Tightening Rear Suspension

[jjbunn]

0701R has been on jack stands for the last couple of years, but is now nearly ready for the road. I have new tires on the Cosmics, and the brakes are freshly bled.

The PO had loosened the rear suspension, so I need to tighten everything up, including the shocks and the hub nuts.

I read somewhere that the shock mounts shouldn't be fully tightened until the car had been resting on its wheels for a while (or driven?) so that everything was settled. Is that correct?

For the hub nuts, does one tighten these (to 150 ftlbs I think) with the wheels on the ground, or can I do it with the car still on stands?

Any tips and advice would be most welcome!

[BDA]

The workshop manual doesn't mention any special treatment when tightening the upper shock mount like waiting for it to settle before tightening. That sounds like one of those urban myths that sometimes goes around. Tighten it to the torque listed in the manual (40 ft-lbs).

The stub axle nut is 150 ft-lbs as you say. There is no instruction to put the car on the ground when you tighten it. Inf fact, it's a bad idea as you introduce a lot of stresses and compliance in the assembly that you don't want when you tighten that nut. You may be thinking about the requirement that the car be at ride height when tightening the A-arm nuts on the front suspension. This is so when the corner is at either full bump or droop, the rubber bush won't be stressed to much and fail.

From the TC workshop supplement:

Tighten nut to this torque loading while rotating the hub to ensure bedding of taper rollers. Slacken
nut 'one flat', then insert split pin.

I don't know what they're talking about WRT the split pin. Mine had a nut and a 'D' ring lock washer. This is the same thing that was said in the S1/S2 manual so maybe they were lazy and copied the text.

Good luck! Getting the car back on the ground is pretty exciting!

[jbcollier]

+1 only bonded rubber bushings need to be tightened at operating height.

[jjbunn]

Thanks! The axle nut has a foldable washer which I believe needs to be bent over against one of the nut flats once the nut is tight. I read in the Knowledgebase that the washer is a waste of time, and it's better to use threadlock. However, I think I will go with the washer and threadlock. Comments?

As for tightening the nut when the wheels aren't on the ground, wont the axle simple rotate as I apply the torque?

[jbcollier]

Don't use any liquids on the threads as that will have you overtorque the nut, stress the axle and possibly lead it to early failure.  It's not a great design, singularly under-engineered to say the least but it will work if you carefully follow the directions in the manual.  So, new spacers (or, better yet, hardened ones), new lock tab and Loctite 635 on the splines every time the hub is disassembled is an absolute  necessity.  The axle nut is torqued with clean, dry threads.

[Roger]

The bit about taper rollers and split pins applies to the front hubs.
Like jbcollier says, you must use loctite on the splines, 635 in this case, but not on the threads.
Use the tab if you like, I use the hardened part of the washer only, removing the thin bendy bit, then use 635 between the washer and nut faces.
After torquing, I make a light centrepunch on the nut and on the hub, aligned, and periodically check they're still in line. They hadn't moved last time I looked.

[BDA]

After rereading it, it's obvious they were talking about the front hubs!

Another way of setting the rear hub nut is to drill an axial hole through the threads of the nut and the stub axle, tap it, and install a set screw.