Wheel Bearings again, any suggestions?

[SwaintaN]

Tried to have a front end alignment done a while back, said had bad bearings. So we redid the front wheel bearings and seals. Got the alignment and then my 31s. Since then I have had to repack the bearings at least once a month, until Feb.... This will make the 2nd time this month they will need re tightened/repacked.

What could be causing them to come loose so much?!

Alignment done by Pepboys on 11-08-08; notes said needed bigger camber/caster; looks like biggest already installed.

 

[SwaintaN]

no wheeling for me, winter drivings, no lift. thought i would throw that in there. trying to get it solved before i do the lift.

i read the tbars thread where he had same problem Wheel Bearing Issue

 

[Maniak]

Ours were coming loose a bit so I started to tighten the up a little more (not much).. I do it by "feel" now and they seem to hold with the 33" tires (with 4 miles of dirt road every day its driven)..

The "feel" I use is I spin the rotor while tightening the inner nut by hand.. then I use a hammer/drift and turn it another 1/4 turn. Now its really tight.. I back it off then tighten it by hand again while spinning the rotor I tighten the nut as tight as I can by hand. I then put the holed washer/outter nut on and crank it way down (100 lbs or so).. You can feel a load/resistance on the rotor when I turn it after installing but it seems to loosen up some pretty quickly.. Thats not factory specs, but thats what works for us.... YMMV.

Also, If you have really old/worn rotors that can help make the bearings come loose.

~Mark

 

[SwaintaN]

im pretty sure they are the rotors from 16 years ago, as im noticing with the rest of the rides parts that everything is original

 

[HahnsB2]

Do you have manual hubs? If so, that outter nut needs to be around 200Ft-lbs, never had a problem after doing that.

 

[SwaintaN]

stock auto hubs, im hoping to replace the rotors here in a week or so with tax money (especially since im doing rear brakes this weekend) if new rotors dont fix the problem what should i look at? ball joints aint blown or worn, a new set of ball joints are 50.00 can throw em on during the lift kit.
*hints why im trying to get this figured out, lift kit and 33s coming very soon.

 

[Maniak]

Ball joints etc won't cause the bearings to get loose..

The issue really is that the dana 35 bearings are just too darn close together..

Bad/mismatched bearings (as compared to the races), bad rotors (allow the races to spin/move) or just not getting things tight are what cause the bearings to get loose.

manual hubs are easier to get tight enough..

~Mark

 

[mikeinri]

Maniak, your instructions were for manual hubs, right? I don't recall ever seeing an inner and outer nut on my autohubs.

I don't do anything fancy. I typically replace the rotors and bearings whenever I do a brake job (somewhat overkill, but saves time from having to do it off-cycle).

Make sure you use the right socket, tighten the bleep out of it with a breaker bar, loosen a bit so the rotor turns, then snug it up and line up the key.

I know, not very scientific, and there are torque specs out there, but this works for me with autohubs.

Mike

 

[Maniak]

Oh shoot.. your right.. I've had manual hubs for so long It didn't occur to me that he may have auto hubs (which he does) when I wrote my instructions..


~Mark

 

[SwaintaN]

hey its ok, trust me alota time i just start saying something for getting that some of my things... alot of my things... arent the same as everyone else

mik... what size socket, do you know and are you talking about the spring loaded nut?

 

[RangerX]

Are you missing the little key that holds things tight in the autohub setup?
If those were missing, everything would loosen up fast...

 

[Maniak]

speaking of the little key.. If you forget its there and just spin off the nut the nut will break/crack and not stay on anymore.. (don't ask how I know).

~Mark

 

[Tbars4]

...For all your hub pictures, you can find them here...
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=232754

 

[mikeinri]

The socket is something like 2 3/8 inches. The best tool is actually specifically for the purpose, it has thinner walls (I bought a normal socket from Sears, it doesn't quite fit into the space available in the rotor to engage the nut properly). NAPA, etc. carries these. You do NOT want the model with the tabs sticking out of it (I believe those are for manual hubs).

Anyway, what we are talking about is NOT the spring cam assembly, that only serves to engage the 4x4 hubs. Take that off (it just pops on/off, doesn't screw on), and you will see the nut that screws onto the spindle. As mentioned, it should have a key (you need a magnet or pick to remove it), which locks it in place. I'd be surprised if the rotor (and tire) didn't fall off if your key was actually missing.

Do a search here, there is a really excellent pictorial on how to service these wheel bearings. You may need to search for brake job, etc. to find it.

Hope this helps.

Mike

 

[Maniak]

Since I screwed up before and gave wrong instructions.. I figured I'd post some correct ones..

here is a review/how to type thing I wrote a long time ago (when we still had auto hubs) on replacing brake rotors.. which of course means you do the bearings

I did notice a typo in it though.. the socket for the factory auto hubs is 2 3/8" the web page does say 2 1/8" in at least one place..

http://www.objectexpected.com/explorer/art/art1.htm

btw.. the rotors in that review/install are still on the truck.. There are about 200k miles on them. We are going to change them for the first time soon (changed the bearings out many times over the years.. never the rotors). Heck, they have never been turned either..

~Mark

 

[Tbars4]

...and for the sockets, this is from the link posted in post #13
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1957153&postcount=2

 

[SwaintaN]

yeah the key is still there, we have a pic for that to get it out. we got it as tight as we could with a pipe wrench, backed off a lil bit so the rotor would turn then tightened again, rotor still turned.... that is what we did.... im gonna have my dude rip it all off this weekend and check it all, and do rotors in about 2 weeks, ill swing over by adv. and grab that socket.

manik, gloves? shesh, thats what soap is for, lol.

tbars, yeah i started going through your post again lol found the socket as soon as you did that :

 

[Maniak]

Yup.. gloves.. I learned a long time ago that work goes much faster when things do not slip out of my hand...

When working with bearing grease wiping my hand off with a rag when I'm wearing gloves actually gets all of the grease off (no more slimy hands)..

I can also change the gloves in less time than it takes to wipe off my hands then wash them which is very handy if I have to go from working on something greasy to something inside the car.

~Mark

 

[SwaintaN]

lol i know i should wear them when working in those areas, wifey gets mad at the hand print on the door knob

 

[mikeinri]

BTW, Am I the only one who has never seen the plastic thrust washers actually in the truck?

Ah, yes, gloves. I finally smartened up about that a few years ago. I always wear cheap vinyl gloves under work gloves. We all know that dealing with small parts with thick gloves on doesn't work. I buy boxes of the cheapest ones I can find, usually have to replace them a few times over the course of a brake job.

Mike