aww man. thanks anyway, i have short and deep 22mm sockets, they're just worthless for this application. i cant figure out why they dont make all sockets with a hex external top, seems like it would make them all more practical. Autozone, Advance, Lowe's, Home Depot, Sears, and Harbor Freight all do not have what i need (wasted 4 hours today driving around looking) and this is just getting irritating. any other suggestions? anyone work for a shop that'd do it for cheap? i'd feel like a failure bailing out on the DIY at this point, but i'm gonna need an alignment afterwards anyway. got all the parts, just need the damn right tools.