I know I am probably rehashing known issues for old-timers, but for newbie
(like me), I just wanted to give me opinion about the triple square axle
bolts.

Came time to swap out my drive axles, as they had started to make noise and
I am (like many) restoring a unknown condition van.

I had some new triple squares on hand, if needed.

The 'outer' bolts were hex bolts, so I was glad I had the new triples to
replace.

One (1) bolt stripped the head coming out. Last bolt (doesn't it always work
like that?).

My Vanagon expert buddy who let me borrow his lift to do this job was really
concerned. He finally figured out the following trick to get it out, because
the van would otherwise be stuck on his lift and he has paying customers to
take care of or I would be "re-installing" a known bad axle.

He put a 12pt, 12mm cheap chrome socket on the end of a 4 inch (or so)
extension and beat the socket onto the outside of the stripped bolt. We said
a prayer and with a hand ratchet slowly backed that joker out. A couple of
high fives later, and the new axle was in.

--
Bobby Brown