Rear Spindle Nut Issue on 88 Festiva

[jrclark32]

Hello,

I had to change the Left Rear wheel cylinder on my 88 Festiva. I got that taken care of, but the spindle nut is pretty torn up, so I want to replace it. I really wish this had a castle but and cotter key instead of the stupid beat up the spindle nut system.

I got a new nut from Auto Zone and it wouldn’t thread on. Assuming they gave me the wrong part, I got one from O’Reilly and it’s doing the same thing. The old nut goes right on, and the threads don’t seem messed up, so it seems that the threads of the replacements aren’t correct. Has anyone else experienced this??

I took the passenger side off to check and see if the nuts I got were reverse thread, and they won’t go on there either, so that’s not the issue. Side Note: Why is the passenger side threaded reversed?! As I’ve always understood that, the whole point is for the rotation of the assembly to encourage the nut to tighten rather than loosen. If one was going to be LH threads, shouldn’t it be the driver’s side??

[AlaskaFestivaGuy]

I've often wondered as well why it's the passenger side with reverse thread!

[bravekozak]

It's the exact opposite in the VW.


Posted August 27, 2016

Actually, it does't have to do with acceleration forces. Angular acceleration, or rotational acceleration is not what it is about. Constant velocity, cruising at constant speed could cause a nut to unscrew itself, if it was loose and well lubed. A loose lubed nut on the left side would theoretically tighten itself while driving at constant speed only if it was left hand thread. If right handed on the left side it would come off.

[yblock]

To have your wants saw off the hammer part of the nut reinstall adjust nut as needed go back to the store pickup the castle covers with cotter pin. set the cover over the nut so there is an opening over the flat on the spindle mark it pick up your drill with an 1/8 bit drill hole install cotter pin. Oh yeah poke the spindle thru a plastic bag to keep the drill shavings out of your new bearing.

[AlaskaFestivaGuy]

So the Festiva has it backwards, correct? Both rear wheels are prone to departing the vehicle when least expected.

[ricko1966]

We were just discussing this on a different thread last week.Does anyone know what castle covers will work. I'll buy some tomorrow!l

To have your wants saw off the hammer part of the nut reinstall adjust nut as needed go back to the store pickup the castle covers with cotter pin. set the cover over the nut so there is an opening over the flat on the spindle mark it pick up your drill with an 1/8 bit drill hole install cotter pin. Oh yeah poke the spindle thru a plastic bag to keep the drill shavings out of your new bearing.

[bravekozak]

So the Festiva has it backwards, correct? Both rear wheels are prone to departing the vehicle when least expected.

The VW is wrong. The Festiva is correct. Based on the moment of inertia, a loose nut would tend to reisst turning when the axle turns. So, both nuts would tighten in the proper direction.

[WmWatt]

Brave means when the wheel turns and is correct. The left hand thread on a bicycle housing which holds the crankshaft in (called the fixed bearing cup) is reverse thread for the same reason.

[Rick the Quick]

The VW is wrong. The Festiva is correct. Based on the moment of inertia, a loose nut would tend to reisst turning when the axle turns. So, both nuts would tighten in the proper direction.

The axle doesn't turn. It's the wheel that does. Based on the moment of inertia theory is why Mopar used left hand lug nuts on pre '75 vehicles and GM used left hand lug nuts on a lot of pre '65? vehicles. I noticed that they dropped that practice over 40 years ago. Have you seen any vehicles made in the last 40 years that were prone to losing lug nuts? I think VW got it right in the sense that a rotating wheel will want to turn the bearing and nut in the same direction. This theory is well proven and used extensively in your manual transmission : synchro rings.
I will be hitting the U-Pull It today and will keep an eye out for castle rings. If I find any that fit our cars I will post the information.

[Rick the Quick]

So the Festiva has it backwards, correct? Both rear wheels are prone to departing the vehicle when least expected.

I'm with you on this one. Maybe North Korea was involved on this design.

[bravekozak]

I read that both wheels fell off a Suzuki race car because of this, and the Japanese have been using reverse thread since then.

[Rick the Quick]

I read that both wheels fell off a Suzuki race car because of this, and the Japanese have been using reverse thread since then.

We better re-drill our hubs and drums so we don't lose our wheels. Then again do you believe everything you read? I imagine there is no substitute for tightening fasetners to the correct torque. :fofd:

[jrclark32]

So has anyone had any issues finding replacement spindle nuts? Where have you gotten the correct ones?

[ryanprins13]

Ok, this is dumb, lol. There is NO REASON for the reverse thread. The washer that the nut tightens against goes into the groove on the spindle and cannot turn. There is nothing making that nut want to turn as far as the direction the bearing is spinning goes. Stake nuts work fine, just like they do on the front axle. Problem is no one wants to buy new ones every time like your supposed to and they get 'staked out' as i call it. I love the castle nut and cotter pin system.
As far as new nuts not threading on i had the same issue. I bought new ones from rockauto. I had messed up the threads on one spindle and ordered a die. Ran the die over each spindle (both spindles on my car are the reverse thread) and they threaded on. I think the threads get messed up from removing the nuts without fully unstaking the nut and it messes the threads up but the old nut keeps working but a new one wont.

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[WmWatt]

Have to admit to confusing myself. The left rear wheel rotates to the right so the nut should be "righty tighty" or normal to resist turning off. That would mean it's the right rear or driver's side which should be reverse thread. I'm going to have to stop thinking about this now.