Who reuses front wheel nuts?

[Safety Guy]

I'm finally working on replacing my bad bearings with the knuckles Matt gave me. It took me over a couple of hours just to get the front right wheel nut off! Man that thing was staked to hell.

The left one took me maybe all of five minutes.

Now, who reuses front wheel nuts? The shop manual says NOT TO.

When I bought new ones for my suspension swap a few years ago, I think I paid about 17 bucks each for them at a Ford dealer. These were the gold colored ones with integral "washer" (large flange). The ones I took off my '89L were a little different, but the ones I just took off my '93GL were the gold colored ones.

Thoughts? Who reuses these?

Karl

[studdyhalllooser]

you talkin about the nut that screws on the axle to keep it with the rotor and all? dont think anyone would reuse em....a new one came with my axle.

[nonamekid]

You are not supposed to reuse them because they are supposed to be punched at the spot where they line up with the axle "key" so that the nut can't come off. When you do take the nut off it bends the metal back out, weakening the nut. Repeated punching and bending back out will weaken the nut to the point that it breaks, in theory.

That said, I've reused nuts before with out a problem, but I am not guaranteeing success for you.

[Gro Harlem]

i've been using the same nut for the past 4 engines that have been in the car.

when i bought my car, i bought new remanu'd axles. They came with a new nut, but since then I've removed & reinstalled those nuts like 4 times (literally, no lie), since my car has seen so many engine swaps

[Safety Guy]

Thanks for the warnings guys!

I think this will be okay for the next few months, until I can get the Aspire suspension put on. Then I'll do it up right.

I began at about 9am this morning. I just finished the right side now at 4:45pm! Can you tell I'm a "mechanic in training?"

BTW for anyone who has yet to do this, when you put the ball joint back into the knuckle hole, align the top of the ball joint rod with the top of the knuckle hole flange. That way the pinch bolt (clamp bolt) will go in nicely. I had to figure that out (for a third or fourth time, naturally).

Now it's back out to the garage to finish removing the other old knuckle and put the "new" one in. I think I can finish it tonight.

I also think I'll order a PIZZA later!

Damn this is hard work, but I'm learning. At least I got off my fat lazy ass and did it today. The cooler weather helped a lot.

Karl

[Safety Guy]

Finished about 6:30pm. Couldn't get the left side knuckle off so reinstalled the rest of it.

The bearings on Matt's right knuckle sounded a lot better than my old ones on that side. I think that was the "bad" side, as the best I can tell, my left side sounds okay.

I'm bushed! Out of shape. ops:

Now for that PIZZA (yeah I know it won't help my health).

Tommorow a test drive and take it in for alignment and to have Brian's 165/70-12s put on the front!

Good night.

Karl

[lojeti]

just get non locking nuts

What I did what just buy regular nuts and carter-key washer and then drill a how in the spindle an put on a carter key. Cheaper and quicker if you have to take off again.

[Safety Guy]

Sounds like a good idea, Lojeti.

I've never heard of a "Carter key" before. Could someone describe this a bit more or post or link to a picture?

With my new alignment and Brian's 165/70-12s on the front Lux is riding a lot smoother now! Braking with Matt's right hub knuckle and my original left side knuckle is the same--apparently these rotors were evenly matched for age, thickness, whatever. No bearing noise now, so it was just the right side I needed to replace. Braking is fine, same as before, and the pads I put on last fall are wearing evenly too.

This coming week: new head gasket and oil change. Then I need to work on the exhaust system. Too noisy.

Ohiostiva II Fall Fling, here I come! (Crossed fingers and toes!)

Karl

[mechanicaldj]

Re: just get non locking nuts

What I did what just buy regular nuts and carter-key washer and then drill a how in the spindle an put on a carter key. Cheaper and quicker if you have to take off again.

does a COTTER PIN mean anything to you guys?

and I've never seen those lock nuts come off, unstaked or staked!

[Safety Guy]

I never staked the ones on my Mutt, and that was several years ago when I did the suspension swap. I put some nail polish on the nuts to observe whether or not they moved and they never did.

I haven't staked the ones on Luxstiva yet either. Need more nail polish...

BTW, my torque wrench doesn't go over 75 ft. lbs. or so, so I just stand on the breaker bar to set the front wheel nut torque.

Sometimes I'm so halfass I surprise myself. And I'm on the road with all you guys, too! Ain't killt no one yet!

Karl

[lojeti]

it is a Cotter Pin

Just get the nut the same size of the spindle nut, buy the lock washer the type that a cotter pin go in to and drill a whole in the spindle to put the Cotter Pin in then you can remove each time an only have to put in a new Cotter Pins. Sorry for the misspelling the first time.

[oxbrain]

^ Ditto on that breaker bar torque wrench.

I used whiteout to mark the nut to make sure it didn't start slipping. I didn't buy new locknuts because the old ones will be 90% as strong and it isn't a life threatening thing.

[darpien]

repair help forum since your asking for advice on repair help :wink:

[gdawgs]

I always, reuse the axle nut unless I'm replacing the axle, in which case it comes with a new one. Why on earth would you drill out the axle and put a cotter key in??

[wayconvict]

I just replaced my whole steering knuckle/rotor assembly, and I reused the same nut, just restaked. Good thing I replaced it. When I took the old one off the rotor fell right out of the steering knuckle. I think the bearing have been bad for a while.

I can see the nut falling off being a life threatening situation. I don't think there's enough clearance for the half-shaft to fall out the the car, maybe unless you got the wheels turned fully left or right and well you wouldn't be going very fast to do that. I can't even see the nut getting weak after you restake it, as you're staking the outside non-threaded part of it, the threaded part doesn't get deformed. And if the outside does split, other forces like inertia or centripetal force would have to cause the nut to twist off and there isn't enough weight in the nut to want it to stay where it is, after the axle starts turning.