I hate to beat a dead horse, but that freakin rear axle nut is driving me.
I did retorque to 220 ft lbs a couple of weeks ago, the noise went. No issue restaking the nut because the nut turned a half inch or more. The click returned a couple of days ago. I read here somewhere that somebody torqued to 240, so I tried that. It's gone again, BUT the nut didn't turn enough to be able to restake it in a different spot, and the tab is broken, so I'll get new nuts, no problem Can anybody tell me if 240 is okay? I know 220 is suggested almost everywhere, and that may be fine because when I was retorquing yesterday it seems like one nut was a little looser than the other, so maybe I didn't do the full 220 or there was some crap under that nut which prevented it. It just feels so wrong to have that click there. How tight can it go, please, anybody?
Thank you.

 

I have never used a torque wrench on the axle nuts, but i can tell you this.

Take the nut off, grease the face (not the threads) and re-install.

A properly tightened nut, if never disturbed before, the stake mark will move from 12 oclock to 2 oclock. No need to use a new nut.

This has proven on hundreds of s2ks, from 2000 to 2009.

 

How do you tighten them then?

 

breaker bar and move the notch on the nut from 12pm to 2pm.

 

3/4 drive 4' long ratchet.

 

I'm not sure you really need a torque wrench for an axle nut, just make it "very tight." Ya, that's a technical term..

In all seriousness though, just use a breaker bar. Remember physics? 220lb ft. can be achieved by using a 1ft. breaker bar and having a 220lb person stand on the end of it. Voila. Another method is to have a <220lb person bounce on the breaker bar a little.. lol

In my experience, if you overtighten an axle nut, it will generally be ok. Just don't go crazy.

 

Grease on the face is the key

To go all the way:
Pop the lower ball joint.
Pull the knuckle outwards.
Clean the face of the outboard joint and

 

Really FU**ing tight is the real answer. Used an impact on mine. Guarantee theyre north of 300 lbfts.

 

dont be so sure....after greasing the nut, back to factory stake is as far as my impact would take it.

It took the wrench to bring it from factory stake (12oclock) to 2 oclock.

 

Thanks everybody. It does indeed go from the 12 o'clock to 2 o'clock position. Probaby no need to check torque, just follow that. Cleaning the face of the joint can only help as well. I screwed up the nuts myself on the second try, I opened the "stake" point with a punch and that probably cracked the edge of the nut. I got the new nuts yesterday, at about 17 dollars each, and put them on to the new recommended torque. That should do it. This site is a very useful tool indeed. Once again, thank you.
Most sincerely,
Joe