I just got finished putting back together the rear stub axles what a PITA!!! My question is this: How easy are they suppose to rotate :stupid: All was well until I torqued the axle nut on the back. Now they turn but it is hard to do. I don't have any parts left over and I put them in the way they came out :tapemouth so is it right???

David: I found this info on the IZCC mail list a while ago. It was provided by a guy named Kim Blough who owns Idaho Z Car. Hope it helps.

"Finish the job by tightening the new axle nut in stages. Check for VERY

free rotation of the axle between each stage of torque. If the axle becomes

hard to turn, either the inner seal is rubbing on the companion flange, or the

distance piece is too short and the very minuscule clearance between the

ball bearings and the races has been compromised. (Used up) There are shims

available to lengthen this part to allow full torque of the axle and the

inner races/distance piece into one solid unit. Most of the time simply

reusing the original spacer and shims will suffice.

Premature bearing failure can result in a very short time if the axial side

loading of these ball bearing type bearings is not proper. A properly

torqued axle with proper length spacer installed will spin very freely,

with only a minimal drag caused by the wiper surface of the inner and outer

seals."

When I did mine. It all went together pretty smooth. After I torqed it to spec it still moved freely. Maybe one of your bearings isn't seated all the way.

Could it loosen up after driving for a little while? I hope it does anyway because none of my refit axles spin as freely as a driven car (front or rear). I figured the grease needs to heat up a little and the parts might shift to optimal positions with a little driving.

As "Bambikiller 240" noted the distance piece is critical part of the assembly. It is also very important to insure the inner and outer bearings are fully seated. I had the outer bearing pressed on to the stub shaft in a machine shop. The inner bearing should be frozen and hub heated to insure the OD race seats properly. The final step involves freezing the stub shaft with outer bearing in place to facilitate installation of same into hub. If you used brute force for assembly it is likely something is not seated or cocked ......... result is binding.

Could it loosen up after driving for a little while

The bearings likely will loosen, after they bind up completely (but in a very catastrophic way).

The bearings should be relatively free turning from the completion of the assembly process. The FSM indicates a rear wheel bearing preload of 3.9 inch/pounds.

Yeah that's the obvious loosening - I was talking about settling of the parts ie. a freshly assembled axle may not spin quite as freely as one that's been on the road for 10 years. Mine are probably fine - they spin and don't make any strange noises or hang up. I torqued all bolts and nuts as called out in the manuals.

The bearings likely will loosen, after they bind up completely (but in a very catastrophic way).

The bearings should be relatively free turning from the completion of the assembly process. The FSM indicates a rear wheel bearing preload of 3.9 inch/pounds.

Thanks Carl and others who have responded. I am not sure how to post a picture from the ZCar Microfiche CD so I will try to describe what I think you all are talking about. I have to start at the beginning to try and explain so please bear with me :classic: I ordered a new set of struts and springs and went to replace the rears and found out that the PO had put in late model Z car strut tube assys.(Larger diameter tubes and longer tubes) so had to get 240Z rear strut tubes to finish. Took everything apart paying attention to what went where. Received the correct strut tubes and refinished them. repacked bearings after checking them out and got new seals. greased it all up and put it back together and tightened the axle nut now they turn very difficultly. In your reply Carl you quoted a previous mail list which talked about shimming. Can you tell me if the shims he was referring to are p/n 4211-N3400 labeled as "Washer-Bearing, Rear Axle"? There are two of them one on each side of the p/n 43091-E4100 labeled as "Piece, Distance Bearing". I just want to make sure because I really don't want to take this all apart again. As I stated when I started this thread, There are no extra parts. Those weren't in the old strut tubes. Thank you guy and gals for your help. I am sorry this is so long winded

David:

Let me preface my post with the caveat that I have NO personal experience with this job. I have read and saved as much information provided by others as I can find.

First I am understanding that you are using the bearings, distance pieces. washers (shims) and other parts from one set of strut housings and installing them into some (different) other strut housings that you acquired which did not have these parts. Right?

I do believe tha the "washers" that you refer to are the shims mentioned, however if you notice there are 3 different sized distance pieces listed in the microfiche:

#10-1 43090 - E4100 Piece Distance, Bearing 52.43mm

#10-2 43091 - E4100 Piece Distance, Bearing 52.63mm

#10-3 43092 - E4100 Piece Distance, Bearing 52.83mm

These items do not supercede each other, they each are different lengths and (it is my belief) need to be matched to the strut housing and stub axle that is being installed. This may be where your tightness problem is occurring, since as I understnd it you are using distance pieces from one set of Strut housings in a different set of housings.

Please do not take this as 100% gospel truth, but this is what I suspect the problem to be.

Hopefully someone else with hands on experience can confirm, or clarify my understanding of the situation.

Yeah that's the obvious loosening - I was talking about settling of the parts ie. a freshly assembled axle may not spin quite as freely as one that's been on the road for 10 years. Mine are probably fine - they spin and don't make any strange noises or hang up. I torqued all bolts and nuts as called out in the manuals.

Michael:

Sorry, for the "wise guy" answer

With 180 ft/lbs of torque applied to the stub axle nut, everything "should" be in the place where it belongs. There should be no room for movement or "settling" of parts. The bearings will spin "more freely" over time as the parts wear, but they should not require much effort to rotate from the very beginning.

The "distance pieces are marked "A", "B", and "C". They should go into rear hub castings with the matching mark. I have mine apart now, but I'll be damned if I can find the letter mark anywhere on my hub castings (but of course I ground them down smooth before I knew they had and important mark on them! Dooh!!)

The distance pieces are used to compensate for machining tolerances in the hub and mating stub shaft. Goal is to achieve optimum alignment between the inner and outer races after assy. Note that 0.2 mm increment is only .008 inch. Selection is based on stack up measurements on hub and stub shaft. If you pulled bearings and distance piece from one assy and installed them in another assy, you could have created mismatch as "Bambikiller 240" alluded to in above post.