Need help on my rear axle ASAP!!

So here's the deal. I had some new tires and rims put on last month. The tire shop that installed them stripped some of the rear wheel studs when they used some clueless kid to torque down the lug nuts with about 5 minutes of cranking on them with an impact gun. They had to replace all 10 rear wheel studs. I figured all was good. I then decided a few weeks back to do some work to my rear brakes. When I yanked the lug nuts I saw about 3/8" of a wheel stud sticking out. I can get about 3 turns on a lug nut before they stop. That's NO GOOD. So I figured I would do it myself and replace them with the correct lenght wheel studs. I ordered a 10 pack of 1/2" x 2" wheel studs from chromoly USA, which is what I had before. Today was the day to do the swap. After a few issues I got the axle shafts out (33 spline chromos) and was ready to yank the short wheel studs and I ran into a problem. I am assuming the same moron who stripped my wheel studs the 1st time threaded on these wheel studs. I have tried with my breaker bar to get these short wheel studs off the axle shaft flange with no luck. (These are the threaded on kind and not the press in kind) I have now destroyed the head of 2 of them. I badly need someone with air tools to come up and help me get these off with an impact gun. I also am confused about one thing. When I yanked the axle shafts the plate in front of the outer bearing was COVERED in RTV silicone. Should the outer seal be sealed with silicone? Sorry for the length of the thread but I wanted all the details provided.

If someone can come up in the next day or two I would be glad to pay for your gas and feed you until your ready to pop.

Do you have an aircompressor? What all do you need? When do you need it fixed by? I have a decent impact but my compressor is not close to portable......CrazyJim has a bitchin impact and good portable compressor.....,maybe he'll chime in.

I would drill out the studs if you can, just step up in bit size till you can get to something 3/4's the size of the stud, it will weaken it quite a bit and you should be able to either hit them with a chisel or put enough torque on them with a big breaker bar to get them to flex and loosen up.

Honestly I would take the shafts to the shop that did it and give them an earful, maybe try to make them replace the shafts or at the very least get the studs out of there. Wish I could help man, I hate seeing people get burned at a shady shop

GrimmJeeper said:

I would drill out the studs if you can, just step up in bit size till you can get to something 3/4's the size of the stud, it will weaken it quite a bit and you should be able to either hit them with a chisel or put enough torque on them with a big breaker bar to get them to flex and loosen up.

Honestly I would take the shafts to the shop that did it and give them an earful, maybe try to make them replace the shafts or at the very least get the studs out of there. Wish I could help man, I hate seeing people get burned at a shady shop

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I would have taken them back to the shop if I knew the issues I was going to run into. I figured the 1 1/2 hour drive (3 hour round trip) would cost me more in gas then to just do the wheel stud swap myself. I had no idea these studs were put in by a moron swinging an impact gun.

In regards to putting "torque" on the studs, that is becoming a major problem. The wheel studs have a VERY shallow head that leaves little surface area to bite on with a 3/4" standard socket. An impact gun would probably break them free but my breaker bar is simply stripping the heads on the studs. It's just a mess right now. Drilling out the studs was an option I considered until I ate through one of my bits. I need some much higher quality bits to drill through these hardened wheel studs.

You want to bring them by my house tomorrow?

can't do tonight.....

Justin

silverslk said:

Do you have an aircompressor? What all do you need? When do you need it fixed by? I have a decent impact but my compressor is not close to portable......CrazyJim has a bitchin impact and good portable compressor.....,maybe he'll chime in.

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I do not have a compressor. My old compressor and most of my tools were all stolen when my old place in Ontario was broken into. I'm working on slowly rebuilding my arsenal of tools, but it takes a long time. In regards to a time frame, I would like it fixed sooner than later. My rig is sticking out of the garage and can't be moved, which means my garage will be left open during the night. I'm not so worried about thiefs but the Bears up here LOVE trashing my garage at night. I am a school teacher and I am off right now for summer break so I have every day off work for the next 8 weeks. I will be available any day or night for someone to come up and help me.

xjjeeper19 said:

You want to bring them by my house tomorrow?

can't do tonight.....

Justin

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That would work for me. You already helped me fix my front axle and now your offering to help me with the rear. I really appreciate your kindness. What would be a good time for you? I have a dentist appointment at 11:00 to get some cavities filled. I can come by early before the appointment or anytime after 1:00 pm.

Sucks man. I think your garage is bad luck. My lift gave us hell too. Let me know if you need any help tomorrow afternoon. I only have about and hour after work but Ill come up and help you get it back together if you need it. You are welcome to my impacts and sockets if you can find a compressor and I can bring it all up to work tomorrow.

john_yarbrough said:

Sucks man. I think your garage is bad luck. My lift gave us hell too. Let me know if you need any help tomorrow afternoon. I only have about and hour after work but Ill come up and help you get it back together if you need it. You are welcome to my impacts and sockets if you can find a compressor and I can bring it all up to work tomorrow.

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I will try to find a compressor tonight but my options are limited. I will probably have to take Justin up on his offer about taking them to his place.

I almost forgot about my other question. Should RTV silicon be used to seal the outer shaft? I havn't seen that before. Did the tire shop do something screwy?

I have 2 compressors you welcome to borrow one if you need to.

I can get my hands on an electric impact.

What rear axle are you working on, i must have missed that. silicone is a band aid usually, there should not be silicone on the shaft.

do you have a grinder? can you cut notches in the heads of the bolt enough to wedge a screwdriver or prybar against it and beat it with a hammer? maybe if you post a pic of the situation some more ideas would sprout up :dunno:

Brad, I have air and an impact, but the compressor isn't exactly the mobile kind LOL!

GrimmJeeper said:

What rear axle are you working on, i must have missed that. silicone is a band aid usually, there should not be silicone on the shaft.

do you have a grinder? can you cut notches in the heads of the bolt enough to wedge a screwdriver or prybar against it and beat it with a hammer? maybe if you post a pic of the situation some more ideas would sprout up :dunno:

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The axle is an XJ dana 44 with 33 spline chromoly shafts detroit locker and crown vic disc brakes. The silicone is just outside of the bearing and it's also all over the brake assembly retainer plate. It really makes no sense to put the silicone on the outer part of the axle shaft since it's a moving part. It's on both sides. I'm really stumped on why the tire shop did this. Shouldn't I be able to install the axle shafts without any silicone and not have any leaks? I am attaching some pics. The first one is of the location of all the silicone. My finger is touching the area that is covered. The 2nd pic is the backside of the axle shaft flange which shows the head of the wheel stud. (This is the screw off kind and not press in kind)

Skwerly said:

Brad, I have air and an impact, but the compressor isn't exactly the mobile kind LOL!

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Where in Yucaipa are you located? Also what time during the day could I stop by? Steve (91blackbox) offered to lend me his compressor, but if you have everything all set up at your place it would be easier just to bring the axle shafts over and pop the wheel studs off. Then I don't have to return anything later. PM your address and I can send you my cell number.

got him covered with a compressor and impact...

ok thanks for the pics!

the rubber Oring your thumb is touching is the seal that keeps the oil in the axle. if the tire shop F'd up and broke your wheel studs they would have had to remove the shafts to fix the problem, if they are anything like my tire shop they are more used to working on lowriders than 4x4s, so they may have put silicone on the seal just to make sure it didnt leak when they put the shafts back in... if it isnt leaking I wouldn't worry too much about it. I would clean them up as best you can, maybe use gas to dissolve the silicone (it shouldn't affect the oring) and either put it back in as is(lube the oring with gear oil so it doesn't tear on the way in) or try to find a new seal for the outside of that bearing, then do the same - clean, lube, install. if you are worried about it smear it with a thin lip of silicone and bolt it back together.

I wish I had more input for you about the turning of the wheel bolts, If I can think on anything I'll post up for sure but at the moment I'm out of ideas :dunno:

Try double nutting the studs on the wheel side and work them with the biggest breaker bar you have. There should not need to be any silicone on the seal.

GrimmJeeper said:

ok thanks for the pics!

the rubber Oring your thumb is touching is the seal that keeps the oil in the axle. if the tire shop F'd up and broke your wheel studs they would have had to remove the shafts to fix the problem, if they are anything like my tire shop they are more used to working on lowriders than 4x4s, so they may have put silicone on the seal just to make sure it didnt leak when they put the shafts back in... if it isnt leaking I wouldn't worry too much about it. I would clean them up as best you can, maybe use gas to dissolve the silicone (it shouldn't affect the oring) and either put it back in as is(lube the oring with gear oil so it doesn't tear on the way in) or try to find a new seal for the outside of that bearing, then do the same - clean, lube, install. if you are worried about it smear it with a thin lip of silicone and bolt it back together.

I wish I had more input for you about the turning of the wheel bolts, If I can think on anything I'll post up for sure but at the moment I'm out of ideas :dunno:

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I really appreciate your input on the silicone. That answered everything I needed.
In regards to the wheel studs, it seems I have PLENTY of guys offering up their tools. My first choice will be skwerly since he's local and all set up. I can just bring my axle shafts over and remove the studs at his place, option 2 will be Steve (91blackbox) and I will simply borrow his compressor and use John's (John Yarboroug) air tools in my own garage. Last option if the first two don't work out will be Justin (xjjeeper19) when he gets off work. If the hole air tool thing doesn't work out then I will be back to the drawing board to come up with something else. For now it looks like I'm covered in all regards. I really appreciate all the quick responses and help guys. I will post up again tomorrow night to let you all know how things went.