Driveshaft/hub bolt torque setting

[Pogo]

Hello
I’ve just spent an age looking online for the torque setting for the driveshaft/hub bolt on 6c 1.0 Polo and can’t find an answer anywhere, it is the 36mm 12 point headed bolt with two tags to stop it coming loose, would anyone know the torque setting please ?

Many thanks in advance

[2226]

Would think it would be same as what I have listed for other 6C:

Front axle nut: 12pt self locking nut, 50NM + 45 degrees
Rear axle nut: 12pt self locking nut, 70Nm + 30 degrees

[Pogo]

Hi
Thanks for your reply, I keep referring to it as a bolt but of course it is a nut, just shaped like a bolt
50nm plus 45 degree does seem to come up on some searches, anybody else confirm ?

[Pogo]

And sorry for another question
Is it torqued with wheel on sitting on the ground or unloaded on axle stand ?

Thanks

[2226]

Unloaded. That torque setting is a bit low for on the ground tightening.
I don't see specific mention of it needing to be done on the ground. Usually a fat torque figure is an indication it needs to be on the ground.

[RUM4MO]

I'd tighten it as much as possible below that torque figure unloaded, then drop it down on the ground to complete tightening it up, the reason for initially tightening it unloaded is to avoid damaging the hub bearing by lowering the car onto the ground when this bolt is really slack - that is, I think, the official VW Group reasoning behind doing it this way.

Again I can confirm 50Nm + 45deg.

[amer6R]

If its rear bearing, if you are replacing the cover cap, you can add a smudge of rtv around it. really thin to help it seal.

[2226]

I'd tighten it as much as possible below that torque figure unloaded, then drop it down on the ground to complete tightening it up, the reason for initially tightening it unloaded is to avoid damaging the hub bearing by lowering the car onto the ground when this bolt is really slack - that is, I think, the official VW Group reasoning behind doing it this way.

Again I can confirm 50Nm + 45deg.

Just watched someone do it to 175Nm on the ground. Tightened enough first to pull the bearing tight.
Then someone else did it 50Nm + 45 degrees.
Going to get the same result.
On the ground is what I'm used to. It's much easier as you're not fighting the hub trying to turn.

[Pogo]

Many thanks for your replies

I did it to 50nm + 45 degrees (unloaded) the initial 50nm feels like it’s not enough but the subsequent 45 degrees gets it nice and tight, will put some miles on it and give it a check.

Many thanks

[ciclo]

According to erWin the 12-point nut must be tightened to the indicated torque (50Nm + 45º, front axle nut -Polo 6R/6C-) without load/weight to avoid damaging the bearing.

If you step on the brake pedal - second mechanic or a tool/device/artifact -, you can give the appropriate torque without problems. It is not necessary to depress the brake pedal very hard as long as the brake system is in normal/good operating condition.

Here I show you how it is possible to give a torque of 200Nm + 180º!!! to the front axle bolt on a Golf without any problem using the device/artifact/second mechanic.
viewtopic.php?p=603218#p603218

[RUM4MO]

I'd tighten it as much as possible below that torque figure unloaded, then drop it down on the ground to complete tightening it up, the reason for initially tightening it unloaded is to avoid damaging the hub bearing by lowering the car onto the ground when this bolt is really slack - that is, I think, the official VW Group reasoning behind doing it this way.

Again I can confirm 50Nm + 45deg.

Just watched someone do it to 175Nm on the ground. Tightened enough first to pull the bearing tight.
Then someone else did it 50Nm + 45 degrees.
Going to get the same result.
On the ground is what I'm used to. It's much easier as you're not fighting the hub trying to turn.

This can be the problem, I discovered, if using maybe the SEAT official specs as compared with the VW official spec, I had that "issue" when check the "correct" torque for maybe the front lower arm swivel joint, the quoted SEAT high torque scared me a bit seeing as a few years earlier, I had replaced a front road spring on a 2002 9N Polo, which was basically the same parts as the 2009 Ibiza I was now working on, as you said, probably the same end result, although VW Group, and maybe others, now prefer to recommend the "tighten + angle" as that is said to give more consistent results.

Edit:- the wheel bearings get forced/drawn in using a puller, so I'm not sure just how much damage you could possibly do to the fully installed bearing pack by having the car resting on its wheels while having the drive shaft retaining nut off or slack, I thing that this advice probably relates to when VW Group like other car makers, used "GEN 1" bearings in their hubs, ie 2 separate (tapered) ball bearing assemblies that were only kept correctly assembled when the hub nut was fully tightened - and also more for rear wheel drive cars. I feel that we, or at least I feel that now and again, we/I come across what is just really "legacy" ways of doing things and not properly thought through for the specific design of car that the workshop manual relates to.

[ciclo]

From what I can understand from erWin (current for Golf) is that the tightening must be done without the weight of the vehicle to ensure that the bearing is not damaged due to the vehicle, accidentally or not, moving without the nut/bolt tightened.

In erWin it indicates some special tools - VAS - in case the vehicle has to be moved without the axle bolts/nuts/axle. It also indicates that the axle bolt can only be loosened by 90º with the wheels resting on the ground, that is, with load/weight.

[2226]

I tend to use the PDF documents for this info. ErWin has much more detail?

[ciclo]

I use the erWin PDFs, I assume that with the updates to the new parts/components during the useful life of a model the procedures are expanded to avoid possible failures in the work to be done.
Also I believe that for a Golf 2013-2020 the procedures are somewhat more detailed than for the Polo 2010-2018... according to what I have seen in my PDFs.

[RUM4MO]

When you apply some practical logic to this, that nut is only there to fix the drive shaft tightly to the drive splines in the hub, there is slight float in the shaft to allow for the suspension articulating as the spring is loaded or unloaded, is there is not much support if any being offered to the front hub bearing from the drive shaft and/or its retaining nut being fully tightened. The GEN2 bearing is fixed into the drive hub, the hub assembly is fixing into the hub carrier by means of the retainers on the inner "end" of the hub bearing, if either of these two bearing to drive hub or bearing to hub carrier fails, the drive shaft is not going to help avoid that, it will just either pull the drive part out of the differential or split the drive shaft at the constant velocity joint, I'd think.