As I set out to remove the rusty brakes, something went horribly wrong.
One of the rear left lug nuts snapped off clean from very little force. I can only assume that the previous owner had fitted some cheap ass, poor quality aluminium nuts.
Not the end of the world I thought, I'll simply drill the broken part out, replace the stud and carry on as usual. But oh boy was I in for some surprises.
After much drilling, and slight damage to the wheel - the lug nut is off, great! Now to replace the stud, how hard can it be?
After trying to get my head around it for a while, and reading up on online forums, it becomes evident that I cannot simply knock it out, instead, the hub needs to be removed to get enough clearance. The down side is that when you separate the hub and knuckle, the bearing will need to be replaced. Not ideal - but I have no choice.
Fast-forward a couple of weeks and the not much has changed, I've used all my tools and exhausted my limited knowledge - and the hub is simply not coming off, it's seized on good.
Plan B - replace the entire hub/shaft assembly in 1 piece.
I then popped the shaft out of the differential. Even this was more difficult than expected. I ended up ordering a shaft popping tool, and wow - it popped out in seconds, well worth the money.
I managed to source a good used hub, knuckle and shaft and everything went smoothly.
Now, back to the brakes!