dntsdad

I am getting my "new" front differential ready to install....hopefully tomorrow. SPent the day cleaning it up and trying to get all the crap, nasty oil, spiders, and stuff growing inside of it all out today. The guys I hbought it from had it sitting under a tarp in a field in his backyard and the cover had a huge hole in it so anything was free to enter.

Anyways.........as i have it sitting there and picturing the install(first time under the front of a Toyota) I keep seeing these axle studs off the flanges and can't help but wonder if installing this thing wouldn't be a hell of a lot easier if there were simply nuts and bolts. I assume that Toyota used studs for strength, but would I be really snapping bolts?? I doubt it. It also seems that repairing/replacing an axle on a trail would be much simpler if I had simple nuts and bolts as well.

What do you guys think. If I have a thought here that is fairly common practice, what is the easier way to remove the studs? I do not have a puller/press other than a steering wheel puller and I do not think that would work. A BFH remove them??

thanks

Matt16

Good idea. Makes removing the CVs a breeze.

I used a BFH. The studs came out pretty easy. I ground off the splines on the studs and re-used them as bolts. I had to touch up the treads as I ruined a couple of them by banging up the threads too hard. I should have used a pieces of a softer material between the hammer and the studs.

mt_goat

Yes, knock them out or press them out and replace with a good grade bolt. Or you can also grind a little of the shoulder of the stud and reuse them. On one side (can't remember which now) you can turn the studs around and reuse them like they are.

Matt16

What do yo mean about different sides? All the studs were the same as regular bolt, no reverse threads. I reused studs from both flanges, they were identical.

91diesel

he means on one side you can't get the nut on because of clearance issues. I believe it's on the passenger/diff side.

ovrrdrive

The drivers side has room enough that you could flip them around and it would work fine.

dntsdad

Hey Matt Worked like a charm as you said.
Went out and thread the nut back onto the stud just proud of the end of the threads and a few small, firm smacks with a 5pd. sledge and they all popped with off. Ground them down and they fit perfect. Thanks