Play in front wheel

[Gav Peter]

I jet washed Muxley last night & swapped wheels back to the muds for DD duties. Whilst doing the front drivers side I noticed play in the front wheel...

I was a bit miffed assuming it would be the bearing but I'd nipped this up before Lincomb... Turned out to be between the arm & the swivel casting...

Plainly the nuts/bolts need tightening up on the studs; once done, I am assuming I'll just have to get the tracking sorted out.

I have some memory from previous posts that these fixings can potentially become regular trouble spots if not tightened & loctited properly - can anyone else...

Cheers

PS Its an old pic, not so much grease in there these days.

 

[Andrew Prince]

Hmm Gav, best to whip those studs out soonest and have a good look. They can snap inside the knuckle casting and just be held in by a few threads until they fall out. Obviously they can work loose and just fall out too...
Proper cleaning and loctiting is the way to go I must check mine now too

 

[karl webster]

Andrew is right gav. Ive brought a couple of trucks where they have worked loose and then snaped clean off. Obviously the truck wont like that

karl

 

[Gav Peter]

Nice one chaps - thanks for the heads up...

Muxley is off the road for a bit now anyway for some PM & TLC after my performance at Lincomb

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

I thought it was usually the passenger side that comes loose not drivers, did you undo that arm when you worked on it?

 

[Dave Docwra]

The studs need to be bottomed out when fitted, i.e. use two nuts locked up on the stud & tighten until the stud bottoms out on the shank.

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

New studs have a torx head for getting them tight, I got through a few of them

 

[Gav Peter]

I thought it was usually the passenger side that comes loose not drivers, did you undo that arm when you worked on it?

I've never touched those studs JW - I reckon it was to do with the amount of mud on the wheels causing out of balance on the way home from Lincomb... We carved a few shapes with wibbles & wobbles on the way home...

The studs need to be bottomed out when fitted, i.e. use two nuts locked up on the stud & tighten until the stud bottoms out on the shank.

Was wondering whether I coul use an overlong bolt with a captive nylock on it to prevent unloading again... Using a Hex head bolt would mean I could get a good nip on it & the nylock... Well, we all know what they do...

Else I'll have a bag if spares ordered up with a torx head & a bottle of loctite...

Va bene

 

[Andrew Prince]

I've never touched those studs JW

In that case you might want to check the trunnion bearings too - the lower trunnion/king pin is integral with the steering arm, so a collapsing bearing could cause extra play, and extra play due to loose studs could speed up the decline of the bearing. They are not the toughest things to start with anyway. My lower driver's side one was kaput when I removed it and there were no symptoms of anything being wrong.

Was wondering whether I coul use an overlong bolt with a captive nylock on it to prevent unloading again...

You talking about putting a nut on the inside of the knuckle? I doubt there would be clearance for the CV bell to move. Obviously the lower end of the stud has a nut on but the problem is not usually caused by this nut coming loose but the stud unscrewing and/or snapping in the internal threaded section.

 

[Gav Peter]

Looks like a complete axle teardown & rebuild now then Andy eh? Muxley has had an on/off wobble for a while & maybe these parts have been having an effect... He's done 170K now so all of these bits will be wearing out now...

You talking about putting a nut on the inside of the knuckle?

No - I was pondering whether the stud could be replaced with a hex head bolt so I could get a good tight fixing; the nut would be wound onto the bolt before winding the bolt into the knuckle & once the bolt was wound in, the nut could then be tightened to lock it all in position.

Is that threaded hole blind or does it pass through into the knuckle? If it passes through into the knuckle, what I am proposing is garabage.

Cheers

 

[frank rabbets]

I don't think a bolt is OK. The exposed part of the stud is blank and should be the exact size of the hole in the steering arm thus keeping the arm firm. When I did mine I degreased and firmly wound each stud in, with locktight, and 2 locknuts.

Frank

 

[Gav Peter]

Ah, I think I understand how it works together a bit more now - thanks Frank...

From what you're saying, there's a plain shank between two threaded sections on the stud & this locates the arm against the knuckle... Yup, the bolt idea is a bust!!!

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

The hole goes through to the knuckle Gav and that's part of the problem - the threads are well lubricated from above the answer is removal, cleaning and high strength threadlock, with new studs, left for 24 hours to set fully. I had no end of problems in the first few years of ownership but once I did that I was never a problem again

 

[Gav Peter]

The hazy picture is steadily coming into focus

Should I be looking to do all four studs on each knuckle then Jon?

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Should I be looking to do all four studs on each knuckle then Jon?

IMO you might as well get it sorted properly now you are thinking about it

 

[Andrew Prince]

Chances are you'll unscrew most if not all the studs when trying to undo the nuts - a fraction of movement on the studs and grease/oil is running down those threads, so will need reglueing and torquing.

To Loctite the studs properly, you need to degrease the threads and dry them - easiest to do this with the knuckle off the truck and no oil and grease dripping down from the axle tube etc. You may find that you have a snapped piece of stud stuck in one of the holes anyway - again removing this on a bench is easier than lying underneath it all

As has been pointed out, the passenger side tends to be worse, so if you're having problems on the D/S just imagine what might lie in wait on the other side