installing wheel studs

hey guys
i had a bit of adverse luck with my bronco today and i need some advice

i lost a wheel, snapped off one stud and galled up the other four
i going to replace them all BUT i do not want to pull the axleshaft out (it a rear one)

now, there is enough room there with the backing plate still installed that i can feed the studs in from the back
normally i would use a press or a BFH to seat them, but i cant do that with the axle still in
can i put a few washers down and just use a lugnut to draw it in?

or do you guys have a different trick ?

Washers work ok.
Every shop mechanic has been doing it like that forever.

That's the way I have always done it but I always put a little oil on the wheel stud so when pulling it through it does not get buggered up from the lug nut. Just make sure the hole in the washer is big enough for the stud to pull all the way through. Hell I used to do that when I worked at Warren Truck and they would cross thread lug nuts during production on the new Dodge Trucks.
Bob

I would use coupling nuts so that you grab more threads decreasing the chances of stripping any threads on the stud!! I go the local spring shop and get the long nuts that are used on the axle U bolts, they are hardened and hold up real good for pulling studs.