Wheel stud replacement with axle shaft still in place, possible?

Not all of them are built that way. Probably 50 of us would need to remove differential cover to get the axle out.

Just for the sake of saying... You might run across front hub assemblies on modern cars that appear impossible to replace a stud in. Study closely though. You might find just a small amount of grinding on the button head of the stud for clearance will get it in there.

Well he stated it was an 8 3/4 so I figured it wouldn't take very long to pull drum and loosen the 5 bolts and yank her out

However I agree with you I replace studs all the time at work and some modern cars can get tricky