Well, snapped another wheel stud this past week while changing from the E/T streets to the street tires. This is my second. The first I had to grind down in length to fit in. Does anyone have a suggestion on an easier way to replace them????
I did the exact same thing this weekend on the driver rear side of my 02 GT. The anti lock brake gear is right behind the hub, not leaving enough space to slide the new bolt in through the rear. Ford tells me to pull the whole axle out, but they can't tell me if that stupid gear is pressed onto the axle. I can't believe a $1.28 wheel stud can be such a pain in the butt, ruined my whole weekend. It is on jacks now so if anyone knows how to quickly change this out would be a huge help!
Just had a buddy come by with a hand held grinder, ground off the edge of the outer lip on the very back end of the stud which gave it just enough clearance past the ant-lock brack gear to slip right through. The remainder of the lip and the teeth that sink into the axle hub should be more than enough to keep it in place. Now I just need to get an open ended nut to fit to pull it through. There is still not enough room behind it to hammer it and too tight to use a punch or something. Hope this helps......
Do it the right way and just pull the axle and get some new longer, stronger studs pressed in. It's not that much in parts or in labor, and then you won't have to worry about having more of the studs break. Personally I wouldn't just use a nut to pull a shortened stud through; besides that it won't be on as tightly, it'll be shorter, which is basically weaker in terms of it's ability to hold the wheel on securely.
The exciter ring is pressed on, so you won't be able to just knock it out of the way.
I'm just looking to replace the existing. I am having strange 31 spline axles and a locker installed soon and just need something to get me through tech for now.