Friggin' loose Wheel bearings

[Ford_Racing_Guy]

ok so back when i had to do all that front-end work on my explorer, when i tighten up the wheelnut i didn't have the special socket,(still don't have don't know where to get it) so i tightened them up with a pliers as tight as i could, i put the little key back in and put the hub back together and took it in for an alignment.


before they started the alignment they checked it over for worn parts to make sure the alignment could be done,

everything was fine


well i took it in earlier today to have the alignment checked just to make sure everything was within' specs,

and the guy told me that the wheel bearings were loose, i checked for myself and sure enough, how in the hell could they loosen up when that key is holdin' the nut in place!!

so i took it apart today and tightened them up, put it all back together and now its fine, there isn't any play in the wheel anymore up and down or side to side,

could it be that they should be torqued or something?

i was thinking about buying the actual socket so i could tighten them properly, but i was thinking about switching over to lock-outs sometime soon, so it would be pointless because the wheelnuts are different

has anyone else had this happen?

 

[gordhunt]

Your joking right... you tightened them up with PLIERS !!!! If you seriously think that's going to work then stop working on your own rig before you killsomeone. Just buy the damn socket and torque it properly.

 

[Opera House]

Doing it twice is an alternate method. Otherwise buy the socket. They both work.

 

[slag]

i do it with pliers also..

it works fine as long as you do it 2x like OH posted.

Joe

 

[Ford_Racing_Guy]

i used a channel-lock and they seemed to tighten up alot better the 2nd time around,

in the Haynes book they say that the nut should only be on hand tight!!!

 

[1991XLT]

I shall join the group of "I better stop before I kill someone" I use Channel Lock Pliers when tightening wheel bearings on auto hub sploders aswell. I guess it was 2 years ago now that I first worked on my 91 (replaced balljoints,u-joints,rotors and wheelbearings) and have checked them since and everything has seemed to check out fine. with that little lock in there there is No way that nut is going to loosen and cause the hub to fall off.

 

[Ford_Racing_Guy]

cool, you can be a member as well,

your right! there is not way that it will come off with that little key thing to keep it from turning