Stripped Halfshaft?

[AT-JeffT]

Hello All,
So I noticed some serious play in my wheel bearing that I had replaced last year. Never put a lock plate on the axle nut so I thought the axle nut had back out. I put a 30mm on my breaker bar and put my whole weight(150lbs) on the bar and gave it about a half turn. All of a sudden I could spin the axle nut easily. I can now spin the axle nut with a 3/8 rachet.

Basically the play is still there and the axle nut spins pretty much freely. Did really I strip the halfshaft threads? I can't imagine I really put that much torque on it.

[rtwaits]

I'll take a stab at this.
I take it you mean the axle nut loosened easily - I think it needs to go on with 142 ft lb =you will need to check. There is also aring that you deliberately deform so the nut doesnt back out.

If you mean you can take the hub and do what you usually would do with a wheel in checking for bad ball joints, yes there is play - I thought I messed it up the first time i did the rear, so I went and bought a new one from the dealer!

[AT-JeffT]

I'll take a stab at this.
I take it you mean the axle nut loosened easily - I think it needs to go on with 142 ft lb =you will need to check. There is also aring that you deliberately deform so the nut doesnt back out.

If you mean you can take the hub and do what you usually would do with a wheel in checking for bad ball joints, yes there is play - I thought I messed it up the first time i did the rear, so I went and bought a new one from the dealer!

Yes, I believed that the axle nut loosened. Yes, I did not buy a new "ring"/lock plate to secure the nut which is why I thought it loosened itself.




Either way I turn the axle nut it just spins. I took a marker and drew on the half haft and the nut. The half shaft part doesn't move while the nut turns but its not tightening or loosening.

[xwill112x]

So its mandatory to use the lock ring on the axle nut?

[AT-JeffT]

Drove over a year without one. I seem to remember when I was researching the job that a few people didn't use them.

[jlevie]

New lock plates (and new nuts) should always be used, but people have gotten away with not using the lock plates and reusing the nuts. I doubt that the missing lock plate is the cause of this. Reuse of the nuts or over tightening seems to me to be the likely causes.

The tricky part now is going to be getting the stripped nut off. The pull the axel and see if it's threads are damaged. There is a chance that the damage was limited to the nut.

[AT-JeffT]

New lock plates (and new nuts) should always be used, but people have gotten away with not using the lock plates and reusing the nuts. I doubt that the missing lock plate is the cause of this. Reuse of the nuts or over tightening seems to me to be the likely causes.

The tricky part now is going to be getting the stripped nut off. The pull the axel and see if it's threads are damaged. There is a chance that the damage was limited to the nut.

Thanks, that was helpful. I just didn't think it would be possible to apply enough force manually to strip it.

[rtwaits]

Sorry about my earlier post - I didnt understand that the threads were stripped, I was thinking splines. duh

My car has two different sized nuts on the rears. go figure.

I think if you drill/dremel/ cut the nut off (I know it is a confined space but you need to concentrate on saving the shaft). If you get the shaft out then, you can try a new nut on it outside of the car to check for fitment. A machine shop might be able to cut new threads - I wouldnt trust my own tap and die work - mostly because I never tried before.

If you apply that much force to an old nut with questionable threads, I could see it getting stripped.

[AT-JeffT]

yup, turns out I did strip it. Put in a GSP axle from advance. We'll see how long it lasts.