Rear lug bolts replacement ('03 ZTS)

You can buy replacement chrome plated lug nuts from Wal-Mart. They cost about $6.50 for a package 4. The Distributor of these nuts is

The size you will need is 12 x 1.5. 19mm Acorn short. As far as removing the drum assembly using the "removing the rear lug bolts technique". Removing the 4 retaining bolts on the stub axle can be a problem if they have never been removed before, Those suckers are really corroded on.. The tools you will need is penetrating oil and an air impact wrench and then they still might break. I have always removed the drums by removing the centre nut. Its a good idea to replace the nut after 4 times on and off as it has a ceramic lock and it wears out. Depending on the year of the car and the mileage, you might want to consider that it would be easier just to replace the drum assembly. You can buy drum assemblies with the wheel bearing already installed. Hope this helps.

From the manual I see that I can either: a. Remove the hub by removing the main wheel nut and take the chance of damaging the wheel bearing in the process or, b. Remove the entire stub axel by removing the 4 retaining bolts holding the stub axel & bearing/hub assembly to the suspension.

Q1. Is the second method (b) the correct way to do this and, if so, are there any "gotcha's" to be carefull of? Q2. New lug bolts - is this something I can pick up at a local Canadian Tire or is it a dealer only type of thing?

Thanks for any assistance.

As a matter of interest it seems like 2 issues were the cause of the problem.

1. Whoever put it on has not heard of a torque wrench.
2. Ford's strange decision to have open ended lug nuts that allow water to get into the threads if the little silver cap is lost (most of mine have managed to fall off during the last 3 years).

Some feedback on how I eventually fixed the broken lug bolts for anyone else that may have the same problem in the future.

I decided to first try remove the entire hub & stub axel to save the main bearing and if the bolts were rusted or just too tight then to remove the hub by removing the main nut & bearing. There are 4x 13mm bolts on the rear of the hub that need to be removed as well as the 8mm bolt holding the ABS sensor.

-The service manual said that the sensor could be removed by pulling it out after removing the bolt. I tried this but it would not come loose and fearing that I may damage it, I decided to leave it in place and instead unplugged the sensor and loosened the fasteners holding the cable.

-The 4 bolts holding the stub axel were relatively easy to loosen with the exception of 1 that is obscured by the brake line. This had to be detached to remove the bolt and re-attached to prevent brake fluid spillage.

-I then was able to remove the hub and pull the ABS cable through it's access hole. The sensor seems to have "rusted" in place and even with the hub removed I could not extract it (even though it was no longer necessary).

-I used a punch to knock the damaged studs out and replaced them with a new ones purchased from Ford (Canadian Tire does not stock these parts yet!)

-Re-assembled the system. It required some ingenuity to get the torque wrench into the confined space to tighten the bolts to the required 49 ft-lbs and the process of detatch brake line, tighten bolt, attach brake line.

-Bleed brakes because the brake line was detached.

The entire process took under 2 hrs.