BMR Tech Tip: Check those axle-to-spindle retaining nuts!

ok so work was a little slow today lol... i pulled the car in checked the bearing no play what so ever.. i took the nut off ,wasn't to hard to move. i mean took some effort.. checked some suspension parts for play re torqued some stuff. just for my own piece of mind lol... everything looked good.. put a new nut on with some extra blue locktite.. torqued it to 125.. end of the day i drove home.. went back and forth like 10 times in my driveway... no noise .. hopefully that was it

Nice, glad you got it fixed.

I wanna say 98 + 45 deg was close to 250 pounds on the techs torque wrench at my ford dealership. They’ve replaced bearings and nuts on mine severel times now. Noise just keeps coming back. We tried BMR’s spec. Noise came back. We tried 100 lbs. noise came back. It’s now at fords spec. and another set of bearings. Noise came back. My dealer has been great about it and has let me and the tech work together on it. Can’t seem to solve the noise. It just keeps coming back after about a week.

i dont know how you got it to move that much. it took me and a long pipe to get it to 125ish 250 would take a bear to get it to that spec

TrevorGT said:

I wanna say 98 + 45 deg was close to 250 pounds on the techs torque wrench at my ford dealership. They’ve replaced bearings and nuts on mine severel times now. Noise just keeps coming back. We tried BMR’s spec. Noise came back. We tried 100 lbs. noise came back. It’s now at fords spec. and another set of bearings. Noise came back. My dealer has been great about it and has let me and the tech work together on it. Can’t seem to solve the noise. It just keeps coming back after about a week.

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Yeah, I don't think that re-tightening the assembly will fix the issue. I wonder what type of thread does the nut have. Do new nuts come with with some type of chemical thread locker? I really wish that these nuts were cotter pinned to keep them in place.

The interesting thing is that when I was getting my door latch recall done on the stang, I got a newer Expedition as a rental for the day and my friend and I heard the same popping sound from the rear axles as the stang.

New nuts have this pasty green stuff on the threads. Kind of looks like dried toothpaste.

moffetts said:

New nuts have this pasty green stuff on the threads. Kind of looks like dried toothpaste.

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Read that out loud. Thanks for the laugh.

I know you guys are dissecting this stuff, and I think it is cool to see various perspectives.

It is good to see this thread has fixed many people's issues. I have people occasionally thank me when they call, saying my method / post helped them with their issue they were having.

That said, I only shared my personal method which, to this day has been flawless for our multiple shop and my multiple personal cars that we thrash. I have yet to have a single issue with the method in the OP.

Results may vary, but the 150 + 1/8 turn has been flawless for us. 4 cars being thrashed and abused and we have yet to have a nut come loose.

Just swapped my DSS 2k hp axles in the car last night and the stock axle nuts were just as tight as I left them 5k miles ago (after several passes at the track and multiple freeway pulls in Mexico) using Kelly’s 150ft/lbs + 1/8 turn w/red loctite method.

Also verified with Kelly that his torque method is for aftermarket axles/nuts as well as factory parts.

Just checked mine and they seemed to be fine for now. Not sure if the popping that I heard was from the Torsen or these guys. But just to be safe I took them off, put some red loctite on there and then used an impact to put them on.

Hopefully I didn't over tighten them since I used the impact to put them on until they stopped moving. Took off the impact as soon as I saw them stop. When I checked the torque specs, the torque wrench clicked immediately at 150 ft-lbs.

Popping is still there, could just be the Torsen then. I'm just glad I checked mine just to be safe.

Of note, the latest part number for the axle nut is CCPZ-3B477-G

I don't know what changed from 'F', but it's the new number. I had the popping on the driver's side rear, replaced both, 150ft-lbs plus eighth of a turn and red loctite, and it was quiet for one day. Back already. Going to go check and see if it's somehow loose, and then probably tighten the ever loving spit out of it and see what happens.

For those who have replaced bearings, I've seen 'drift punch' and 'air hammer' for getting the axle out of the hub. Is there another way to do this? I don't have an air hammer, so with a drift punch do you just beat it until it pushes through? I'm going to go with excessive tightness first, but failing that I may try a new bearing back there. Doesn't seem loose, but with all the failures that have happened I'm inclined to try replacing it if my noise won't go away.

2015 PP, 26k miles. A couple track days and generally aggressive use, but not thrashed all day every day. Strongly prefer to avoid dealers.

I did mine the way CJPP describes in their youtube video where you swing the carrier down and away from the axle shaft. I didn't have any issues getting them out. I maintain that 150 + anything less than about 3/4 of a turn past that is anywhere near good enough to keep them from making noise.

Thanks for the direction to CJPP. Didn't know they had a video on that, but looks straightforward enough.

Turns out I'm a dumbass; nut is still tight from yesterday, but the bearing is bad. I can rock the tire back and forth when it's in the air. I'd swear I checked that a month ago when I first cinched the original nuts up, but I guess I didn't check it well enough or it went bad on me in the ensuing month. Oh well. Now I know a bearing replacement is in my very near future.

Also make sure you have a way to turn and push the rear brake pads in when you’re putting everything back together. I was inventing new curse words until I realized that you have to twist as you push. You can rent the tool kit for this at any auto parts store.