Hello, all...

I'm a Volvo virgin; just bought my first 240, a 1992 240GL for $1000. So far, I'm learning a ton from reading this board and others, and working on it. Current works in progress are replacing the motor mounts, calipers and rotors,and exhaust manifold gaskets. So far, so good. I've got the passenger motor mount done (removing the alternator AND the bottom alternator bracket made the job easy, and I did it while the exhaust manifold was off too.. piece of cake,and discovered that the alternator was mounted incorrectly and the bushings were shot, so I fixed that), and am waiting for a new bottom mount bracket on the drivers side to finish over there; the P.O had snapped off one of the bolts, and I broke a second one. The third bolt was the charm, but too late.. .

The exhaust manifold was a joy to do; all the studs came out w/ a little soaking and elbow grease.

The rotors/calipers.. well, let's just say that someone has done some very stupid things to this car. The wheel nuts on the driver's side were put on by a typical gorilla.. MUCH too tight, and the threads are no more. New nuts didn't cut it; I need to install new studs. The old ones hammered loose easily enough, BUT... and here's my question...

There's not enough clearance behind the hub flange where the studs are mounted to remove them. The head of the studs hangs up on the toothed ABS sensor wheel (or whatever it's called). I got one out by filing a flat side on the head of the stud and filing and bending the ABS gear slightly, but I'm afraid to continue doing that for fear of buggering up the ABS gear. Plus, it still took some light percussive pursuading to get the stud out. When I go to put the new studs in, I'm worried about messing up the threads by forcing them through the holes at an angle.

Does the ABS gear come off? How? Any other methods you folks have used to get the stud heads out past that toothed wheel?

Thanks, all... I'm sure I'll have a zillion more questions as I go through my new toy w/ a fine toothed comb, but I'm really enjoying working on it. It's a LOT more backyard-mechanic friendly than the rest of my fleet.

Best to you..

Barry