Rear Axle Theads Question.

[MurphyJ]

When cleaning and checking my rear brakes today, I noticed that the threads at the outer end of each axle are showing some serious wear after 80 years of maintenance and use. Without having to purchase new axles, is there a fix or remedy to this condition? Road safety is a real concern.
Thanks for your help.

[Benson]

One cause besides crossthreading is when someone removes the brake hub/drum assemblies.

1. Using a puller is the best way to remove the drums.

2. The common method does the most damage. People loosen the castle nut a couple of turns and hammer on the nut with a BFH to loosen the hub ... wrong wrong!

When they beat on the "castle" nut the internal threads on the end of the nut are deformed by the hammer blows. Then when they try to install the brake drums the threads on the axle shafts are damaged and sheared off as they screw the nut back on ... as you have seen. Most damage is in the first 3/8 inch or so as they force the stripped threads back on and wonder why the nut goes back on so hard.

If one insists on using this method at least remove the nut first, reverse it and beat on the flat end instead of the "castle" end. This does less damage BUT still deforms the threads on the shaft and nut somewhat.


I wonder how many times someone has dropped an axle nut and it rolled under the bench ... "Oh I have more of those in the can over there" ... they pick out a nut that has the castles all bent and proceed to strip the threads on their axleshaft?

What if they had just spent $1500 to replace both axles and rebuild the rear end?

Before I use a nut I remove the drum and screw the nut all the way onto the axle ... if it goes on easily 1/2 way and resists then the threads are damaged. This assumes that the threads on the axle are undamaged. If the threads are damaged already it does not matter until the damaged nut goes on a good shaft.

Removing a camshaft timing gear by the same method damages the threads on the cam and nut also.

[Mike V. Florida]

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Originally Posted by MurphyJ

When cleaning and checking my rear brakes today, I noticed that the threads at the outer end of each axle are showing some serious wear after 80 years of maintenance and use. Without having to purchase new axles, is there a fix or remedy to this condition? Road safety is a real concern.
Thanks for your help.

I guess we need to know how much of the threads are damaged. I would not think that the cut out sections of the castle play a big role in the clamping force of the nut, so if all the threads are good on the solid section I would not worry.