FIXED: Rear axle click clunk noise

SennaZ

Digging this up. I just did the job this past weekend as described by the OP. And it...WORKED!
Only thing is, OP said he used 2 washers, others said 3. I used...4. I used two new spring washers, the original, and went to Ace Harware and found a steel flat washer that was 98% perfect fit.

When greasing it, i knocked axle in just so that the tip of it was flush with the hub centric ring of the hub, so about maybe an inch in, laid some mobil 1 synthetic grease my buddy had in there with a mini brush and then the new nut pulled the axles back out.

i set torque wrench to 80 (factory) to see where'd that get me and the hole for cotter pin was about almost halfway to the next slot. I set torque wrench to a much higher number for curiosity to see if it would click by time i got to the next slot. It lined perfectly when it clicked at about 130 foot pounds. Funny how turning it a maybe a centimeter required a 50% increase in torque.

The old nut i got off with an impact gun and it put up less of a fight than my wheel nuts. Not on there very tight at all.

In fact, i'm certain the grease did next to nothing and the real issue was getting that axle nut to an acceptable torque rating.

My friend was dumbfounded when i told him factory rating was only 75 or 80 pounds as he said my 300zx was like 180 I'm pretty sure and his e46 m3 was over 200. So going up to 130 really shouldn't be an issue. Cotter pin fit very nicely in the castellated slot. My old adjusting cap wasn't destroyed, but it was widened at where the cotter pin was.

My car had the clicking bad. 140k miles. Every single pull away or lifting off accelerator in 4th gear and lower resulted in a click. Car drives smoother now, like it was actually causing extraneous lash besides just a sound.

Very appreciative of the OPs post for this idea as I'm certain it won't ever come back now with a well designed nut on there and torque spec that almost makes sense.