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Hello everybody!
I own a 92 Dodge Stealth ES (Standard Transmission) and recently had to replace the front passenger side axle. After replacing the axle I attempted to take the car for a spin but I couldn’t get the vehicle to budge. It feels as if one of the tires on the right is locked into place. After some time I did get it to move and there is some squealing from the front passenger tire. I did have to disconnect the brake line from the caliper during the replacement, but I easily reconnected it and bled the brakes afterwards. Could I have accidentally locked the brakes? Could there be something else that I missed?
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Have you tried removing the brake pads to see if the tire and axle are spinning freely? If so, maybe a stuck caliper or brake caliper pins?
I just got back in from checking that and found the calipers to be in working order, although the brakes will need to be replaced soon.
I decided to brake the nut on the threaded part of the axle that is coming through the rotor. Once I did, the axle and rotor spun freely. The nut was on too tight. Personally, I didn’t think the axle was all of the way through completely because the hole at the end of the axle (for the pin) doesn’t clear the end of the nut (I was trying to move the car back some so I could freely look for the pin). Would a torque wrench fix this?
Also, if somebody could explain, I assumed that a tight nut would be fine in this situation because the axle is connected to the rotor/rim/wheel and wouldn’t interfere with the rotation.
Torquing it according to spec is a good idea. It sounds like something else may be going on though if you are unable to see the hole at the end of the axle that was visible before when the castle style axle nut was fully seated. Maybe you should remove the axle from hub, try a little bit of grease on the splines and the axle nut threads themselves. See if that helps you. Are you using an impact wrench?
I’m searching for the correct torque now, but am having trouble finding it.
No impact wrench. All body.
I could try a little grease. The new axle has the antilock brake sprocket (is that the correct name?) on it, while the old didn’t. From what I was told it doesn’t affect it in a negative way, but to me it looks like it doesn’t allow the axle to go completely through the rotor.
Hmmm… Maybe time to pop tape measurer on the old axle and compare with the one they gave you… Keep us posted
The old and new are exactly the same size and length. Flanges are the same amount as well. I checked all that to make sure before I put it on. I did some research and every place I have checked says that the addition of the sprocket doesn’t interfere with installation.
Get rid of the ABS tone ring/sprocket. It’s jamming up against the back of the wheel bearing or the knuckle. You can usually knock it off with a hammer unless you can see that it’s welded on.
The sprocket looks like it is part of the assembly. I will double check to make sure. Even if I could get it off, I am not sure I could slide it off. Have you experienced something similar before?
Yes. Actually another scenario I’ve seen is that the old one is still stuck in the back of the knuckle and came off the old axle during removal. Now the ring on the new axle is stacking up against the old ring that’s still stuck in there.
That axle nut has a tourque value which is important to keep a preload on the bearing. It should be tourqued to spec.
There doesn’t appear to be an old ring stuck and from the looks of the original, there was never one there.
The new ring appears to be welded on, and if I could disconnect it, I wouldn’t be able to slide it off unless I disconnected one of the boots (because of the size of the ring).
I grabbed a torque wrench and put 150+ ft-lbs (166 being the specification, but 150 being the limit on the wrench) on the nut and the wheel won’t budge. But again, when I loosen the nut it will spin. Anything above 50 ft-lbs (?) causes the wheel to stop spinning freely.
EDIT: I think the ring can be removed without removing the boot. I was thinking of it in a different position. Just as long as it isn’t welded on.
EDIT: It doesn’t appear to be welded on. Looks tight though.
I went and did some measuring and a closer inspection. It appears the ABS ring is preventing the axle from slipping through by another 8th of an inch.
I’m going start looking up ways to remove the ABS ring and hope removing it will solve the issue. Any suggestions/thoughts on how to remove the ring or anything else I recently stated?
Alright, so I wasn’t able to remove the ABS ring on the new axle, nor was there an old ABS ring attached to the rotor (and assembly), so I ordered a re-manufactured axle that arrived today. Pulled the new one out, replaced it easily with the reman part, slapped it all together, tightened the castle nut to specifications and the wheel spun freely (while in neutral). My conclusion (based on what I saw and the help from everybody here): The ABS ring was pressing against the rotor assembly and causing the bearing to compress in an odd manner that wouldn’t allow the wheel to spin.
Initially I went to replace the passenger side axle because while on the road it would rock and knock at higher speeds, especially when I turned left. I took it out for a spin after replacing the axle and the knocking is gone, for the most part. Turning left there is no noise or knocking or anything frightful, but when I turn right, a sound that is very similar appears. Since we are on the subject, think the driver side needs to be replaced as well? Now that I have the experience, it shouldn’t be as challenging (I hope).
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