Sheehanigans

I had the very typical rear axle clicking/popping noise on my 2011 GS. Going from slow forward to slow reverse in a parking lot makes a click at the first change of force direction. This is known to be the rear axle splines moving around in the hubs and most commonly due to loose axle nuts. Some can tighten the existing nuts and move on, others need replacing with new loctite. I did all of that but the noise always came back. This is what I consider the ultimate step before buying new axles and/or hubs.

Here I will share some lessons learned and tricks.

What I did:

1. Removed the old nuts, replaced with new Dorman 615144 and regular red loctite. Torque to 140 ft lbs. This worked for 2-3 months before coming back.
2. Removed the above nuts, replaced again with new Dorman 615144 and red loctite, torqued to 140 ft lbs. Added the old nuts on top of the new ones as a lock nut. This lasted about 1 month.
3. Removed axles, cleaned splines and threads, applied grease to splines and re-assembled. New GM OEM nuts and ZR1 lock washers. No loctite. This has been good for 2+ months.

New GM axle nuts 10257766 and Nord Lock washers. The right side packaging is OEM GM 20861489 ZR1 lock washers - $35 'per pair' which I learned makes one side. Once they arrived I discovered my error, measured them, and found on the Nord Lock website they are standard off the shelf size. The middle is Nord Lock website direct NL27sp - $12/'pair' plus $10 shipping. There are two pieces in the packaging, stuck together with what feels like a dab of soft gooey glue. Like what your new credit card sticks to the bank letter with. Presumably this makes assembly easier by keeping them together and squeezes out on compression. Upon close inspection the GM and Nord Lock parts are otherwise identical.


The Dorman 615144 (left, via O'Reilly) and GM 10257766 (right) appear identical.


Cleaning the crusty hardened loctite off the axle threads. Before.


I used a curved pick to chase every thread. You could eat off these. After.



Dropped the brake caliper and undid the upper ball joint. No press needed - just hit the side of the taper with a hammer a few times after loosening the nut.
One of the axles came right out with some dead blow hammering. The other required an axle removal tool that mounts to the wheel studs and pushes inward with a threaded bolt.
Axle splines before:


Axle splines after cleaning. I used red high temp wheel bearing grease to the spline surfaces only before reassembly, not on the threads.



Final assembly with the new nuts and washers. No loctite, dry threads. The 'coarse' lock washer sides mate together, and the 'fine' are on the outside. NordLock advertises reuse up to 2 times. Torque to 140 ft lbs.


So far so good! This was a bit more work than just swapping the nuts while the car was on the ground, but for not much $$. I didn't like the idea of going to 160 ft lbs like some have done, and risk breaking an axle stub. If this doesn't hold, the Nord-Locks can be re-tightened, unlike loctite, and I'm thinking will be more impervious to temperature. Red loctite lets go around 500*F, and rotors can get really hot on spirited driving and track laps, easily 800*+.

I'll keep this updated if it holds or requires stage 4 modifications.

4SUMERZ

Nord lock washers is the way to go. Expensive, but they will never loosen.

myfunz

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