Skip to main content

Closed10 replies

Hungry Castle Nut

TomD (hacksaw57)TomD (hacksaw57)
Well I was just driving along on my way to take my boys (both squeezed into one speedster seat) to a car show when suddenly a clunk as I pulled out and all revs and no go. Oh no! Paybacks for needling Kelly Frazer on not having a speedy to drive yet? Regardless . . . I am stuck.
Dropped clutch? Broken Cable? Broken transaxle? OH NO! This looks B-A-D.

Unable to figure it out along side the road I called good ol' AAA to the rescue for the short 2 mile hop to my business and into the garage. Got great insight from Carey Hines and followed his suggestions. His first thought: "Sounds like a clip on the axle popped off. If this is the case, the clutch will feel the same, and it will go into gears, but when you let the clutch out it it will do nothing (sometimes it will make a metal on metal grinding sound)". My exact symptoms!

Jacked up the rear and noticed loose passenger side rear. It had a slight wobble. Movement of an 8th inch or more. And metallic powder. This should not be here! This should not be loose! Pulled the cotter pin, loosened the castle nut and pulled the hub. TOOTHLESS AND SMOOTH INSIDE. Oh no. (incredible).

How did that happen? Carey reports if the castle not backs off at all, it WILL eat the splines in the hub. Carey has a new hub on its way. The splines on the axle look fine and this should be an easy fix with a new hub (on it's way). Carey's advice - torque the castle nut to 350, drive 50-100 miles and retorque. What relief . . . Not a clutch. Not a transaxle. Not even a broken cable. Real easy to replace hub.

Thanks Carey for great support. I had advice, direction and answers nearly immediately. And now replacement parts are on the way. Can't ask for anything better (unless you move in next door to me). THANK YOU!
Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

TomD (hacksaw57)TomD (hacksaw57)
Well I was just driving along on my way to take my boys (both squeezed into one speedster seat) to a car show when suddenly a clunk as I pulled out and all revs and no go. Oh no! Paybacks for needling Kelly Frazer on not having a speedy to drive yet? Regardless . . . I am stuck.
Dropped clutch? Broken Cable? Broken transaxle? OH NO! This looks B-A-D.

Unable to figure it out along side the road I called good ol' AAA to the rescue for the short 2 mile hop to my business and into the garage. Got great insight from Carey Hines and followed his suggestions. His first thought: "Sounds like a clip on the axle popped off. If this is the case, the clutch will feel the same, and it will go into gears, but when you let the clutch out it it will do nothing (sometimes it will make a metal on metal grinding sound)". My exact symptoms!

Jacked up the rear and noticed loose passenger side rear. It had a slight wobble. Movement of an 8th inch or more. And metallic powder. This should not be here! This should not be loose! Pulled the cotter pin, loosened the castle nut and pulled the hub. TOOTHLESS AND SMOOTH INSIDE. Oh no. (incredible).

How did that happen? Carey reports if the castle not backs off at all, it WILL eat the splines in the hub. Carey has a new hub on its way. The splines on the axle look fine and this should be an easy fix with a new hub (on it's way). Carey's advice - torque the castle nut to 350, drive 50-100 miles and retorque. What relief . . . Not a clutch. Not a transaxle. Not even a broken cable. Real easy to replace hub.

Thanks Carey for great support. I had advice, direction and answers nearly immediately. And now replacement parts are on the way. Can't ask for anything better (unless you move in next door to me). THANK YOU!

Attachments

Hide
Images (3)
  • IMG_1401
  • IMG_1409
  • IMG_1416
FM Former Member
As TC says; the quality of replacement drums available now has gone downhill; I've read about that a couple of times with the aftermarket units. Try to get the best European (German if possible) replacements available from your vendor. Also, to torque down the nut get a torquemeister (or Torque Buddy) unit; it's simply the best VW tool I've seen and it'll pay for itself many times over. Loosening or torquing axle nuts and flywheel nuts is a lot easier with that tool.
El FrazooEl Frazoo Supporting Member
Tom,

While what you have here never happened to me, all this talk about torque on castle nuts reminds me of sessions w/ my old Coupes (back in the day . . .). I still have the exact correct 3/4" drive socket required to grab that bad boy. I recall vividly standing (jumping, actually) on the end of a long cheater to crack these loose, and also to put them back on again w/ the ol' torque wrench. I guess I weighed about 185 lbs back in those days. I'm thinking if I had to do it again today, it might be a little easier . . .

All this talk about crappy materials used for the drums has me worried or at least would, if I had to run drums. My car is suppsoed to have 4X disc brakes, so maybe this particular failure mode is not going to be possible -?- Hope so anyway. When are you going to be back on the road?
FM Former Member
Kelly, same rules apply to your discs. That fit/torque between the axle and drum/disc/hub
has to be right or you'll have trouble.
Not speedster related but this guy had similar trouble:
http://jalopnik.com/cars/question-of-the-day/what-the-hell-happened-to-this-mazda-rx%207-268186.php?autoplay=true
FM Former Member
Tom - same thing happened to me about 700 miles into owning my second hand Vintage. Apparently the owner did not tighten the castle nut to spec and It gave way about 2 miles from home. You can, if interested read into the posting - No Gears....poof it's gone.

Here's some very helpful hints from Gordon in properly tightening that bugger:

Go weigh yourself (I'm not kidding here) and then figure out how far out on the breaker bar you must push to make 217 ft. lbs at the socket. For example, if you weigh 165, as I do, then stood at a spot 12" from the socket, you would apply 165 foot pounds, get it? If you stood 24" from the socket, you would apply 330 foot pounds. So, take your weight, divide by 12, and then divide that result into 217 to find how far away from the socket you must stand on the bar/pipe to apply 217 foot pounds to that big 'ol nut. Put a small piece of masking tape on the bar/pipe at that spot.

Ideally, the drum is on and tightened as much as possible, the wheel is off, and that corner of the car is on a jack stand. If you don't have a jack stand, then put the wheel on and get the nut as tight as you can BEFORE you put the wheel back on the ground. Tighten the lug nuts, and have a friend sit in the drivers seat and apply the brakes HARD.

Put the socket on that BIG castle nut on the axle end, then balance yourself, put your foot on the pipe at your tape mark, and then stand on that one foot. Don't bounce or nuthin, just stand there until it stops moving (you may have to re-set the socket a few times - let off the brakes while re-setting the socket position). Once it's tight, then find a spot to re-insert a new cotter pin. and bend it fast.
Post Content
Remove This Ad

Membership Required

We're sorry. You must be signed in to continue. Sign In or Register
×
Are you sure you want to remove from your Block List?
×
Loading...
×
When you block a person, they can no longer invite you to a private message or post to your profile wall. Replies and comments they make will be collapsed/hidden by default. Finally, you'll never receive email notifications about content they create or likes they designate for your content.
Note: if you proceed, you will no longer be following .
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×

Access to this requires a premium membership.

Supporting Member

Please help keep us running!

Supporting members have donated about $4.00 a month ($49.00 US per year) paid annually.

  • Priority support
  • Removal of inter-page (between thread) advertisements.
  • Access to Build Manuals
  • Access to Knowledge Base
  • Access to Supporting Members events.
  • Access to Leveraged Group Buying from site Merchants.

AUTO RENEW: You membership will auto-renew after 12 months. If you prefer not to auto-renew, you can cancel your premium membership at any time and it will remain in effect until the end of the 12 months. To cancel, sign in at SpeedsterOwners.com and navigate to: (Your User Name)  > Premium Membership.

PLEASE NOTE: Your credit card will receive a charge from CROWDSTACK PAY, the payment processor, not SpeedsterOwners.com.

$49.00 per 12 Months (plus tax if applicable)
×