How to Fix Rear Axle Click 2009-19 Nissan 370z
Created on: 2018-09-12
How to diagnose and fix a rear axle click to the 12 Nissan 370z 350z G35 G37
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step 1 :Removing the Wheel
- Loosen the lug nuts with a wheel-lock key, 21mm socket and 1/4" breaker bar with the vehicle on the ground
- Raise the vehicle with a floor jack
- Secure the vehicle on jack stands
- Remove the wheel lock, and then the lug nuts by hand with a socket
- Pull off the wheel
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step 2 :Removing the Wheel Spacer
- Put the parking brake on
- Remove the wheel spacer nuts with a 17mm socket and 1/4" breaker bar
- Remove the wheel spacer
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step 3 :Removing the Castle Nut and Axle Washer
- Bend the cotter pin straight out
- Remove the cotter pin with needle nose pliers
- Remove the old castle nut
- Loosen the axle nut with 1 and 1/4" socket and a breaker bar
- Remove the axle washer with a magnet
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step 4 :Installing the New Castle Nut and Axle Washer
- Press in on the axle and grease the splines with brake caliper grease
- Pry the axle out a little from the back with a pry bar
- Grease the axle on the inside
- Place the old washer and two new washers onto the axle shaft
- Tighten the new castle nut by hand
- Tighten the castle nut with a socket and ratchet
- Torque the castle nut to 74 foot-pounds with the parking brake on
- Insert the cotter pin into place
- Fold out the ends of the cotter pin with needle nose pliers over the axle shaft end
- Snip off the other end of the cotter pin
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step 5 :Installing the Wheel Spacer
- Insert the wheel spacer into place
- Tighten the 17mm nuts by hand
- Torque the nuts to 85 foot-pounds in a crossing pattern
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step 6 :Reattaching the Wheel
- Slide the wheel into place
- Start the lug nuts by hand
- Tighten the 21mm lug nuts preliminarily
- Lower the vehicle to the ground
- Tighten the lug nuts to 80 foot-pounds in a crossing or star pattern
Tools needed
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Socket Extensions
Torque Wrench
Hammer
Pry Bar
Magnet - Extendable
21mm Socket
Side Cutters
1-1/4 Inch Socket
Castle Nut
Anti-Seize Grease
Cotter Pin
Axle Washer
Ratchet
1/2 Inch Breaker Bar
Hi, I’m Mike from 1A Auto. We’ve been selling auto parts for over 30 years!
Here we have a 2012 Nissan 370Z that when you back up and move forward from a stop, you're getting a clicking noise. Seems to be coming from the rear wheels. All right, I'm going to take the wheel off.
Before I raise the vehicle up, I want to crack free the lug nuts. I'm going to use a 21mm socket and a breaker bar. Just crack them free. This one actually has a wheel lock. So if you have a wheel lock, use the wheel lock to loosen up the key. Now that those are loose, I'll raise the vehicle. Now we're going to raise and support this vehicle. We're going to use a two post lift. If you're using this at home, you can use a jack and jack stands. Now I'll take the lug nuts off.
First thing, I take the wheel lock off. Now I'll take the wheel and tire off. This vehicle has wheel spacers to make the wheel come out a little bit further. So I have to take them off on this vehicle. I'm going to use a 17mm socket and a breaker bar. I'm going to make sure that the parking break is on. I'll loosen these all up. Once those bolts are all out, we can pull this off and set that aside.
So the reason why we're finding that we're getting this clicking noise is the axle is moving in the hub. When you go to reverse, and then you go to take off, when you have a direction change, it is shifting, and that's giving us the clicking noise. That is caused by this nut loosening up or this cage.
What we have is an updated nut from Kawasaki. So we are going to install this nut and see if we can get rid of that noise. So I'm going to use some side cutters to remove the cotter pin. Just get in here and bend it out a little bit. We can pull it through, just like that. You never want to reuse a cotter pin. You always want to get new cotter pins.
Next thing, I'm going to take off this axle nut retainer. And as you can see, this area right there is where it's bending, and it's causing us to lose torque. So the new castle nut will not bend like that. All right, now I'm going to take off the axle nut. I'm going use an inch and a quarter socket and a breaker bar. Take that nut off.
Next we're going to use a magnet, and we're going to take this little washer off. So this is where our clicking is happening. Those splines in there from that axle, when you're one direction going in reverse, this is going one way, and then when you reverse directions it will click, go the other way, and go back and forth, and that's making our noise.
All right, I'm going to use a little bit of brake caliper grease in here. I'm going to push in on the axle. Try to grease up these splines the best we can. The alternative would be pulling the axle out and trying to grease it. But that's a lot more involved. So we're just going to grease these splines this way. And then on the back side, I'm going to take a pry bar. Pry the axle out a little bit, and grease the splines on the inside.
I'm going to go all the way around all the splines. So this new castle nut is shorter than our original nut. So what we're going to have to do is we're going to get two more washers from Nissan, and we'll use one of the originals, and do that on both sides. And we'll install the new castle nut.
Now I'm going to just snug this up before I torque it. Alright, we're going to torque this nut. We're going to use a one and a quarter socket, and that's in this torque wrench. We sell this torque wrench at 1aauto.com. We're going to torque this to 74 foot-pounds. I still have the parking brake on. Once that's torqued, we want to make sure that our hole will line up for our cotter pin. It looks like it's lined up pretty good.
So we'll make sure that your castle nut lines up with the hole so the cotter pin can fit in there. If it doesn't, keep tightening it until it will line up, and then we're going to slide the cotter pin in this way. We're going to take this part with some side cutters and fold it out like this. Just going to take a hammer and tap down on this cotter pin, and I'll take my side cutters and this one. I'll just cut right there.
Now on this vehicle, I'm reinstalling the spacer. If you don't have a spacer, you wouldn't need to do this step. I'm going to torque these nuts to the specification for the wheels, which is about 85 foot-pounds. I'm going to torque these nuts to 85 foot-pounds. I'm going to do it in a star pattern, just like I'm torquing down a wheel. That'll tighten it's spacer down evenly.
We're going to install the tire. Take the lug nuts and use the socket to help guide the lug nuts on. And last, I'll put the wheel lock key on. Or I'll put the wheel lock on with the key. You can use a 21mm socket with the extension because the way this configuration of the wheel is. These lug nuts are in pretty deep. So we don't want to mess up the wheel. And we'll use a torque wrench. We're going to set this to 80 foot-pounds. We're going to torque it in a star pattern so that the wheel gets tightened down evenly.
Then on this one, we're going to have to use the key/the wheel lock. As you can see, we did both sides. Exact same procedure. We replaced the castle nut and greased the axle, and we are not getting that clicking sound anymore.
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