So, I've been trying to replace my front left wheel hub and it's been fighting me a bit more than I thought it would. First I had stubborn bolts on the caliper bracket even after soaking them with PB Blaster so I bought a Milwaukee impact and solved that problem. I finally get to the hub bolts and it appears that someone had either attempted removal previously or used the same bolts on a reinstall instead of new bolts and one of them is rounded off. Now I'm trying to decide..... and this is where advice from you guys (and gals?) comes in...... should I buy an extractor socket set for ~$30 and attempt to remove the bolt, which potentially has loctite on it, or should I buy a new steering knuckle for ~$50 through Rock Auto and just remove the knuckle and hub as 1 unit then install the new knuckle and hub? I think some questions that come to mind right off as far as replacing the knuckle would be ..... how hard is it to remove the top 2 bolts and what size are they? I assume the tie rod bolt is fairly easy to remove? Would changing the knuckle cause any alignment issues? Another question I have in regards to the extractor socket is can I use the impact with the socket? The socket set I found is for an impact but is it going to dig into the head of the bolt or just spin right off and leave me in more of a jam? I imagine setting the impact to the lowest torque setting would be advisable or should I just attempt to use the extractor with a breaker bar or ratchet and break it loose that way? My brain says just replace the knuckle because if the extractor socket doesn't work then I'm out $80 instead of just $50 if I just went straight to replacing the knuckle but it also seems like replacing the entire knuckle might be more of a pain. Sorry for the long-winded post. Hopefully someone here has had this same issue or has experience with extractor sockets and can help.

EDIT: ****.... I forgot about the ball joint which I'm assuming attaches to the bottom of the steering knuckle? I bet that's a PITA to remove.

 

Does autozone rent extractors? If they do, I'd probably give that a try first as it'll be virtually free. Id personally use a hand tool on it, they shouldn't be that tight.

If youre concerned there's loctite present- especially if its red, hit it with some heat.

 

I'll have to check with Autozone and O'Reilly to see if they have the sockets on their rental program but I'd be surprised if they do. My concern about the loctite being present is that I believe I read somewhere that GM used some sort of thread locker from the factory on these bolts. If the bolts was removed previously and rounded off during reinstall then the loctite shouldn't be an issue, unless they put more loctite on the bolt, but if it was rounded off previously in a failed attempt to remove the factory bolt then the loctite would still be present. I know the replacement bolts that came with the new hub have some sort of thread locker already on them. I don't have a good source for heating up the bolt but I might be able to get in there with a flat head screw driver and hammer and give it a few good whacks before attempting removal with the extractor socket. I think I've ditched the idea of replacing the knuckle. I think if worse comes to worse I'll get some sort of tool with a cutting wheel and cut the head of the bolt off. Since it's threaded into the hub and just passes through a hole in the knuckle, if I can shear the head off then I should be able to get the hub off with the bolt still attached.

 

That bolt head must be in pretty rough shape if you're thinking a cutoff wheel may be necessary. Personally I've had pretty good luck with the bolt extractors shaped like a socket but with the swirl of sharp teeth inside to latch on. Ive managed to get out nearly completely round (from corrosion) bolts like that if a small enough size is hammered onto them.

Like you said though, it couldn't happen to a better bolt. Usually you're deathly afraid of breaking the bolt head off for fear of the much worse process of extracting the remains. But luckily that doesn't apply here.

 

Nah, it isn't in terrible condition I'm just preparing for all worst case scenarios after the struggle I had with the caliper bracket bolts. I've never used an extractor socket before so I have no personal experience on how well they do or don't work. The set I'm looking at buying is the socket kind with the swirl of teeth inside so I guess I'll keep my fingers crossed.

 

Id bet you'll be fine. As long as its not a bottom end set made with garbage pot metal, you've got a pretty good chance it'll come out.

Hope it goes smoothly for you!

 

They're impact-grade chrome-moly steel sockets so I'm not worried about the sockets themselves.

 

Well it's finally done. Bought a set of metric impact-grade extractor sockets from Hobo Freight and it worked like a charm. Got the other 2 bolts off with no issues and had to give the hub a few hammer hits in 3 different places and it popped right out. Overall, the whole thing ended up costing me more than having a shop do it but now I own a Milwaukee cordless impact, which I've never owned before, to make future repair jobs easier.

 

Nice! More tools is never a bad thing - not to mention the experience. I'm sure you're frustrated now, but it'll come in handy next time you run into bolt issues.

 

This, right here, great way to look at this! You needed a tool for a job, it worked and now you have it for future jobs. Today's upfront cost was more than a shop, but a future job might be less now.
Congrats on a win!