Can anyone give me an authoritative torque for the rear axle nut on 4wd loyales.

 

Chiltons gives two different procedures and its not clear to me if one is for 4wd and one for fwd and which is which.

 

One is to torque the nut to 109 ft-lbs(I think it was) and the other was to torque the nut to 36 ft-lbs, back it off until the force needed to start the wheel turning is 2 to 4 pounds.

 

Obviously there is a big difference between the two. The Subaru which I have just bought had one side one way and the other side the other way. The side which was very tight drags compared to the other (I can't get the starting force down to 4 pounds no matter how much I back off the nut) and it makes a noise now if I don't torque it hard. I first thought that the high torque was improper and it may have damaged the bearing. After reading some posts on this forum, I am not sure.

 

On a related note (because I was trying to check the brakes) how do you adjust the shoes in the rear? The Chiltons manual goes on about a screw adjuster which doesn't exist on my car.

The axle nut torque is "as tight as you can get it".... no I'm not kidding at all. Officially it's 150 Ft/lbs, but anywhere between 150 and 250 is good. Make sure the cone washer is PERFECT and that the bellville washer is convex toward the nut.

 

I think Loyale's went back to the manual adjust shoes. There's a slot in the back of the dust sheild where you can insert a screwdriver to adjust the star-wheel. If it won't move you'll have to dissasemble and clean all the bits. If it's got auto-adjusters then you probably need to pull it apart and clean them all up.... or pitch them. They can fail and lockup the wheel. Was a poor system to begin with.

 

GD

I torque mine with a 18" breaker bar and all the pulling I'm worth.

Hi GD,

 

On my brakes there is no star wheel, there is a kind of lever with small teeth to create a kind of ratchet effect. I can see how to back the shoes off completely by reaching through the slot in the backing plate with a screwdriver and pushing on it to disengage it. But I don't how how to adjust them out or how one might back them off slightly.

 

Derek

Can anyone give me an authoritative torque for the rear axle nut on 4wd loyales.

 

 

Haynes 89003,section 10, page 2,

'rear suspension, Wheel bearing ring nut, 127 to 163 ft/lbs'

I thought the torque spec on that nut was 1/4 turn before the threads start stripping out?

I thought the torque spec on that nut was 1/4 turn before the threads start stripping out?

 

Sounds about right!