tires and wheels rear axle nut

[bills2002]

After I replaced CV boots I noticed some play in the rear wheels. I put the rear end in less than 2000 miles back with all new bearings. The castellated nuts were loose. How in the flip do you put 229 ft lbs of torque on? I put 170 on and hope that's good enough because 230 is not possible!

[wegweiser]

Find a big, damn torque wrench or your rear wheel *WILL* pass you. if you're lucky, it won't go through the windshield of an oncoming vehicle with children inside.

Seriously...fix that. NOW.

Back in 1988, I had a wheel come off at 60+ mph and sail into a cornfield. The rear wheel bearings were done by a non-BMW savvy mechanic 10 days earlier.

[c.d.iesel]

well the worry is that the once tightened nuts are coming loose because a problem with the stub axles, splines, bearing spacer .... something wrong with

the assembly of the stub axle&hub&bearings???

any play in the rear wheel bearing hubs is bad

[wegweiser]

c.d. preaches the truth on this one.

[kris]

After I replaced CV boots I noticed some play in the rear wheels. I put the rear end in less than 2000 miles back with all new bearings. The castellated nuts were loose. How in the flip do you put 229 ft lbs of torque on? I put 170 on and hope that's good enough because 230 is not possible!

Not possible because your tq wrench doesn't go that high or you can't apply it? If it's the latter use a cheater bar.

[BobBreed]

To be honest..... Perry and I only went to 175 lbs with the race cars. We ner had any broken axles. l personally believe 225 is to damn high!

Bob

[stone02]

Hi,

not to sound like a smart ass but

i use a person in the car on the brakes

hard and i use a breaker bar and i stand

on the bar with one foot.

haha 252 foot LBS.

if you can get an air gun just have

them turn it all the way up bang on it

for a while.

good luck

stone

[bills2002]

I did that Chris but dang if I can tell the difference between 180 where my torque wrench ended and all the force I could find on earth.

c.d., I didn't get anywhere near the specified torque when I put them together. Don't know why but there was no way I did all of this then.

Paul, IJS 229 ft lbs, come on!

[bills2002]

Follow up: After 60 miles this hub is loose again. The stub axle must be shot or must be assumed to be. New axle to be ordered.

[c.d.iesel]

well the worry is that the once tightened nuts are coming

loose because a problem with the stub axles, splines,

bearing spacer .... something wrong with

the assembly of the stub axle&hub

&bearings???

any play in the rear wheel bearing hubs is bad

(order hub, stub axle & bearing kit)

you think tightening the nut was tough?

i hate to send negative vibrations but

wait till you attempt to remove, and then

assemble the stub axle w/bearings

without damaging anything - just cautioning....

keep us posted - photos would be great

[jerry]

keep us posted - photos would be great

indeed, photos would be helpful to diagnose.

i'd like to see the inboard bearing surface of your hub and the ends of your spacer tube. i'm betting they've experienced some metal galling.

because your axle nut has a cotter pin, it's not rotating loose so i can only guess that there's encough lateral movement to wear the spacer down enough to cause additional looseness. did you verify the shim thickness using the simple calculation as provided in CD's diagram?

where i'm having difficulty sorting out is how it can appear that a significant torque was applied, only to have it come loose relatively early. i've merely tightened this nut using a breaker bar and a lot of grunt, no torque wrench. no problem yet (as i knock on wood). i do verify the shim thickness too, beforehand. 99% of the time the available shim is okay.

[c.d.iesel]

the splines wear - the stub axle loosens up in the hub splines,

both splines continue to wear, the play on the assembly increases

and the wheel becomes looser - the nut hasn't moved - the cotter pin

hasn't moved , the hack removes the cotter pin and applies

more tightening force now crushing the bearing spacer more, and

possibly causing stress fracture to erroded stub axle splines,

you drive with gusto and the stub axle now snaps - rear wheel passes

you on the road!?!?!? . . . . . . . cont.

[ndog]

i would do this remove and replace("the bearings "but get the shim right)

[bills2002]

I think these are, to use c.d.'s term, TOAST!

I've had many old cars over the years and never have seen anything like this.

[ndog]

^splines ......we dont need no stinking splines