Axle Nut Torque: 166 or 137

i always use impact to torque down with and never had a issue with the nuts back off

now on my 90 gts i installed new axles and wheel bearings
torqued to i believe 150ft lbs(did this 2 years ago)
1 week later i felt a little in my front end
got home and inspected
found the axle nut and shaft completely broke off and was missing lol

new axle and impact torque later...she was good til i sold her

tubasteve":bwhkzm3g said:

RafaCalde":bwhkzm3g said:

Those of you just using impacts, I have a question for you. Do you daily drive your car? I do and once I just used the impact and the nut still backed out. And it was a good impact. I recommend still using a torque wrench to ensure proper torque after impacting it down. Just be safe.

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I do know that about 10k cars we've done axles on and wheel bearings on. 0 have come back due to impacting on. We have line pressure alarms when below 140 psi constant line pressure to ensure the same performance everytime. I've seen more axle nuts back off when tq'd to spec. I'M NOT SAYING IT'S A BAD IDEA, just sharing experience. If the axle nut is used once already, you should be over tq'd just a little bit. Trust me.
-jr

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I agree with you completely. I was just suggesting cause it's happened to me twice. You know how we are on here. We learn from others mistakes and misfortunes. :doh:

bridge47":bwhkzm3g said:

How is it that the nut can be backing off? The factory retainer and pin should keep this from happening. Do not all models have this? My 90 did and IIRC, so does my 93.

Another word about torque values. I would imagine the 166 ft lb refers to clean dry threads. After so much time and miles it is likely that nut won't spin on easy so torquing to 166 could actually be less. In this case over torquing nut a bit is not a bad idea.

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I've had the nut back off even with the retainer and cotter pin in.

^^ The only way that the nut could back off loose enough to destroy castle retainer is...

Nut has been over tightened in the past, thus distorting threads, or...

Torque wrench is:

-Out of spec.... get it calibrated.
-Not used with proper methods. IE; 166 ft lbs is a lot of torque. So one has to have someone pressing on the brakes and sometimes a large steel bar in between lug nuts trapped into the ground in order to reach 166 ft lbs with arm at 90 degree angle to torque wrench upon final click.

Like tubasteve, I've tightened hundreds of these, both impact and torque wrench. Not a single comeback.

In short; recheck your methods.

It's been some 7 years and 70,000 km since I had the front wheel bearings replaced and started this thread.

Here's an update:

Front left bearing is completely destroyed. Wheel very visibly tilting up and down, even with full weight on the wheels. If I pushed on the top of the wheel I could hear, feel and see the wheel tilt inwards.

Noticed the locknut cap fins had been bent by the cotter pin indicating the nut had backed out.

Went to remove the axle nut with the breaker bar and it pretty much came off in my hand.

In the process of replacing both front bearings now with new hubs. I torqued the axle nuts to 180 ftlbs 7 years ago which was between the ST205 and later ST185 spec.

This time I'm going to torque them to the ST205 spec of 195 ftlbs and will be more diligent about re-checking the torque each year.

This has me wondering what mine were torqued to at the shop, I think I'll double check them the next time the wheels are off since this seems to be a fairly common problem. I'm not a fan of just hammering them on with an impact as too tight will cause longevity issues too.

Did some research into what other Toyota cars use for their axel nut torque.

In youtube videos I saw that the Corolla is 217 ftlbs, and on MR2OC they are talking about 217 ftlbs.

So, considering the ST205 is already 195 ftlbs, I decided to go with 217 ftlbs. Nothing snapped off so hopefully this will keep the nut from backing off. Still going to check every 10K or so I think.

Jesus. I torque my ST165 to spec at 137 ft lbs but now gonna check and torque them up higher

Something else to consider is the threaded diameter, I've had two different sizes with reman front axles. . My guess is the '92 and '93 had the larger size, which might explain the difference in torque?