So I bought an 07 that I thought was pretty sound. Then my wheel bearings started going out. Now I'm here... Turns out they welded the axle nuts onto the hub on both rear assemblies. I'm just gonna cut the axles and but new ones. Only question I've got is where can I find good ones? There's an lkq over by me but I know pick n pulls are a bit iffy and I've already bought new hubs so might as well. Any suggestions? Rock Auto only has rear passenger side. Are they the same length/spec?
Bet, thanks bub. Here's some horrifying pictures. The first one's the rear pass side after about 3 consecutive hours of torch, chisel, PBlaster soak, chisel and spending about $400 on a 1/2" impact and socket set to no avail. The driver's side, I haven't even touched yet
Wow so the axle nuts were welded? Was that done by Mazda or some mechanic? Do you have to buy a whole new assembly to fix this? Sorry to see this.
It's hard to tell whether they were intentionally welded or just rusted into each other through friction over the years. I did buy it from a fairly shady place so I wouldn't be surprised either way. Carfax showed the car in Philly for a good couple years Ya I was leaning that way. There's an lkq a couple miles away that I might go check out