I thought I had another bad hub bearing on my '06 so I took it to Honda(because of warranty) and they told me my axle had snapped in half where the axle nut hits the hub. What kept my wheel from falling off on the freeway to the dealer? I have never seen a axle break like this. I think the dealer that fixed it the first time(we were on vacation) over torqued the axle nut when he put it back together. Had 84k on the car when we had it fixed then put 3k miles on it when the same noise came back on the left rear. Good thing this didn't happen on the Big Sur drive.

ROD

 

edited. Not sure what I was thinking.

This happened on Casey's car as well (TougeHorseman). Thought maybe it was a stuck rear brake caliper. Removed the wheel and the end of the axle and axle nut fell to the ground, and the bearing was toast. I believe it was determined that the wheel bearing had seized but not for sure. The car felt like it was completely dragging the rear left wheel as if the caliper had seized up or something.

So I guess either the bearing seized up or the axle snapped for another reason and after that the dragging feeling developed because the hub then had a lot of play with the nut no longer holding it on.

 

I've seen this before on a car I did some work on. The fault was likely an overzealous mechanic and his impact gun as well as there were no other issues with the knuckle. Bearing was perfectly fine.

 

Hmm. Yeah with Casey's it was really obvious the end of the axle had been sheared off. It clearly had been twisted where it was sheared. Good to know.

 

I didn't read all of Andrews post but from what I saw at the very beginning it isn't correct.


The press fit of the bearing to hub to knuckle is the first thing that would keep things together, the second thing would be your caliper carrier.

You still have drive since the axle didn't break at the bearing but instead broke at the nut after the splines and that part of the axle does keep things together.

 

All these terms are above my head. I had a similar axle snap, right at the nut.

When I removed the lug nuts to address what I wrongly assumed was a fused caliper, I was surprised to find the axle nut rolling at my feet. The wheel had stepped out a significant amount, leading me to believe some brake parts were one of a few parts involved with holding the wheel to the car.

 

The hub can start to slide out of the bearing like Casey's did but the carrier will stop it.

The bearing in Casey's case will most likely be stressed and won't last as long as it should have and depending on how much movement there was I would guess the hub and possibly the hub carrier would be stressed as well.

 

Ahh that makes sense. I just read my post again and it doesn't make sense. Sorry about that. How would the axle remain in the splines after it has sheared at the nut though? On Casey's car it was quite clear after only driving a short distance after he felt something wrong that the axle was no longer driving the hub. Wouldn't it just take a a small load on the wheel and the wrong direction? Or maybe the axle came out of the splines when the care was jacked up? I do remember the wheel being at a different angle after the car was lowered back off the jack.

Edit: saw the other post. Thanks.

 

The axle is fully captured in the hub. There is no possible way for the axle to separate from the hub without either a failure of the axle or one of the ball joints in the spindle failing. That is why in order to remove the axle, you have to disconnect the lower ball joint.

Also without the brake caliper keeping the hub attached, it would separate from the spindle. The pressed in bearing itself won't do the job. The bearing will separate.

 

Got my car back from Honda and they tq. the axle nut to 181 lbs? They even put that info on the bill. Its funny how you have to finish the job at home.

ROD