Reply to "Axle Nut Socket"

The nut is deeply inset into the splined halfshaft end, causing difficulty with most pins or safety wires. When I experimentally converted a couple of uprights to tapered roller bearings in the '90s (which don't need the bearing spacer nor high torque on the axle nut), I drilled a small hole through the side of the splined adapter, tapped it and ran a long 10-32 allen bolt thru. The end of the little bolt is positioned to enter a notch in the stock nut and mechanically locks the assembly.

The allen bolt could be safety-wired, but in 15 years of test driving, I've not seen any movement of either the allen bolt or the axle nut, which is only torqued at 8 ft-lbs in this installation. Due to the close placement of my little bolt to the center of rotation, no imbalance has ever been detected, either. But for perfectionists, TWO such bolts 180 degrees opposed would solve this apparently theoretical problem.