69sroadster

Thanks to everyone's inputs. The craftsman impact gun did finally break the nut free. It was really really slow going at first and I had to look closely to see if it was really doing anything the first few trys. The other side of the car was SO much easier to break free with the same gun. The left side (easier one) was never taken apart before and the right side (pain in the @$$) had a wheel bearing replaced a long time ago. It makes me thing that someone over-torqued the nut when they reinstalled the assembly. I also noticed the ZX book mentions not to reuse the bearings and nut. Is it a one time stretch nut? The whole point of this tear down was to repair a wheel wobble thinking the axle stub was starting to shear due to SCCA racing with the SR20 and 17x9" rims. The axle stub looks fine after removal and the bearings are all tight. I couldn't figure it out but now after putting it all back together again I noticed that if the axle stub appears to be seated all the way in, then it feels like the bearings aren't lining up on the axle giving me the free play. When I back the axle stub away about 1/8" then it feels like the bearings seat on the axle and I get no wobble. What would cause the bearings not to line up on the axle stub properly? I've got a good distance piece in there, bearings appear to be seated completely in the hub making contact with the distance piece, and a good outer spacer. Is it possible for the bearings to appear to be seated when they're not? Is the distance piece too long maybe? I'm at a loss why this would happen suddenly one day when it's been fine for so long.

BTW did I mention that I'm happier than a bunny in heat that the silly nut finally came off. Thanks guys.

JohnC I don't doubt that one bit. It sounded inflated to me, but I decided to run the line pressure up about 20 psi higher and just let it go longer than the recommended 5 sec max. It seemed like it was making some really slow progress so I let it run for about 30 sec at a time. Bottom line is that it finally did get the darn thing off. Now the interesting thing is that the axle stub doesn't appear to be bent, sheared, broken etc like I thought it was. The symptom was wheel wobble to begin with which you could see watching the axle stub turn. I now suspect that the outer wheel bearing or distance piece is suspect. Before I disassembled the bearings felt tight. I disassembled it and after finding no apparent faults in the axle stub itself installed it all back together w/o torquing the nut back on. Now it looks like it's rolling true but the bearing feel like they have play up/down, fwd/aft. Do I need to torque the nut back down to check the bearings again? This is getting a little interesting now.

Yeah I agree with not pushing up anymore against the suspension compression and will try the pull down method instead. BTW I already tried what was supposed to be a Craftsman Professional 1/2" drive impact gun rated at 750ft/lb & 90 psi...it didn't do anything. I'll check into the staked nut too but I don't think it is.

Challenger no worries that made me laugh a bit at the end. I did try something pretty aggressive and I'm surprised it didn't work. I left the car on the ground, chocked the tire, set the e-brake, and had my wife stand on the brake pedal. Then I put the 1/2 drive 18" long breaker bar on the nut and started jacking up the end of the breaker bar with a floor jack. The bar was bending and slowly the spring/shock started to compress and the car slowly lifted up a little in the end too, followed by slight rotation of the tire. My next step is to put a 4' long pipe over the breaker bar and another long bar between the lug studs. If that doesn't work then I have a concrete lug bolt and chain in my garage floor that I'll use to try pulling the bar down vs pushing it up to keep weight/traction on that tire from turning. I can only imagine how much this is putting on that stinkin' nut so far.

I've been soaking it with WD40 and will reattempt again later on the nut. Since I'm swapping the 280zxt cv axles into an N/A 280zx, do I also need flanges for both sides of the cv axle? I have the outside flanges for the stub axle to cv. I don't have a turbo service manual and believe me or not I could not find a good picture of an installed turbo cv setup that shows the inner side into the diff. I think I may have had a wrong idea in my head for some reason that because my N/A setup has a separate input shaft into the diff that the 280zxt did too. It looks like to me that the 280zxt cv shaft just goes straight in to the diff without an intermediate flange like the N/A 280zx has. Anybody with a turbo 280zx out there can help straighten me out on this?

I was kinda hoping you'd say otherwise and I could go out there and get it free in just a few pulls...too bad I'm back to finding other creative ways to put more torque on that frikin lock nut. Time to get a very large pipe I guess and maybe find another way to keep the stub axle from moving any more. Thanks though.

Hey all...the book doesn't say anything special about this crazy nut, but is it reverse threaded? I've got a slightly bent axle stub and I cannot get this crazy nut to break loose to save my life. I've bought a crazy 700+ ft lb 1/2 drive torque gun and that couldn't budge it. I've used a breaker bar with a hydraulic jack under it while having my wife step on the brakes and it just kept lifting the tire higher off the ground and still seemed to override the brake a bit. I'm running out of ideas. Is this out of the ordinary for these retaining nuts? What else can I do to get it free?

Nobody has any ZXT inner companion flanges? Does anybody have any leads on some?

autospot, if they're ready to drop in I'm interested to buy. PM me payment details for Paypal or other method.

PM Sent thanks for the quick reply. Anyone else have the flanges for the ZXT?

Hi Z fellow Z enthusiasts, I just found out yesterday that my right rear stub axle on my 79 2+2 280ZX is bent. I'm still working to get the huge nut on the back of it broken loose, but in the meantime thought I'd put out the post looking to do a 280zxt cv axle conversion. I guess I need both the inner and outer companion flanges, the cv axles, and the axle stubs for both sides. Shoot me a reply, PM or email at ttopsecret@rocketmail.com I also have paypal to pay if desired. Shipping is to 72023 Cabot, AR. Thanks everyone I hope to be back on the road sooner than later. Also anyone else have this happen when pushing 240 rwhp/265 ftlb when autocrossing or is it still abnormal?

After searching and then reading through other posts about the "older" generation of Z's...I could not find good advice about how to improve the differential mount for a 1979 280zx. I just had my internals replaced with a KAAZ LSD Super Q (coated clutch plates) and the tech told me that the stock rear diff mount was separating. I can get a stock new one from Motorsport Z, but how long will it last again when I do SCCA solo and is there anything that I can do to make it a stronger mount overall? Am I wrong that most of the urethane mounts are for the 240Z? The Z makes about 240 hp at the wheels and 260 lb torque. All of the suspension has been rebuilt and used urethane and I was told that the drivetrain is in great shape. I have no clunks and no crazy vibrations so I'm not complaining, just looking to see if I can do any better than just another rubber mount. Thanks in advance and for all of the other shared experiences so far. I love my Z all over again and can't wait to see some others running at an SCCA course near me (AR).

John I truly can't remember so I'm going to have to pull the top of the strut out again to confirm I guess and check out the bearing too while I'm at it. If the threads didn't bottom out on the insert then I guess I'll have to put some kind of spacer in between the top of the strut and the bottom of the gland nut.

I replaced the front struts and springs on my 280zx with tokico HPs about 2 months ago. The front strut bearings checked out okay then but now I notice a clunk from time to time going over bumps and it seems there might be a little play in the top of the strut when I muscle the strut by hand. From what I can see with the car on the ground the only play I could think of would be the bearing...any thoughts? I'm now thinking I may have an excuse to get some camber plates but want to make sure I'm not missing something else and still have a problem.

Are the Techno Toy Tuning 280ZX camber plates bolt-in or weld-in and would I also have to use the coil over kit? How does anybody like these that have them on their car?

Domenic, do you mean switching to a P/S rack and unit? Besides all of the ZX options what are my options?

Thanks, I just found one in the local area. I was also just going to look up if they were interchangeable so thanks also Borini. Sam

I need a new lower speedometer cable for my 79 280zx with 5 speed. Anyone have one laying around they're willing to part with?

Thanks, I don't know why I couldn't find that before on any of the usual sites. Guess it was the wrong part description I was searching.

Are the manual steering racks rebuildable?

My RHD ZX seems to have a bit of slop in the steering rack inboard of the inner tie rods. When I'm driving about 50 mph I get a steering wheel shake that lessens around 75 mph and then comes back again as you go faster. Within that range the shaking almost disappears when in a turn. The wheel bearings were replaced and check good the remainder of the front suspension checks good. I noticed that I can get a rebuilt rack (manual steering) for $380 online but it's for a LHD. Would I be able to flip this one or mod it to work in mine? Any thoughts about what inside the steering gear box would be at fault? Am I going in the wrong direction in the first place? I have noticed the slop first hand under the car when applying force to the front and back of the tires and it looks to be inside the steering gear box.

Where do I get a replacement oil temperature sending unit for the L28? It seems like this wasn't used much (if at all) on the USDM 280ZX's and I'd like to replace the broken stock one I had on mine. I couldn't find a direct replacement online for the 280ZX, and it looked like they might be "universal" if I got a Bosch one for an older RX-7 or Porsche thought it might work in place. It just had one wire going to it I guess for a voltage/impedence signal to the gauge.

So I think that my inner tie rods might be a little loose. I can move the wheel toe in/out about 1/8" with my hands on the tire and watch the ball joint in there move a little. It feels like it's moving more than it looks. I was looking for the parts online and was wondering if I'd have any problems with LHD inner tie rods on my RHD 280ZX (manual steering). Has anybody here had any experience with the manual steering rack thoughts on the direction of the threads being an issue?

Thanks John