↓ Advertise on Defender2 ↓

Home > Technical > A cautionary tale about hub nuts.
Post Reply  Down to end
Page 2 of 2 <12
Print this entire topic · 
blackwolf



Member Since: 03 Nov 2009
Location: South West England
Posts: 16808

United Kingdom 2007 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 DCPU Stornoway Grey
Yup, done when I went through the blue box hubnut/damaged stub axle fiasco.
Post #158877 31st Jul 2012 8:05am
View user's profile Send private message View poster's gallery Reply with quote
pannawonica



Member Since: 21 Nov 2010
Location: Clackline Western Australia
Posts: 568

Australia 
MK
Thanks Thumbs Up
Post #158916 31st Jul 2012 12:29pm
View user's profile Send private message View poster's gallery Reply with quote
CristoMario



Member Since: 01 Jul 2017
Location: Terra Vecchia
Posts: 3

Italy 2008 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 CSW Zermatt Silver
Re: A cautionary tale about hub nuts.
blackwolf wrote:
Today I fitted new front discs, calipers and pads to my '07 Puma DC.

Anyone who's taken the hubs off a Puma (or late TD5) will know that Landrover in their infinite wisdom changed from the old arrangement of hub nuts (an adjusting nut, tab washer, and locknut, an arrangement that has worked very well for nearly 60 years) to a system using a spacer between the bearings and a one-use-only nut, tightened to 150lbft, with a collar to stake down into a flat on the stub axle. The result of this retrograde step, done I believe solely to reduce build costs, is that the hub nut cannot be reused.

When I stockpiled the parts for this job, I foolishly didn't bother to get any hub nuts since I knew that I had four brand new ones stashed away 'just in case' I needed them. What I had forgotted until I started the job was that they came from a well-known supplier of budget spares that usually are defective in some way and were in blue packaging.

Not to worry, I thought, surely no-one could mess up something as simple as a hub nut! WRONG! Shocked

When I came to reassemble the first hub, the new nut seemed a little stiff as it went on (and no, it wasn't cross-threaded) and after about 5 turns it was clear that attemting to screw it further would cause damage. Worse, it wouldn't come off. Significant torque was required to remove it, and when it came off, so did the threads of the stub axle. Evil or Very Mad

It turns out that all four brand new 'blue box' hub nuts have defective threads. I haven't yet had time to measure them to find out exactly what is wrong, but they are either the wrong pitch, or they are undersize, or the thread is not fully formed. The only good thing that a QA man could find to say about them is that they are consistently defective!

So, a trip to the dealer to get new hub nuts. Also, due to the thread damage it suffered I have now had to renew the stub axle as well. Big Cry

Now it is very, very rare that I buy anything from this particular supplier, but as I was cursing this afternoon I was trying to remember if I have ever had anything from this brand which was actually totally satisfactory and did the job it was sold to do without any problems. I actually cannot remember a single part that hasn't been defective in some way, ever. The last 'blue box' item I bought was a mirror head for the Puma, and that was a s*d to fit because the retaining plate that clamps round the ball on the mirror arm wasn't the right shape and the socket head cap screw supplied had a defective head. Utter rubbish.

Morals of this story:

1) You get what you pay for (except in the case of Genuine Parts)
2) Don't expect to have a good day if you buy anything that comes in the infamous blue packaging.

It must be said that the Delphi discs and AP calipers are superb quality, and are exactly the same as those removed (including part numbers and casting numbers) and were (a) half the price of Genuine Parts and (b) approx four times the price of 'blue box' parts. Thumbs Up


Hi, I've bought the same blue label and had the exact experience with the stake nut, although only a tiny bit of the thread from the stub axle came off, I was able to turn the original back on and torque it. Would you rekon I need to replace the stub axle in this case where the treads are all there it just seems like the nuts thread was at the wrong pitch...?

Anyone else please comment too.

Thank you
Post #787088 15th Aug 2019 8:52pm
View user's profile Send private message View poster's gallery Reply with quote
NickMc



Member Since: 01 Oct 2014
Location: Norn Iron
Posts: 1545

Northern Ireland 2006 Defender 90 Td5 HT Bonatti Grey
Yep been there fortunately I didn’t wind them on, also had the lock tab washers not fit the stub axles too.
Post #787092 15th Aug 2019 9:11pm
View user's profile Send private message View poster's gallery Reply with quote
Big Monkey



Member Since: 11 Sep 2018
Location: North East Scotland
Posts: 8

United Kingdom 1985 Defender 110 300 Tdi HT Galway Green
Excellent advice gents. I'm in the process of putting my Puma rear axle back together. I'll buy the parts to put it back to the double nut setup.

Also, I've only had my Defender for a year, and haven't needed to do anything to it. I'm in he process of going through it before we convert it to a camper and head off on a big trip. I'd heard that the purveyor of spares in blue boxes and bags were called s**tpart and avoided them where I could. Looks like I did the right thing.
Post #787094 15th Aug 2019 9:34pm
View user's profile Send private message View poster's gallery Reply with quote
CristoMario



Member Since: 01 Jul 2017
Location: Terra Vecchia
Posts: 3

Italy 2008 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 CSW Zermatt Silver
I'm new to the blue label issues as i have not been aware of quality issues.
so the thin piece of thread that came off worries me a little.. it was very thin and about 7-9mm long. Everything is torqued up and nut staked now... But I am wondering if I should spend $$$ again to remove everything and replace stub axle? or should I do that when I replace bearings again at some point?
Post #787098 15th Aug 2019 9:37pm
View user's profile Send private message View poster's gallery Reply with quote
CristoMario



Member Since: 01 Jul 2017
Location: Terra Vecchia
Posts: 3

Italy 2008 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 CSW Zermatt Silver
NickMc wrote:
Yep been there fortunately I didn’t wind them on, also had the lock tab washers not fit the stub axles too.


Fortunately you didn't wind them on... saved yourself a headache. This is worrying me now.
Post #787104 15th Aug 2019 9:55pm
View user's profile Send private message View poster's gallery Post Reply
Post Reply  Back to top
Page 2 of 2 <12
All times are GMT

Jump to  
Previous Topic | Next Topic >
Posting Rules
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum



Site Copyright © 2006-2024 Futuranet Ltd & Martin Lewis
DEFENDER2.NET RSS Feed - All Forums