There is a tool made that is suppost to help with this. I think it is called a brake spoon. It sounds like you know what you are looking for. Judging by the pic from truckdude, it looks like it might be higher up than the hole. You might spray some brake cleaner inside the hole to help clean it up some. Also when you go to take the studs out, try pressing them out with a c clamp and a large socket or get a tool for pressing them out. THe axle flange isn't that hard to damage.
Here are some pics of the tools I mentioned:
http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku
http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku
http://www.otctools.com/products/detail.php?id=1826