Following on from iguana's thread a little while ago about checking your wheel nuts between sessions. I would now like to add to remember to check your hub nuts!! I had a strange knocking noise at bruntingthorpe the other week, which i couldn't find the cause of. It only happened going around corners, louder around rights than lefts, sounded like it was coming from the nearside front. Anyway having a poke around the car at the weekend and thought i'd just check the hub nuts, set the torque wrench to 210 newtons (haynes says 230 newtons) but that's the max on the wrench so just gave it a tad more oomph! Anyway the nearside was a bit loose and the offside was a lot loose. Testdrive. No knocking noise. They are newish CV joints too, that were torqued up properly when fitted and are supposed to have a non slipping lock nut. Edited by: I V - mk1 16v
Also keep an ear out for those front bearings after this has happened. I seemed to wreck them so easily, since nothing supports the inner race when the CV is loose.
Agreed with Chris - I have had this happpen to me and it knackered both the bearing and the hub itself (the hub face thats next to the bearing race looked like it had been shot-peaned)- both cheap as chips from gsf though A mate rallies a GpA escort cossie and that thing will loosen itself from 400Nm and break split pins Rob
mine are seized very tight.. 3/4 breaker bar and long scaffold pipe req'd to break the OS one loose over the weekend. after breaking the local garages 30mm socket and breaker bars.. Woops.
We definately have a problem with wheel nuts going loose but so far the hubs have been ok. After 15 laps at racing pace we need to torque up the front wheels. I think the heat then cooling cycle causes the problem. Extreams which are not apparent during road use. During testing at Brands Keith did about 20-25 laps and came in compaining of something drastic wrong with the car. Yep... front wheel almost hanging off. We torque to 85lbs now so have not actually had the problem again. Although the studs always seem to move a bit tighter when we check them. I also think replacing at least the front studs every now and then is a good idea.Our front wheels come off every50 miles or so. They do wear, and I assume the stud material is softer than the hub.
Do you use studs or wheel nuts ?? Also have you seen the article on the stock hatch racer testing suspension settings in this months road and track car mag. I think the blokes name was luke wood?? had a yellow xr2. He was using 300lb fronts and 850lb rears with adjustable damping Gaz struts. thought it might be worth a look.
If they're Grayston studs / sourced from DT, they need one track session and a torque up, or the initial heat cycle will leave them loose. Take it you've all seen the stud thread?
Sounds like we are back to suspension!! The answer is no but I will get the mag and have a look. I still think rear spring rates used by all the Stock Hatch guys are well over the top, but everyone seems to be using these rates so who am I to question it??!! We are also going that way based on all the advise. Aurok are still saying we don't need to go that hard but are happy to humour us and will be setting up the car prior to Donny. This is really the wrong topic for this subject but.. when we discuss settings with Aurok they have constantly said that people 'over spring' their cars. They also are not happy with our choice inspring rates saying we don't need to go that hard. However because we can't touch the anti roll bars it is the only way we can reduce the roll. I think they prefer a more balanced approach to setups which we don't have due to the regs. It is very difficult to go against their advice with their experience in the sport, but what can we do? Anyway lets not get into this in a topic started related to hub nuts!!
Yip had a loose hub nuts also- bloody finger loose one was!! (O/S/F) replaced with a new pair & loctited on- so now along with wheel bearings & other checks its on the post track day check over list now.
I wasn't trying to start a debate, just thought you'd be interested to see an article about another stock hatch racer.
Hub nuts I suggest you use some white paint to mark across the nut and thread - easy to inspect for any movement
Strange, my o/s hub nut came loose last weekend after the event at Goodwood, seems to be a common problem...
