Help!! Hub too tight after torquing flange??? (1 Viewer)

[imhighlander]

Hey gang,

I'm in the middle of putting axles back in after diff rebuilds and everything has been going great. Got the DS front axle back in, carefully following the FSM, torquing to spec, setting preload, etc.

When I put the hub flange and just STARTED tightening the flange nuts the hub/rotor got REALLY stiff. If I torque all the way to 26lb-ft the rotor won't turn at all. What am I doing wrong???

Help please!

 

[Chris Wilcox]

Is the birf pulled through and the circlip in place? You could do this. Did you accidentally 100% fill the knuckle with grease? Is the bearing adjuster nut, 54mm, somehoe too far out and the flange is hitting it?
Study the cross section in post #1 and relevant posts in this thread:
Front Axle Rebuild - For FAQ
There really isn't much that could bind that I can think of.

 

[imhighlander]

My only thought is an overfilled knuckle. The circlip is attached and the axle sits "just right", or so I'd guess. I looked at the PDF version of that file and did everything according to that and the FSM. One note, the PDF says that the nuts on the flange are in inch-pounds, but the FSM clearly says ft-lbs.

Can the flange really put so much pressure that it can go from proper preload to too tight just by tightening those nuts?

Unless there are other ideas I guess I'll crack this back open and try removing some of the grease.

 

[inkpot]

The problem is NOT too much grease in the knuckle. The flange does not touch the nose of the spindle or the adjuster nuts NORMALLY. Pull the flange off carefully and look at it for signs of contact with any of the internals. I am trying to picture how a miss match of early/late birds and flange/drive plates would cause this?

 

[scottryana]

I would have a very hard time believing excess grease would bind the rotor completely up. I would start where it is easiest and pull the fill plug and if there is that kind of pressure it should shoot out. But I might be inclined to think there is something else going on.... There is a guide in the axle housing that often comes loose that it could be binding on, or perhaps the 3rd setup is causing some issues. The hub stud nuts really shouldn't cause that kind of a bind unless maybe the axle housing is bent or something like that.

 

[Chris Wilcox]

Did you have the Birf apart? If you reassembled it wrong it might be longer overall and cause the shaft end to hit the spider gear area or something. I don't know if you can assemble them wrong personally as I have always used an engraver to label everything as it comes apart however the FSM certainly is specific about making sure you put one piece a certain way.

Did you replace the brass bushing with another one or the bearing option. Could that not be seated fully.

Also the thread says to torque the six cone nuts on the flange to 26 ft-lbs.
My 1997 FSM states 26 ft-lb on page SA-11.
Not sure where you see in-lb.

 

[imhighlander]

Well thanks for all the replies but it factored down to a bit of carelessness I'm afraid. As I was cleaning parts I didn't notice that the thrust washers had gotten stuck together. I ended up accidentally putting two thrust washers on the DS axle. Duh.

As you'd imagine, it's all back together just fine. Gotta rebuild the front calipers tomorrow and should be back in business.

Thanks again. Great forum, as usual.

 

[imhighlander]

The inch-lb reference shows up in a late post on the thread you sent, which was also uploaded as a PDF to the forum. It wasn't the OP Romer who referenced that; it was a response to his thread around page 6 or so. (And almost the end of the PDF.)

Indeed the FSM says 26 ft-lbs DK that's what I did.

 

[inkpot]

Well thanks for all the replies but it factored down to a bit of carelessness I'm afraid. As I was cleaning parts I didn't notice that the thrust washers had gotten stuck together. I ended up accidentally putting two thrust washers on the DS axle. Duh.

As you'd imagine, it's all back together just fine. Gotta rebuild the front calipers tomorrow and should be back in business.

Thanks again. Great forum, as usual.

So the inside of the flange was contacting the outer spindle nut?

 

[imhighlander]

So the inside of the flange was contacting the outer spindle nut?

Yep. The two thrust washers made the locknut not seat deep enough so the nut was binding in the axle flange. That happens when you get too tired and keep wrenching.