I broke a wheel stud on my 8 3/4 axle. Its the passenger side. Is it possible to replace it without removing the axle shaft? It's the small bolt pattern 7/16 studs.
Thanks in advance!
without a doubtDon't drill it out! You'd risk more damage by drilling it than by driving the stud out. It shouldn't take that much force to knock it out of the axle flange. Use a lug nut & some washers like others have said to draw the new stud in.
If you drill it & you're off center or drill too big the splines won't bite into the axle flange correctly & you'll be in a bigger mess if the stud strips out & spins in the flange.
Only 5 bolts to remove axle completely takes 5 minutes if you have the right tools but it may be done without removing axle . Sucks for me I have 3 inch threaded studs so I have to remove it everytime lol
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.