How concerned should I be about my wheels falling off?

[Shakey]

First off I have a '72.

I just finished replacing the rear wheel bearings, both sides and two bearings per side. Having also replaced the large inside nuts with new OEM nuts and torqued to the recommended 200 lbs. it's just a little disconcerning that if one of these nuts works loose the whole wheel and hub seperates from the car. :surprised The bearings had been replaced before, by a PO, so the original peened nuts had been removed and a newer nuts used. This is how I found it before replacing with the current bearings and nuts. Should I be concerned about the current set-up or am i missing something? Seems like a castle nut with a cotter pin would be more appropiate to keep the whole assembly from seperating. Does anyone ever check to see if the nuts are still torqued?

[Nissanman]

The nuts should have a ring around the circumference on the opposite end to the flange.

The stub axle should have flats on the end, 180deg apart.

The idea is to "stake" the nut against the flats to lock it in position.

I had a look at a couple of my Z references and they curiously omit this detail:ermm:

The Nissan FSM for the 810 says: -

"Lock the nut using a punch" so that is as good as it gets!

[JimmyZ]

Nuts Bolts and Fasteners by Carrol Smith is a great read for this kind of thing. Did the new nut have any sort of locking design added to it? Was it an elastic stop nut? If it was then you can use it a few times. The male thread is the leak link in the equation.

I'm assuming your replacement nuts aren't the peen-over type.

A little red loctite is great insurance for something like this. (along with proper torque)

[Fun_in_my_z]

Right now you shouldnt be worried. When it falls off at 85 mph, then you can worry

[beandip]

If you used new nuts and staked them you will not have any problem. The flats on the stub axles with the nut bent over them even slightly will not allow he nut to rotate. if you did not stake the nuts . I recommend that you do before you drive the car vary hard and or far. Gary

[Shakey]

The new nuts do have an inside ring that I suppose is there to be staked over aginst the flat sides of the hub axle, but it seems that the nuts have been tightened past the flat area, preventing the two sides of the ring to be flattened. I had read that these new Nissan nuts were suppose to be of a lock-nut type, but they seemed to go on fairly easily and they also have the outer ring available to be staked.

[hls30.com]

Are you talking about the ZX nuts?

They do not have to be staked, but I would replace them with new ones at each removal.

Cheep insurance and priceless peace of mind!

Will

PS still available from the dealer...

[jmortensen]

Right hls30.com, the ZX nuts are peened at three places which makes them a locknut of sorts, but they don't have the thin flat flange that get bent over to hit the flat sides of the stub axle. If you have Z or ZX nuts, I wouldn't be worried at all. If the PO on your car went and found a 20mm (or whatever size it is) metric nut with no locking mechanism I'd suggest you replace them.

[Shakey]

Thanks for everyones replys