Octavia 4x4 51 plate 86,500 miles

Rear offside rear wheel bearing and hub replaced by dealer early Jan 2008. Distance covered since then - 1645 miles. As an aside - to many wheel bearings have had to be replaced on this car by the same Skoda dealer

Very recently handling on slow corners quirky on occasion. Intermittent grinding noise also recently heard exiting car park then disappeared on straight and above 20 mph

Jacked up car and found offside rear wheel wobbled approx plus/minus 1/4 inch. Drive shaft also wobbled in sympathy.

Checked torque setting on drive shaft retaining nut which is supposed to be self locking (?). There was no torque measured and assume this nut was unwinding all by its self

Tightened drive shaft retaining nut to approx 100 lb ft temporarily to return car to dealer for corrective warranty work and an in depth review of workshop safety checks as the main driver is my wife who is not mechanically aware.

Question - what isthe correct torque setting for an Octavia 4x4 rear wheel drive shaft retaining nut and, is there a mult stage tightening sequence similar to the Haynes manual for Golf front drive shaft retaining nuts

The 12 point nut is not re-usable. Tightening procedure as follows:

The wheel must not be touching the ground, the handbrake or footbrake are applied.

Tighten to 250nm and then back off half a turn, rotate the wheel hub at least 90 degrees, and finally tighten to 50nm follwed by 60 degrees.

It is stated that the service life of the bearing will be adversely affected if it is tightened with the cars weight on the wheel.

fordfan

Thank you for this information.

I wonder if the service life of the replacement wheel bearing has already been compromised by driving 1645 miles on an incorrectly tightened retaining nut. Also, I wonder what effect this has had on the internal dimensions in the Suspenison arm/wheel hub which cost £240 excluding VAT. Total bill was £632.00 incl VAT labour and parts.

You have provided me with some excellent material to review with the Skoda Main Dealer.

Best Regards

Happy ending ?

Dealer admitted wheel retaining nut could not have been tightened properly and the mechanic responsible was dismissed several months ago as unsatisfactory. Replacement bearing and new hub suspension arm of 1650 miles ago confirmed by delaer as fit for purpose as is the existing drive shaft and CV joints. Only time will tell.

I have the loose retaining nut as a memento.