99 malibu front hub assembly mistake

dpilot83 · 05-27-2007, 06:43 PM

So I'm pretty sure I made a bad move when removing the hub from the front right of my 99 malibu.

I pulled the cover off the wheel and as my Haynes manual said I decided to take the nut loose before removing the tire. The nut had a weird cover on it that i'd never seen before. Basically it was like there was a sort of tabbed washer behind it and the tabs had been bent over the front of it. So I pry the tabs away a little and stick my socket on there as far as it will go "which wasn't very far because the tabs were in the way" and started to loosen it.

Well, only a little thin locking nut came loose. The rest of the nut was still on. So I totally removed the locking nut and stuck the socket on again and couldn't get it to get to the regular nut so I drove the tabs out of the way a little further and then tried again. Just barely able to get ahold of it and I found that it was yet another lock nut. Same thing happened next time. By the time I was totally done I had four nuts in my hand and I had totally destroyed the little tabbed washer that was behind them all by hammering it back several times.

The Haynes manual made no mention of prying any tabs back or removing a locking nut so I'm wondering if I made quite a mistake by taking it all apart. Maybe it was meant to be removed in one piece with a larger socket and leaving all the tabs on? I'm thinking that is the case. Any ideas?

Thanks

NocturnalCreations · 05-28-2007, 08:18 AM

yeah I dont like the Haynes books. I buy them cause they generally have more wiring diagrams then the Chilton books. I only have the Haynes for the 99 Malibu with no good pics of the wheel hub with the nut still on.

I only remember seeing a single nut and washer on GM half shafts....hold on a sec, bout to pull my gf's center cap off

yeah man, u werent supposed to bend those tabs. It holds all the layers together. See if u can get it back together enough to get a good grip on it with a socket. I dont know wtf they made that change for. It used to be a regular nut.

If it aint broke......

what are u replacing, the wheel hub? ball joint?

dpilot83 · 05-28-2007, 11:19 AM

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I replaced the wheel hub. By the time I had posted that I had already totally destroyed that tabbed washer that holds them all together. I was still able to remove them one at a time with a socket and replace it and put it back together even. Now I've just got the four mini-nuts clamping up against one another...It's going to be good enough to drive until I can replace it with a new one. I assume I'll have to get that directly from GM?

What is the point of torquing that to 284 foot pounds? That's what the Haynes manual says to do and that just seems insane to me. It's not like it's a structural part of the car. It doesn't turn with respect to the hub so there's no motion that's really going to encourage it to come off. It looks like to me, even if the nut totally came loose those splines would still drive the hub. It seems to me it would be way worse if the three bolts at the back came loose or if the lugnuts came loose. I just can't understand why nearly 300 lbs of torque needs to be applied to something that isn't structural in nature. Maybe it has something to do with the weird nut...

dpilot83 · 05-28-2007, 11:20 AM

I appreciate you going out and pulling that off and taking a look.

slls · 05-28-2007, 11:30 AM

I know this won't help but my 04 Malibu has one big nut, in fact that is all I have ever seen on my GM vehicles. Never heard of the set up you have.

NocturnalCreations · 05-28-2007, 10:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dpilot83

I appreciate you going out and pulling that off and taking a look.

No problem. I do what I can within reason to help them keep their cars running.

This is the best forum i've been on. I've learned a lot and been able to teach other people at the same time. I fix and customize cars for a living and I love it

As far as the torque thing goes...that nut can back off over time from all the vibrating, so their so called engineers have to do all these rigorous torque test to keep from killing people and getting sued. That determines how much torque a bolt or nut needs to stay together for a certain period of time. Thread locks make it even better.

A car is a volatile environment because of the constant vibrations. If not engineered and assembled right, the entire car can fall apart, welds, bolts and all. Any part u replace has the potential to come off if not installed right.

POST REPLY TO THIS THREAD