Hello,

I am new to the forums and I just purchased a 2000 Cavalier and was doing some maintenance (replacing the front brake pads) and in taking off one of the lug nuts, the threads crossed and the lug stud broke off.

No problem, I had a 72 chevelle that happened to and you just get a new lug stud and nut and move on.

Problem is that there is not enough room to get the new stud in. The triangular plate behind the drive plate (the flat plate behind the rotor) does not give me enough room to get the lug stud in. I cannot get a straight shot at it to get it going. I turned the plate all around looking for a "sweet spot" where I would have enough clearance to get the lug stud in, but to no avail.

I assumed that the drive plate was held in by the large nut in the center of the drive shaft. After several trips to Autozone, I ended up renting one of their 30mm sockets to remove the bolt. Apparently this is not what is holding the plate on.

I can see there are 3 star head bolts holding the assembly to the triangular plate. Am I going to need to dismantle that in order to get enough clearance to get the lug stud in?

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

Nevermind...

I searched a different area of the forum and it looks like, unless I want to grind some of the lug stud head off, the I have to use a torx bit to take the assembly off.

Now I just have to decide which to do.

It would be easier to just replace the hub assembly and yes, you need a torx bit to remove them. A BFH would also be handy.

I replaced three studs on the back a week ago. Took no more than 10 minutes, you just hammer the old ones out and pull the new ones in. I'm sure the front is much different though.

On the front, I just took out the bolts holding the wheel bearing/hub on, knocked it loose and popped in the new stud. I wouldn't say swapping the whole thing is easier, why would you if the old bearing/hub is good?