loose castle nut at back tire?

EZBird

Registered User
car swaying side to side on highway,took back pass wheel of and tightened large castle nut. Three weeks later came loose again, Anybody else have a similar problem?
 
If the nut came loose and you had to retighten it, you need a new nut. They are a one time use nut, that actually breaks when it is torqued down. Replace the nut and torque it to 250 ft-lbs. You may want to consider replacing the wheel bearing as well, as it may have been damaged when the nut came loose.

-Rod
 
You are going to want to really inspect that rear wheel hub. For the nut to come loose, you may be having some sort of vibration issue. Most likely the rear bearing failing. If it is left to go too long it can damage the aluminum rear suspension knuckle that it is pressed into.

Replacing that Knuckle is quite a bit more expensive than just the bearing.

Recently someone posted that those single use nuts can actually be used more than once if they are still functional. The person involved in designing the nut is the original source of that information. It's just a question of if the nut is still in good shape.

The key issue is not getting the nut to proper torque. That nut requires 250ft/lbs to be tight. Anything less and it can come loose again.
 
When the nut was loose the car would fishtail at hiway speeds. When the nut was tightened that stopped and the car drove normally for a few weeks.

Theres a definate squeak coming from that wheel after it was retightened with some red loctite on the threads.

How can you tell if the nut is still functional or not. How tough is it to change that bearing in the event it is gone south.

Thanks..........
 
Check the literature link off the main sccoa page. There is an article on replacing the bearing. You need a 20 ton press to press the old one out and the new one in.

If you torque the nut to 250 ft/lbs (that is very tight and just tightening it as much as you can't isn't sufficient. You need to use a torque wrench) and it still works it's way loose, then the nut needs to be replaced.

Jack the rear wheel up and spin it. If it makes noise or doesn't spin smoothly, the bearing is shot.
 
Is there anywhere to get that whole knuckle new? Just wondering because I had a new bearing pressed into one of them a long time ago and the shop that pressed it in told me the inside of the knuckle was slightly scored, so they were wary as to how long the new bearing would hold up. I'm thinking junkyard is my only option, if it ever fails.
 
Mine came loose, tightened it, and then had a grinding sound, the bearing was shot. Took the spindle off, went to a machine shop w/ spindle and new bearing to press it apart. They tell me the hub is too worn, it slides out of the bearing. So I had to go order a new hub and nut from ford. Then I put red loc-tite on it and torqued the piss out of it. It's been fine now for 2.5 years. Its the 4th time I had to do it to the car, ford tried the other 3 times, twice under a warranty, and couldn't get it right. I do it, now its fine.
 
Reading the article in the literature section is pretty important when changing that bearing. If it's not pressed in very carefully the bearing casing can become damaged causing early failure.

George outlined the care and steps in that article quite well.
 
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