Found the solution. Stretch them out for a few hours before hand. Old bellow was rigid and these are more pliable.

You have to be kidding me. Everything put back together, didn't replace cv axles and tightening down the last nut and it sheared off. Now I get to go in reverse and replace the CV axle.

I wonder if the cold is affecting my torque wrench because it didn't feel like it was giving at the proper torque

That looks awfully small for an axle nut...

Couldn't say one way or another, but it's what is in the wheel hub on at least my generation f150. I'd assume most others as well.

One good thing to come of this at least. When I be removed wheel hub actuator I found a large piece of the inside was missing that you can't see when replacing wheel hub so I'll replace those on both sides as well. Just won't be able to finish this job until they get here now which is frustrating.

Sea Speed said:

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Couldn't say one way or another, but it's what is in the wheel hub on at least my generation f150. I'd assume most others as well.

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Oh, ok. I'm not familiar with Ford's IWE setup. That axle nut is only a 20 lb-ft fastener to pull the IWE home to seat. Not anything like a traditional axle nut I'm used to that requires 200+ lb-ft.

Spec I saw a 30 but I probably should have stopped because I was thinking I was pulling way harder than 30 lbs but I double checked my wrench and sure enough it was set to 30. It's balls cold in my shop so I wonder if that is affecting the torque wrench somehow? Either way, I have the CV axles on hand, was just going to return them. Not anymore I guess.

I wonder if the squeaking came from all the funk that got up in that wheel hub. Turns out it was fine but had a ton of gunk in it compared to the other one. The face of the driver side was practically new when the passenger side looked like that.

All done. Got to the alignment shop and there's a slight camber on the tires and the tech told me to fix that exactly I need a camber kit because he wouldn't be able to get the control arms the same spot as they were from the factory. Wish all the trading about doing this online would have mentioned this anywhere. So I got to redo those yesterday and spend more money. Yeehaw.

So the final tally of additional things I had to do to complete the job after getting started:

Replace cv axles due to sheared stud
Replaced passenger side caliper because boot was shredded
Replace lower control arm bolts

Not a bad list, but definitely added time to the job.

Best part though is that it's not making the noise anymore and that was worth all the hassle.