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Axle nut cracked

Well with new hub and half-shaft in hand, I went to replace them (note-- noise and lots of slop on the right front) on my '97 ZJ 5.2 today and when I pulled the retainer off the axle nut, half the nut fell out in my hand, and the rest unscrewed with no effort. Looking at it it looks like the nut was defective when new and had probably been broken for a long, long time.

Really annoying--I took it in to the dealer when it first started making noise about 70,000 miles back and he didn't find anything wrong so I've just been assuming that the noise was normal wear and tear. A 5 buck part and ten minutes then would have saved a hundred bucks and a lot more work now.

Problem was found by a mechanic at Midas of all places--say what you will about 'em, they've got _one_ guy who knows what he's doing. He didn't spot the nut per se but told me that the right front bearing was "really loose", which I confirmed for myself.

So, the plan is to replace the hub and the nut on the basis that running

90+ thousand miles with a busted and loose nut has probably destroyed the bearing, but that said, anybody have any thoughts?
Reply to
J. Clarke
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All done. No real drama. One problem, getting the bolts out of the hub, the only 13mm 12 point socket I had was a 3/8" drive Craftsman, and of course my 3/8 inch drive Harbor Fright breaker bar did just that, broke the socket without moving the first bolt.

So, called around, nobody had a 12 point 13mm impact socket. Was on the way to Sears to get a half inch drive 12 point metric set (of course they didn't have just the one socket in stock in any store in reasonable driving distance) in the hope that it would fare better than the 3/8" drive. A block from Sears I saw the Matco truck, stopped, hunted down the Matco guy, he had a 13mm 12 point 3/8" drive impact socket for 10 bucks and tax. Took it home and the bolts popped right out, no drama. Hub came off nicely with one whack of a chisel, and slipped off the end of the axle shaft with a few taps of the hammer. Hub came off in four parts though--I think I can safely conclude it was shot.

Could have kept the axle and just put a new boot on it--no play in the CV joint--but I had the new axle and didn't have a new boot so went ahead and swapped that out too.

Not sure I trust the 175 foot pounds that Autozone's rental torque wrench says I put on it--wasn't pulling it all that hard when it clicked.

Went for a test drive and all seems well. There was a vibration on braking that's gone so the bad hub was causing that.

Glad that job's over.

Reply to
J. Clarke

You yourself, and any competent person jacking up your car, should always wiggle the wheels when they're in the air, to identify bearing problems. This is 1st grade auto maintenance.

Reply to
Richard J Kinch

The question is why, in 90,000 miles, the Midas muffler guy was the first to do that.

Reply to
J. Clarke

Likely, he was trying to find something to sell you - shocks, ball joints (I know, I know, but they'll sell you anything...) or some such. Or it could have been a real mechanic who took any job he could find these days....

Still, any respectable alignment shop should have found it and you must have had that done at least once.

Reply to
Will Honea

The guy actually seemed to know what he was doing. While the kid was looking for a new y-pipe he comes out of the back and says "forget the y-pipe, watch and learn" and then showed the kid how to use a split flange.

Yep. I would have expected the dealer to when he did the brake rotor recall too.

Reply to
J. Clarke

When you say it "looked like it had been cracked since new" did the cracked surfaces have corrosion ( rust, discoloration) on them or were they bright and shiny and kinda crystallized looking?

Corrosion = a nut with a flaw from manufacturing. Crystallized = a nut with fatigue failure.

When it comes to click type torque wrenches, my concern with rental wrenches has always been if the adjustment is backed off before storage. Leaving the adjustment tight will fatigue the spring and cause errors.

Which is why I prefer beam type wrenches ... not zeroed? Bend the pointer till it is.

Reply to
C.L. "Budd" Cochran

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