Loose axle nut what the heck??

[Dan Epperly]

On my B coupe I had a rear axle bearing seal leak so a week ago or so I pulled the drum and discovered that while the cotter pin was in and unstressed the axle nut was loose. I know I torqued it down, but who knows? So I replaced the seal, and torqued it down using a gigantic breaker bar with close to 375 lbs of torque.
Well, noticed a little moisture on the wheel again today and low and behold the nut is loose again!
Funny thing is it's happened to me once before with a swing axle VW bus but I can't remember why and how I fixed it.
Any ideas??

[David Jones]

See this link.
download/file.php?id=38643&mode=view

The washer #5 is special hardened steel. If you use the one in the VW kit it may well be a cheap soft iron version and will allow the axle nut to come loose very quickly.
See also this same thread.
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=39121&p=241353&hili ... ke#p241353

[Richard Shimmon]

Same thing happened to me. I had some "spider web like" lines radiating from the axle nut. Rear seals etc. were replaced less than 2 years ago. Cotter pin in place and nut loose. I'm sure they were torqued properly. Re torqued at 350 ft lbs. No leak so far. I'm watching. QUESTION: how would I know if I had a soft washer? Kits were from Stoddard.

Thanks
Rich
59 d
Hawaii.

[Richard Shimmon]

Picture from above post.

[Dan Epperly]

Same thing happened to me. I had some "spider web like" lines radiating from the axle nut. Rear seals etc. were replaced less than 2 years ago. Cotter pin in place and nut loose. I'm sure they were torqued properly. Re torqued at 350 ft lbs. No leak so far. I'm watching. QUESTION: how would I know if I had a soft washer? Kits were from Stoddard.

Thanks
Rich
59 d
Hawaii.

Some VW kits come with a spacer that is shiny and super thin you can bend it easily. The one I used is much thicker.

[Paul Lima]

Been there, done that. Read this thread carefully: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=43893&hilit=rear+axle+nut

[Dick Weiss]

All the suggestions and answers will include the 'C' hub to fit the axle splines w/o any rotational slop!

[Dan Epperly]

Well I replaced the brake drum with one with tighter splines, torqued the hell out of the nut by standing on a four foot breaker about two feet out with all 220 pounds of me on it, and drove it to work today, about 100 miles round trip. Go home and Pulled the cotter out, it came out like butter which was a good sign, and rechecked the torque, it didn't budge, so a good sign I should think. I guess the sloppy splines caused the drum to rotate back and forth and made the nut lose torque.
Now, on to the next issue...

[Al Zim]

A very good probability exists that the splines on the axle are worn also. We have two cars in our shop that have this situation. One other cause is that the car hits a curb with the rear wheel and slightly bends the axle which results in a never ending leak. You are facing axle replacement fortunately the 356 uses a VW axle and they are available aftermarket. The expensive part is opening the transmission to replace the parts. After 52 years minimum a lot of stuff wears out. Lots of people do not know how to restore very old cars properly. al zim

[Jacques Lefriant]

Hi Al
aftermarket VW axles that are made for performance sometimes will not work with the Porsche diff since the shaft diameter by the paddle end is larger. Dan has a lot of contacts here in SoCal that wrote the book or should have.
j

[Dan Epperly]

Hi Al
aftermarket VW axles that are made for performance sometimes will not work with the Porsche diff since the shaft diameter by the paddle end is larger. Dan has a lot of contacts here in SoCal that wrote the book or should have.
j

The axle splines looked good, the other drum fit snug so I am being cautiously optimistic.
If worse comes to worse I reckon I could just use an old axle out of a type 1 VW right?

[David Jones]

The VW axle nut will require a large load spreading washer if it is just a plain castellated nut. The Porsche nuts come with the load spreading shoulder cast in.
Just for grins I am attaching pictures of some of the axle/flywheel nut tools used in years past. Plus a picture of the "R" clip with a Porsche style axle nut.