Replacing wheel bearings

[Pdwight]

I read you only tighten the bearings in hand tight

My manual says 35 inch pounds, thats a far cry from hand tight. I am in the process of doing this right now...new bearings, seals, rotors with new races. I dont want to get it too tight...what is to tight ?? I folowed the manual and tightened it to 35 inch pounds while turning the rotor...then backed off 1/4 turn and re tourqed it 16 inch pounds..I had to go 1/3 turn past this for the key to go in...is this too much ?? I have not driven it yet..it is still jacked up...should I re torque the retaining flange/nut to a looser setting??

Also I read somewhere that the auto hubs should not be packed with grease, instead good quality 30 wt. oil ?? which is right ?? I of course packed the new bearings with synthetic axel grease....but what about the hubs ?????

Thanks in advance

Dwight

 

[Glacier991]

Dwight, do not make the mistake of confusing INCH lbs from FOOT pounds. 35 inch lbs is just over 2 FOOT lbs and is clearly hand tight territory. Do you have an INCH lb torque wrench ?

INCH lbs is not FOOT lbs!

Do not put grease in the hubs. Oil is fine. Bearings... lube as usual.

 

[Pdwight]

I can always count on you Glacier

Clearly mine is way too tight, I used 35 foot pounds...of cource no load has been on it because I just got it on the hub an hour ago. tomarrow I will remove it and re tighten. I dont have an Inch Pound Torque Wrench...but If I take the big spindle socket and tighten it as far as my hands can while spinning the rotor it should be close enought ??? right ???

Thanks again GLacier, I will use FP-10 for the hubs, a synthetic oil used in the firearms industry that equates to about 10 wt. oil.

 

[Glacier991]

your hands on a large socket can produce 75 - 100 inch lbs easily, or more... Just snug will be good.

 

[DeRocha]

My manual says 35 inch pounds, thats a far cry from hand tight.

Clearly mine is way too tight, I used 35 foot pounds...of cource no load has been on it because I just got it on the hub an hour ago. tomarrow I will remove it and re tighten. I dont have an Inch Pound Torque Wrench...but If I take the big spindle socket and tighten it as far as my hands can while spinning the rotor it should be close enought ??? right ???

Hang on a minute your getting confussed... It seams your saying you used Inch pounds when you used Foot pounds.. The Axle bearing nut does get Torqued to 35 Foot pounds while spining the rotor. After reaching 35ft/lbs your back the nut off a 1/4 turn and then re-tighten to 16 Inch pounds = (1.34 ft/lbs) which is a casual turn with the axle nut socket and your bare hand. If using autohubs and the key doesn't fit your tighten the nut until the next cut out appears and the key can be inserted. If your manual indicates inch pounds for the initial 35 ft/lb measurement to seat the bearings then it is clearly WRONG.

 

[Brock94]

I'd be interested in people's thoughts on this, but when I did mine, I followed the instructions exactly-- first tightening to 35 ft lbs (or whatever the manual said) while rotating the wheel, then backing it off and tightening to 16 inch pounds. I did use an in-lb torque wrench for that step, but when I drove it I got that grinding noise on turns. I repeated the tightening sequence and found that there was still some play in hub (when simultaneously pushing on one side and pulling on the other side of the rotor.)

I tightened it in very small increments to the lowest amount that would get rid of the play in the hub (it may have just been one notch on the nut). I checked that the hub still turned freely and it has been good ever since. I don't know how tight in in-lbs because I just used my hands on the hub socket to tighten it.

I wonder if the 16 in-lbs is just a ballpark for "not very tight, but tight enough".

 

[Tony H]

I am way not that technical when doing Wheel bearings.

Honestly I snug them up until I get no side to side or up and down movement. Then a hair more. So 'Snug' and 'a hair more' is tough to explain to someone with no experience.

I repacked the Bearings on my Volvo a few weeks back ( i do them evrey 100K miles). I called my 16 year old out to give him a touchy-feely on how tight is OK on the bearings.

I usually drive a week or so and lift the wheels off teh ground to see if the grease squished up a bit or if for some reason the nut was backing off and the tighteness was off.

 

[Rhett]

I wonder if the 16 in-lbs is just a ballpark for "not very tight, but tight enough".

Brock94 I too have followed the guidelines to the letter--and found that one some vehicles the 16-inch lbs is not quite tight enough. On some it is. On my truck, it likes them slightly tighter or else I get play and noise. I probably could use new seals and bearings, maybe that accounts for it. I don't know. But on my friends 93 XLT, 16 inch-lbs worked fine, there was no play.

 

[Jason94sport]

I just did mine. I tightend the nut while turning the rotor. I then backed if off till it was loose, retightend & back it off just enough to get the key in. I didn't use any tq specs. The nuts were only hand tight when I took them off & I wasn't having any problems.

 

[Pdwight]

Just finished Mine

Mine were anything but hand tight, I had to use the big hub socket and lean on the handle to break them free. I did use new bearings and seals and cleaned everything shiny new. I also used Morse Ceramic pads. When putting mine back togather I used the torque wrench and tightened untill 35 inch pounds while spinning the rotor, I then backed off the nut and just snugged it...I then advanced it ever slowley 1/8 inch at a time until the key would go in....or about 1/8th of a turn and put it back togather that way...Stops in a nice straight line now with no shudder...oh new rotors as well...I dont want to do this job again for a while.My hubs were full of thick axel grease, I used break cleaner and a brush to remove this and re lubbed with 30wt. motor oil as per all the great instructional posts.

A week or so should tell

Dwight

 

[Brock94]

Brock94 I too have followed the guidelines to the letter--and found that one some vehicles the 16-inch lbs is not quite tight enough. On some it is. On my truck, it likes them slightly tighter or else I get play and noise. I probably could use new seals and bearings, maybe that accounts for it. I don't know. But on my friends 93 XLT, 16 inch-lbs worked fine, there was no play.

Yeah, it looks like that's an important thing to keep in mind when doing the wheel bearings-- regardless of having followed the instructions, check for play and get rid of it if there is any. Mine had new bearings BTW, so it's not just with worn bearings.