Front Wheel Hub

[Ben]

Today I decided that I was finally going to break down and change the front rotors and brake pads in the '93 4x4 today. After going to the store, purchasing new rotors and brake pads I returned home to install them. After completing the drivers side, I put the wheel back on and shook the wheel to see if everything had seated correctly. Much to my disgust, I could shake the wheel and it felt loose, kind of like the hub nut wasn’t tight enough. I checked the factory service manual again, and I had torqued it to the right specifications, but it was still loose. I went over to the passenger side, which I had not swapped out yet, and shook it and it too moved a great deal too. At this point my friends and I became worried, so we did what any other good mechanic would do, we went around town, jacked up other explorers and shook their wheels. The fourth explorer we found it town was the first explorer that actually felt like it had good wheel bearings up front. I was just wondering if anyone else has had problems with their front wheel bearings/front hub? I hate to really torque down on the axle nut because I don't want the bearings to get really hot. Has anyone else had any problems with their front axle hubs being loose?

 

[MrShorty]

I don't have a problem with them being loose. It seems that some with bigger tires see the wheel bearings come loose easily, but they usually just have to readjust the wheel bearings to tighten up the hub assembly. Are you getting the bearings properly seated by torqueing the locknut to 35 ft lbs then backing off and tigtening to 16 in lbs? Another possibility is that you have bad ball joints or tie rod ends. Verify that the play you are feeling is really in the bearings and not in other components.
Good luck.