Clunking sound coming from left rear on IRS, MK4 -7500 miles

[GTBradley]

This is partly a reminder to others to check for loose jam nuts, but also a question for others if they’re seeing the same thing.

I have 7500 miles on my roadster now and after a recent 1100 mile trip through the San Juan mountains I noticed a slight clunking sound coming from the left rear suspension. On inspection I found the upper control arm jam nut was loose and the the threaded rod was somewhat loose within the threaded UCA. I’m wondering if I should replace that UCA because of the loosened threads, or is tightening the jam nut enough?

Last year I had found the right side jam nut loose after an alignment and made sure I used medium loctight on the threads, but when I checked it again yesterday I found that jam nut again was loose.

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[Railroad]

Try putting the loctite between the contact surfaces of the 2 nuts. Also, loctite has numerous applications of thread locking chemicals. Do a search and see if you see something that will serve you better.

[GTBradley]

Try putting the loctite between the contact surfaces of the 2 nuts. Also, loctite has numerous applications of thread locking chemicals. Do a search and see if you see something that will serve you better.
It’s actually the single jam nut. I hadn’t thought of putting the loctiite on the face of the nut. Good suggestion.

[q4stix]

Are you putting it as a witness line on the nut and down to the threads or on the threads themselves before tightening it all down?
It really needs to be applied to the thread contact surfaces to hold. You may already know that but I couldn't see any remnants or indications on the threads from the 'moved position' picture.

[rich grsc]

Those are large nuts and sleeves, I can't believe they could loosen if they where torqued properly, like until you farted.

[GTBradley]

Are you putting it as a witness line on the nut and down to the threads or on the threads themselves before tightening it all down?
It really needs to be applied to the thread contact surfaces to hold. You may already know that but I couldn't see any remnants or indications on the threads from the 'moved position' picture.
It is under the threads, maybe I didn’t use enough, or the threads were dirty the first time. The blue line is my torque witness line.

[GTBradley]

Rich, I assume by “torqued properly” you just mean tightened sufficiently? Or is there a way to torque using an open end wrench? I’m just using a BFW and putting as much pressure as I can on it in that confined, non flatulence, space.

Edit: Now that I mentioned it, I see they make the open-end torque wrenches. Does everyone have and use these? They don’t look cheap…

[JohnK]

You can just get a crows foot adapter to use with a regular torque wrench.

[rich grsc]

Rich, I assume by “torqued properly” you just mean tightened sufficiently? Or is there a way to torque using an open end wrench? I’m just using a BFW and putting as much pressure as I can on it in that confined, non flatulence, space.

Edit: Now that I mentioned it, I see they make the open-end torque wrenches. Does everyone have and use these? They don’t look cheap…
No you don't need a torque wrench, but you can really put a lot on them. All your weight on an open end wrench won't be too much.