Front wheel wiggle, rattle, clunk (1996 850)?

Grumpy · Post by **Grumpy** » 18 Nov 2007, 06:23

Hi, If you're convinced it's play in the wheel bearing (and you could have a lot of play without any wheel bearing type noises!) try tightening the large hub nut in the centre of the wheel. I don't have the torque setting to hand but if you apply your longest spanner and you are able to move it at all then it's loose. This fault appears quite commonly when we carry out MOT test (annual inspections) and is cured by simply re-torquing the hub nuts.
Hope this helps.

Post by **pfeener** » 18 Nov 2007, 08:02

Excellent point Grumpy.

mc510 · Post by **mc510** » 20 Nov 2007, 11:10

thanks, grumpy; i just got a 36mm socket so that I could try to tighten up the hub nut. Turns out that I can't budge it all (either tighten or loosen) and I feel like I'm about to snap my breaker bar! There's a little bit of rust on the axle threads, maybe frozen on.

[edit] Okay, i gave it some penetrating oil and just got out my trusty 5 ft cheater pipe ... probably put at least 150 ft-lbs of loosening torque on the axle nut and not a bit of movement. I guess I'm going to need an air-impact wrench if I'm going to get anywhere with this.

Post by **pfeener** » 20 Nov 2007, 13:24

If you can't budge it, it's not loose and it's not the cause of your play. Back to the wheel bearing as the most likely cause.

P.S. the nut you're trying to loosen has to come off to replace the wheel bearing anyway.

mc510 · Post by **mc510** » 20 Nov 2007, 13:45

How is that self-locking nut supposed to work? Like I said, I can't get it to budge, and on a really close look it appears that the flanges on the front surface of the nut are distorting a bit and seem to have bunged up the threads a little. That's not how it's supposed to work, is it? The nut on the other wheel isn't tweaked at all.

Thanks for all the advice, guys; it's still been less than a year that I've owned this thing and I've got a lot to learn about Volvos.

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 20 Nov 2007, 14:38

Certainly is rusted on real good. These do tighten as you drive and nothing looks out of the ordinary on the nut except for the sever seizing from the rust. I doubt this is the cause of your issues although it the nut is further in on this side than the other, it could be separation of the bearings that allowed it to keep working its way inward. You'll have to really penetrate that with PB Blaster and maybe even add heat to get it off. A large torque wrench with a steel pipe extension and you jumping on it may be what it takes to turn it.

Post by **pfeener** » 20 Nov 2007, 15:15

I think MIJ meant a large breaker bar rather than a torque wrench. Torque wrenches aren't meant to take that kind of force. You can probably break it loose if you soak it in PB Blaster, clean off some of that rust and get a 3/4 inch breaker bar and a 6 foot pipe. Another approach which works well is to take it to a tire shop and ask them to loosen it with an impact gun. As a last resort you could take it to a truck tire shop where they will have a 3/4 or 1 inch impact gun.

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 20 Nov 2007, 15:43

Ummm yes...breaker bar. Thanks for the correction.

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 20 Nov 2007, 17:42

Actually, if you don't have an impact gun, you need a 3/4" breaker bar, a long pipe, and my left guard son to jump on the aforementioned pipe.

The nut doesn't look special to me except for the rust holding it in place. I cannot see all angles but I don't think that any of the Volvo spindles have cotter pin holes in them.

...Lee

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 20 Nov 2007, 18:17

When you replace it, remember to tighten to 65Nm (48Lbs Ft) on the hub screws, then angle tighten 60 degrees. On the large hub nut (also known as the drive shaft nut), tighten to 120Nm (88Lbs Ft) and then angle tighten 60 degrees.