Axle nut torque affecting alignment?

[nicknorth11]

I just completed my awd swap and took my car to get an alignment. The shop called me to tell me they can't do the alignment without putting both new rear hubs on since mine are moving around too much. The thing is, I just put new, oem ones on there. They literally have 8 miles on them. The guy told me the problem could be that the axle nut could be improperly torqued. I just used my impact wrench to put them on, like I always do. Is that a problem? Is this guy full of shit? Any ideas what the actual problem could be?

 

[95blackGsTurbo]

Anything is always possible but if you just replaced them I would lift the rear of the vehicle and check for play in them. Grab the tire at the top and bottom of the tire and see if you can move it in and out. It is always possible you didn't get them all the way tight too but check for play first.

 

[nicknorth11]

Anything is always possible but if you just replaced them I would lift the rear of the vehicle and check for play in them. Grab the tire at the top and bottom of the tire and see if you can move it in and out. It is always possible you didn't get them all the way tight too but check for play first.

The car is still at the shop, so I can't test it. Doesn't it seem like they would've checked that? Can you think of anything else it could be? (The entire rear end of the car is new to this car, and me, so I may have messed up something else.)

 

[95blackGsTurbo]

I would go there and have them show you or pull the car and check yourself.

 

[knochgoon24]

The bolts holding the hub to the vehicle are tight?

And if they have a torque wrench, they can torque those bolts in just a few min. Less time than it would have taken to call you.
And with only 8 miles on them, they hubs wouldn't even be rusty. Sounds like someone is full of crap / confused.

 

[nicknorth11]

Yeah, they're still shiny as can be. I called them back to tell them the torque specs and that I still wasn't going to let them change any parts, and the guy seemed to have changed his tune. He now thought re-torquing them would solve the problem. WTF? I seriously hate mechanics, present company excluded. Shadiest people on the planet other than politicians!

 

[iceman510]

Did you ever roll the car around without the axle shafts in? This can cause damage to the wheel bearings possibly, although I am not 100% sure that is true with 2g AWD rear bearings.

 

[T is for TURBO]

Sounds to me like someone is trying to make a few bucks off of you

 

[nicknorth11]

Never moved before complete assembled.