For those who have a knok somewhere in their rear suspension

[TheMadMachinist]

Hello,

I have been dealing with a knock in my rear suspension for the better part of a year now. My car is a 2013 GTS with 60,000 plus miles. Had the car into the local dealership about a year ago on four different occasions for this over a six month time frame. They drug it out so long that my extended warranty ran out. I was left with a car that was in worse condition than when I dropped it off. Only to be told that they no longer wanted to work on my car from that point forward. This Dealership is in Newark Cal. you have been warned.

What I found after getting into the car myself was that the rear axle bolts had loosened. I removed the wheels as well as the carter pin on the axle nut. I then marked the location with a felt pen. Then after retorting said nut I saw a 1/8 of a turn on one side and a 1/4 turn on the other side.

No more knock.

Now all I have to do is fix the alinement that they did. I could go on and on about my experience at this Dealership but why.

Hope this mite help anybody with similar issues.

[VENOM-TA]

Where are these axle bolts located, do you have pics?

[Steve M]

Axle nuts are located in the center of the wheel hub/brake rotor.

Take the wheel off, and you'll be staring at it front and center. They are held in place with a cotter pin + cap...you can use a pair of pliers to straighten the cotter pin to remove it.

Once that is out of the way, then you can torque it. Should take a 32mm 6-point socket.

If you need to keep the wheel from spinning, just apply the parking brake.

Edit: there are also bolts that hold the axles to the flanges on the differential (center of the rear), but I don't think that's what he's talking about here.

[Arizona Vipers]

Mine kept loosening up as well

[Gen5snake]

Hello,

I have been dealing with a knock in my rear suspension for the better part of a year now. My car is a 2013 GTS with 60,000 plus miles. Had the car into the local dealership about a year ago on four different occasions for this over a six month time frame. They drug it out so long that my extended warranty ran out. I was left with a car that was in worse condition than when I dropped it off. Only to be told that they no longer wanted to work on my car from that point forward. This Dealership is in Newark Cal. you have been warned.

What I found after getting into the car myself was that the rear axle bolts had loosened. I removed the wheels as well as the carter pin on the axle nut. I then marked the location with a felt pen. Then after retorting said nut I saw a 1/8 of a turn on one side and a 1/4 turn on the other side.

No more knock.

Now all I have to do is fix the alinement that they did. I could go on and on about my experience at this Dealership but why.

Hope this mite help anybody with similar issues.

Nice Job. Thanks for posting!

[GTS Dean]

Castle nuts and cotter pins are funny things. The holes rarely line up when your torque wrench clicks. I feel that it's better to get a little more turn-of-the-nut after the click to line up the holes, rather than backing off from "click torque" on high load fasteners like axle shaft hub bolts.

Another potential source of minor driveline clicking can be the free play in floating brake discs relative to the hat bolts coupled with pad drag.

[Steve M]

Castle nuts and cotter pins are funny things. The holes rarely line up when your torque wrench clicks. I feel that it's better to get a little more turn-of-the-nut after the click to line up the holes, rather than backing off from "click torque" on high load fasteners like axle shaft hub bolts.

That goes for any castle nut - always tighten more to get it to line up.

But in this case, the axle nuts aren't castle nuts. They are standard (albeit large) flange nuts (M22 x 1.25). The locking device is a separate piece, and looks like this:

https://i.ibb.co/zmX3prd/Viper-Axle-Lock.jpg

Any time I've had to remove/reinstall an axle nut, I've never had to overtighten it to get it clocked correctly. There's plenty of slop in that lock + cotter pin to get it to sit right. But that's also kinda the problem...they have more slop than your typical castle nut, so I could see an axle nut coming a bit loose. It shouldn't fall off, but still, not great.

For anyone needing part numbers, the axle nut is Mopar 6502294, and the lock is 05212525.

[GTS Dean]

Yes, you're right about that. The 12-point nut cover allows the cotter pin gap to be indexed at 30 degrees (half of a 60 degree flat) along with a generous cotter pin relief notch.

[Pappy]

I'm kind-of the opinion that the "loosening" is due to wear and tear in the bearing assembly which increases tolerances and causes a need for periodically retorqueing the axle nut to keep the preload in spec.