Tightening up 4x4 wheel bearings...

[The Warden]

:***:

Okay, quick recap. I had a problem in the past with the front wheel bearings on my truck (Dana 50 front axle). A tire shop found that the bearings were loose, and repacked them. A friend of mine checked the wheel bearings a couple of weeks later to find them still loose! With my assistance (I wasn't doing the actual work since we were in his shop at school and I technically wasn't supposed to be there), he re-adjusted the bearings following the Ford factory specs, and they still came out loose! He then left them torqued.

At this point, I figured that the bearings were shot, and elected to replace them when time allowed. Well, that time is now. I've got new bearings, new races, and heaven knows what else...and I went to get one hub secured. The Ford shop manual says this:

Tighten inner locknut to 50 ft-lbs to seat bearing.

Back off inner locknut and retightento 31-39 ft-lbs.

While rotating hub, back off locknut 135° to 150°.

Assemble lockwasher and outer locknut and tighten to 65 ft-lbs.

With brand-new bearings, and following those instructions, I'm still feeling play in the hub. Now, with the lockwasher in place, I'm assuming that putting the outer locknut on won't affect the pressure that the inner locknut's putting on the bearing, so I'm at a loss at this point.

Did Ford mess up the instructions? Or what am I doing wrong? I imagine that, since I can feel the play, it's out of specs...

I'm wondering if I'm supposed to reach in and tighten up the inner locknut by hand after backing it off...

Any thoughts? Thanks!

 

[rancherman84]

tighten inside nut to seat the bearing,then backoff and retighten the inner nut just enough to take the slop out of the bearing,remember the bearings will expand when they get warm,then install the lockwasher,at this point you may have to tighten or loosen the inner nut to get the washer to set on the pin,then tourque the outer nut to spec.

 

[Pacific]

When ever I do wheelbearings I always tighten the adjusting nut up till the wheel doesn't turn then back it off 1/4 of a turn to half. The bearings should have some preload but not so much that they will burn up. The outer nut usually should be tightened really tight so the two nuts jam against each other which prevents them from backing off. Are you sure you are feeling wheelbearing play or ball joint play ?

 

[Fred Hemer]

The 1/4 turn thing that Mike mentions is a shot in the dark thing it But ussually works .
the ranchers method works ok as well!I use a combination of the two methods!The ranchers method is your safest bet!The outer nut Does affect the preload minimally not enough to worry about.So just to confuse you some more!Crank it up tight as you can give it a spin or two to seat it back it off a 1/4 turn then back it off till its loose then tighten till the slop is gone and go 1/4 to half of the distance between lose and to tight!(Usually ends up beeing where you backed off a 1/4 turn to in the first place but this double checks it ) Just right. Not the right way ,not the wrong way,My way.

 

[Pacific]

Its also a thing you have to feel to get it right if it feels too tight back it off if it feels too loose then tighten it up. What ever you do make sure the lock washer tang is in good shape if its not both nuts loosen up then all what holds the wheel on is the brake caliper

The use of good wheelbearing grease and change the seal in the back of the hub is a must. When you have the bearings out wash them out with varsol and let them dry on their own or use paper towel. Inspect them for pits and burn marks etc. Repacking the bearings is messy but needed I do mine by hand with a big *** of grease in the palm and work it in through the rollers etc.

The torque spec's that Ford gives for the adjusting nut and locking nut is ball park it probably works when you have brandnew bearings and races for used bearings you need to do it by feel.

Its a good learning experience atleast the parts are light and easy to work with. Doing wheelbearings on gravel trucks and dealing with 22.5 and 24.5 tires you don't remove the tires you remove the tires,hub and brake drum all in one with a wheel dolly. I had to lay down a front wheel assembly to punch out a leaking seal and replace it with a new one. It was a super single 445/65-22.5 man what a ****** of a time trying to stand that sucker back up.

I used to have to use a greasy piece of sheet metal for removing wheel assemblys the last shop I worked at bought a wheel dolly man that is one very very usefull tool.

 

[The Warden]

The use of good wheelbearing grease and change the seal in the back of the hub is a must. When you have the bearings out wash them out with varsol and let them dry on their own or use paper towel. Inspect them for pits and burn marks etc. Repacking the bearings is messy but needed I do mine by hand with a big *** of grease in the palm and work it in through the rollers etc.

The torque spec's that Ford gives for the adjusting nut and locking nut is ball park it probably works when you have brandnew bearings and races for used bearings you need to do it by feel.

I've got new bearings, new races, and heaven knows what else...

I guess you missed that part the first time around. I also have a bearing packer that I bought when I was doing the Benz's bearings (after learning the hard way that I can't hand-pack bearings for squat), and I'm using Amsoil grease. The bearing packer's almost too small for the inner bearing, though...although it seemed to get grease where it needed to go. I don't think it's possible to remove the inner bearing from the hub without removing the seal, and it's impossible to remove the seal without destroying it. I have new seals for the hub as well as for the spindle (I pulled the spindles and changed out the needle bearings that the front axleshafts ride on as well). BTW, I used carb cleaner, then a last go-over with brake parts cleaner to get grease off everything that got reused...seemed to work nicely.

I actually normally do wheel bearings as rancherman advised; I just thought that Ford was specifying this procedure for some special reason. I wound up torquing the nut to 50, then backing off and going to 39, then backing off and snugging it up with my fingers...I think it'll do. The wheel spins freely and I can't move the hub in and out anymore (always a good thing). I guess the real test is to get her on the road and see how hot the front hubs get. It'll be better than when my friend did them, that's for sure...he left the nuts torqued at 39 ft-lbs I'm surprised the bearings came out in one piece...although they actually looked halfway decent, albeit loose...

Actually, a related question...there's a C-clip on the very end of the axleshaft, that I think is meant to help hold the axleshaft in place in relation to the hub lock (or to help the outer retainer ring hold the hub lock in). How critical is this C-clip? I ask because the one on the passenger's side was missing when I took everything apart...and I imagine I'll have to figure out where I can buy a replacement...

Thanks!

 

[Agnem]

I would certainly replace the missing C clip. I always use the Ford specs and have no problems. One question would be if you had your torque wrench calibrated. This needs to be done annually to have one that's worth a darn. I send mine to http://teamtorque.com

 

[The Warden]

Mel, I actually checked on calibrating this torque wrench last year...and TeamTorque apparently doesn't have the ability to do mine. I'm guessing that mine's a cheap-o That said, it's fairly new, rarely used, and I always reset it to the lowest setting when I store it, so I'm hoping that any falling out of calibration's minimized.

Jon, I see your point...unfortuantely, it still wasn't enough to get the hub tight enough to keep it from moving in and out (definitely the hub, BTW; the steering knuckle didn't move). I think that snugging it up by hand's going to be my best bet...it's still looser than they were before, and the old bearings were in surprisingly good shape after 6 months of running like that...

I'm going to drive the truck around and try to not use the service brakes any, to see how warm the hubs get without bleed-off heat from the brakes...we'll see how that goes

Thank you all again!

 

[93turbo_animal]

according to warn directions tighten inner nut to 50ft.lbs. back off 90 degs. install lock ring tighten nut to make the lock ring line up install outer lock ring tighten to 160-200 ft.lbs works great for me