So today I'm going to remove my front axel bolts and re-tighten them. I want to remove this clonking/shaking/tapping that's developed in the steering and when breaking/accelerating.

My question is, do I grease the bolts?

It's just that since I fitted the new shocks and greased the bolts, theyre always working loose.

So, to grease, or not to grease?

Clean all the rust off as there will be lots. If they are waisted in the middle [very common] fit new ones. A bit of copperslip never goes amiss and as these have lock tabs on them it shouldn't be a problem. Don't be tempted to do all four at once as its a pain to line the axle back up from underneath.

Wow - I love this site

Cheers for that. What kind of bolts are they?

They are these

http://www.ecas2cvparts.co.uk/axle-tube ... p-410.html

They are high tensile so don't be tempted to fit ordinary steel bolts as you might find yourself sitting on the floor when they snap.

Axle bolts shouldn't work lose if the lock washer is fitted?
http://www.ecas2cvparts.co.uk/lock-wash ... p-192.html

Copper slip is always worth applying.

cheers chaps. Just got the first one out, no struggle. It's not waisted either. The lock washer is in place. I don't have any copper slip to hand, can I use normal grease? (duckhams)

Buy some. Buy a tub, not the tube - it's MUCH cheaper that way. Use a little dab on ANY AND EVERY nut, bolt, screw you ever fit - unless there's a very good reason not to, such as loctite needed on the flywheel bolts.

sam,
any grease will do the job of lubricating and protecting the axle bolt threads.

Don't forget to coat the entire length of the bolts with grease to protect them, as water can get into the anti-crush tubes on some chassis designs and the bolts will rust...

ken.

ahh you got round to it sam, what happend to mechanical monday then ?!

i need to do mine at some point,

axle bolts are often "butted" ie the areas of maximum strain are thicker so they are thicker at the heads and at the start of the thread

this is normal and has nothing to do with the bolts "necking" or straining and so should not be regarded as scrap.

deeply pitted with rust would be of much more concern and those should be replaced

take it easy with the torque as the new, or newly greased thread can be overtightened
its a common mistake to try to put a bolt back with the same ammount of strain and effort that was used to loosen it, these only need 36ftlb 5kgfm and as they are greased that will be slightly more than factory setting, over tighten and they do snap and are a bit of a pain to get out

Sean
ps its also a good idea to make a special socket for them, a 17mm single hex impact socket, grind or file down the start of it. most sockets have a radiussed area to allow it to locate on a bolt or nut easier, as the axle tube bolts have a shallow head this means often less than a mm of contact on the corners and it can slip off with nuckle skinning potential