First time front hub replacement and pic of damaged threads with advice needed.

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malibulr4

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I had noise coming from the front passanger wheel area and it sounded typical of a wheel bearing got out. Not too bad when driving straight but louder on left or right turns. I could not find play in the tire when I jacked it up, but could not think of any other reason the noise was there. Also checked the passenger side for play and found none. Truck has 170,000 miles so I figured this had to be it. Rotors are brand new also.
When I removed the nut with an impact wrench, the friction caused the wd4 to heat up and smoke. Very powerful impact gun had trouble getting the nut off. When I got it off I could see damaged threads.A small pile of metal shaving formed below the threads. Pic attached. New hub went on fine and I torqued it down to 150 pounds which I now realize is less than what it should be. Im not sure when the damaged occurred, but could this damage thread area cause the sound to be like a bad wheel bearing? The threads on the nut were clean and I had threaded it for the first few turns before tightening
I know I now need to replace the front axel assembly so I'm not going to torque down the nut even more knowing I need to take it off soon. Just trying to figure out what else to look for. CV is good too.
 

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ktm525

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Did you spray penetrating oil the day before you loosened the nut? Always good practice on these rigs.
 

Michael Gain

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Some suspension nuts cut the thread as they are tightened. This prevents them from loosening. I've never seen one used on an axle, but it's possible.

Was the axle loose inside the wheel bearing. I.e. did the wheel bearing slide out fairly easily? This could indicate that you had slack between the axle nut and the wheel bearing. This slop would translate when the vehicle was turning, or over uneven terrain.

Just spit balling with you on root cause. Regardless, as you stated, you need s new axle. AutoZone axles are pretty good and have a lifetime warranty. They even warranty breakage--if you're a little aggressive while out and about. They were not in stock when I was looking but shipping was quick.
 

f1racer328

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I've replaced a hub on my Disco and didn't have any issues with the threads eating themselves.

Maybe you could run a die around them, but they're probably expensive at that size and might be too far gone.
 

avslash

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Agree that new axle is definitely necessary.

Did you tap out the staking on the nut before removing the bolt? I'm guessing mistakenly overlooking that could ***** the threads depending on how heavily staked it was from the factory.
 

malibulr4

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Agree that new axle is definitely necessary.

Did you tap out the staking on the nut before removing the bolt? I'm guessing mistakenly overlooking that could ***** the threads depending on how heavily staked it was from the factory.
I took out the indent. The damage is further in. Almost as if the nut wasn't tightened down enough and the slop wore the thread off. But I did see metal shavings dropping as I was back the nut off.
 

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