"Tink" noise, What torque spec do you use for rear axle nut?
 

Hey all,


I had the "tink" noise on drivetrain loading and unloading. Sounds like it comes form the rear axle area. Took it to the dealer, they ended up saying it was "normal based on similar vehicle."


I searched here on the forum and some said it was solved by re-torqueing the axle nuts. So I jacked up the rear end and swapped sides of both axle nuts. The OEM torque spec is 143 ft-lbs, which seemed kind of low to me, I torqued to 150 ft-lbs. Lowered the car and the noise was gone!


So now about 1000 miles later I am starting to get the same "tink" noise again. This time I will have to buy a new axle nut, but curious as to what torque spec you guys are using for the nut.

The spec called for in the FSM

I had the issue with my car, so I took off the nut and cleaned everything up and torqued it to 143 ftlbs and it didn't go away. I took it into the dealer and after they spent all morning on it, they finally just put a new nut on and I haven't heard the noise for the last 12k miles.
The service manager is an STI guy and he said the nuts Subaru uses are just way too soft, so once you start making power -or abusing the car, they'll bend and make noise.
My suggestion is to take it in to the dealer, tell them it's the nut, it's a known issue and it is covered under the power-train warranty.

Thanks for the reply. I will try a new nut. I want to avoid the dealer if possible.

I got the noise on both sides, one at a time.
The dealer replaced both nuts and the noise went away.

However they also replaced the full axles with CV joints.

I'm not going to complain that I got new axles if all I really needed was new nuts.
Try telling them it is a CV joint first and DONT tell them to just replace the nut.

Maybe you'll get new axles too.

I honestly believe that mine were the CVs going and the dealer agreed.

Wow, you guys have really nice/considerate dealers! I have the same issue in my car. Took it to 2 dealers in my area: One said it was normal, the other took a look around the suspension and said they didn't find anything and to just keep an eye on it. I finally gave up and took matters into my own hands and replaced the nuts myself, which did not get rid of the ticking.

Fast forward 1 mo. and a 600 mi trip to socal, and the loud "tick" now sounds muted and I'm afraid its gotten worse AND the dealer won't hear it/believe me...

We don't have nice dealers, we just refuse to take no for an answer. I would never let e dealer tell me a suspension noise is normal. What is this a 1935 Ford? GTFO...

Fairfield Subaru is your answer. May be out of the way for you but may be worth your trip. I had issues with dealers in the bay area and went to Fairfield subaru to get a new transmission, new tail lights, and a new fuel pump.