The last time I had to drop the front axle on my AWD, I rounded off the heads of some of the bolts that fastened the half-shafts to the axle flanges. Those things are positioned rather awkwardly, and one has to be very careful when trying to tighten or loosen those bolts. So I managed to finally get them off this weekend using a Metrinch socket. I'm wondering, is there any reason I can't just replace the bolts with some grade 8 socket (Allen) head cap screws? It's much easier to fit an Allen wrench into that space than a socket and extension.

 

No real reason you could not swap fasteners with equal grade. I've found after many front axle shaft removals, using several 12 inch extensions and approaching from under the brake rotor, gives a pretty straight on shot for the bolts. Of course, you have to rotate the axle for each bolt. You can use a screwdriver/pry bar in the rotor slots against the brake caliper to anchor the axle when removing/installing. My bolt heads are little rounded after all these years, so I may join you in using Allen head fasteners. Let us know how it works.

For those of you reading this thread and have never had the occasion to remove those axle flange bolts, Ford uses thread locker liberally. You will find heating the bolts GENTLY with a propane torch will make removal much easier.

 

Indeed, I did heat the bolts before removing them. I think I did most of the damage when I was trying to tighten them. I have applied Lock-Tight to the threads, but it seems to be a lot thinner than whatever Ford used.

By the way, the bolts are M8-1.25, 20mm long.