I guess I'm wondering what happened to the cotter pin in all these scenarios? The "last line of defense" wasn't there for some reason.

Not really food for thought,but..... DM&FS

At 08:35 AM 6/12/2010, Tom Hargrave wrote: >This was with an old air cooled but should still apply. > >Years ago I had a problem with one of my axle nuts loosening up and I could >not figure out why. I even replaced the nut. > >The 'light came on' when I swapped my hubs from left to right and the >problem also swapped from left to right. > >It turns out that the splines were worn on the inside of the hub that was >loosening up. > >Tom >www.towercooler.com > > >-----Original Message----- >From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf Of >David Beierl >Sent: Saturday, June 12, 2010 2:32 AM >To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM >Subject: Re: Why my rear axle nuts got loose > >At 02:39 AM 6/12/2010, M. Jade wrote: > >If the noise does go away does it mean the axle is OK? > >This is beyond what I know. My *guess* is that if it goes away and stays >away, you've gotten away with it. > > >When I said loose it's not like you can turn it by hand. You have to > >turn it by a wrench (1/2" drive 2 feet long bar). > >If you get the wrench horizontal, and stand on the very extreme end of it >with 180 lb / 82 kg that will give you the correct torque. The wrench has >to be horizontal. > > > So I don't feel the splines on the axle are damaged. > >If they're moving against each other they're certainly not doing each other >any good. > > >The question in my mind is is it possible the axle is going to break > >off. I know it is probably not very likely. But does it ever happen to > >anyone to have a broken axle? Last time they were loose I turned the > >nuts probably 1/12 turn. Now they were turned again 1/12 turn. > >Something must be wearing out inside or the axle is pulled so hard and > >about to break off. Again this is probably not likely. But I am > >concerned really. > >I cannot answer this. Maybe someone on the list can, but not I, sorry. > >Yours, >David