front axle nut

[77mk1]

was driving to the u-pull and the front of my car got the shakes and wobbles. i pulled over and tightened the axle nuts then it was fine. when i left the u-pull it started again so i pulled over and checked them, it stopped wobbling for a minute the started again so pulle dover again. this time when i was tightening the axle nut on the drivers side it just kept spinning quiet easily, not finger easily but easily enough. i drove off and it wobbled a bit then sorted itself out. it was fine for the last 10min of the drive. didn't shake or wobble at all.
any ideas, do i need a new stub axle

[Peter Jones]

Those are supposed to be done up really, really tight.

If they've come loose while driving chances are you will have damaged your wheel bearings.

You might be lucky and get away with just putting new nuts on though VW should still stock them, otherwise they come with the wheel bearing kits.

Axle is probably fine but there could be an issue with the drive flange.

Really need to pull it all to bits and put it back togetheer again properly.

Pete

[h100vw]

I'd expect you to need a 2 foot bar to do one up properly. If they came undone mega easy, maybe the threads are stripped.

Gavin

[Valver.]

You'll need to replace both wheel bearings. Any excessive weight (i.e. the weight of the vehicle) on the bearings when they aren't done up extremely tight will side load the bearings and is guaranteed to ruin them permanently.

You should always replace the hubs when doing the bearings as well, unless they're already quite new. Don't skimp in any area with this stuff as failure of these components is a life and death situation!!

P.S. Just for reference, you should never wheel the car around (even in shell form) without some outer CV shells or driveshafts heavily secured in place, as again, you'll kill the bearings.

Even in a best case scenario, the side load is enough to displace the seals, meaning moisture will get in and ruin the bearings soon after

[77mk1]

i replaced the bearings not long ago and everything was fine till i got up to 80 for a bit then it got the wobbles. i had them done up pretty tight before. the nut does seem to be threaded a bit so will need to replace that obviously.

[h100vw]

Why always replace the hubs, where's the weakness in a big lump of cast iron?

Gavin

[Valver.]

They're usually scored/corroded from past bearing changes, so when you press the hub through, it snags and sideloads the bearing again. Aside from this, it's not unheard of for the centre rings to break off the hub bodies - especially when running wider wheels; plus, the wheel bolt threads rust and strip so often that it's a good thing to replace the whole lot just for this reason

Most of the hubs are over 30 years old, if nothing else. It's definitely time to go after this period of time!

[paulie71]

shouldnt the nut be replaced when they are removed? I remember years ago replacing an outer CV joint and found the nut was threaded and when I bought the new one it was single use item with a slightly oblong inner that expanded when torqued.

[Valver.]

shouldnt the nut be replaced when they are removed? I remember years ago replacing an outer CV joint and found the nut was threaded and when I bought the new one it was single use item with a slightly oblong inner that expanded when torqued.

Yep, this is true. Should come with the wheel bearing kits, along with high-temp grease etc. IIRC, the nut also comes with most CV boot kits as well