impact and torque stick for 90 lbs. I use a torque wrench to finish the job. I'll look for another type of after market lug nut in the future. Just for info.

 

Thanks for the post, I thought I was losing my mind.
2021 Bighorn 12k miles, 2 tire rotations, 1 broken stud.
Truck purchased new, I do all the work myself. No impact was ever used on these studs.
Noticed on first tire rotation that lug nuts didn't seem to want to torque off @ 130 ft lbs
felt like they were streching, not solid clamping and torque off like the hundreds of wheels I have torqued in my life.
Snap-on calibrated torque wrench used.
Dorman wheel studs on order, unless I can find something better. ARPs would be nice.
Didn't expect to have issues with my 1 year old truck.