'89 K5-replaced the bearings etc in the front and the hubs are rather warm?

[AJMBLAZER]

The Blazer is a '89 K5 with the 30 spline 10 bolt axles. Yesterday my buddy and I rebuilt the front end from the knuckles out. U-joints, ball joints, bearings, races, seals, etc etc and then put Warn Premiums on instead of the factory auto hubs.

However after driving it about 10 miles home last night I felt the hubs and they were rather warm. Due to the factory trim pieces around the spindle I couldn't get my hands onto the spindle but the dial faces and the chrome around them were very warm. Not "omg burning!" hot but warm enough to raise an eyebrow.

We did run into some questions about seating the bearings and how the lock nuts went on. We went by my '86 Chevy FSM which I think would be similar to the '89, correct?

Packed and seated the bearings and races, put the adjusting nut on, tightened to 50 and loosened, tightened back to 50 and then loosened until "hub moves freely" per the instructions. Then we put on the ring...which the manual seemed to mention a pin being involved but there were no pins on my adjusting nuts. The lock nuts went on and were torqued to 180ft/lbs since the manual said "at least 165 ft/lbs". After that it was just assembling and installing the locking hubs.

Anybody see anything wrong? My friend thinks it might just have been the bearings seating and generating a bit of heat. You could put your hand on the hub and not get burned but they were definitely warm. Made me start wondering at 2am when I got home.

What say you guys? I have a 3 hour road trip home so I need to know if this is just the bearings seating or if I need to go back to my buddy's and tear it apart again.

 

[mr.smartass]

Hmm, well there should have been a little pin sticking off the inside nut that fits in one of the holes on the ring. I guess it could be worn off.

Besides that everything sounded right. Are you sure it's not just heat transferring from the brakes?

 

[AJMBLAZER]

Dunno. I could put my hand on the back of the knuckle and the dust shield and such and they didn't seem warm.

Hard to make these calls at 2am ya know?

Yeah, ONE of the lock nuts on the p-side has a small mushed remains of the pin but the d-side had nothing. Might invest in a set of those new locking nuts just to be sure.
The driver's side was so loose when we took it apart that he spun them off by hand. Wondering if someone rebuilt it the last time thinking it was like the old Dana 44's with the ring you bent the tab over on and the outer nut only got like 80ft/lbs of torque?

 

[mr.smartass]

In the mean time I'd just check it every now and then to make sure they aren't backing off. Just to make sure, you didn't pack the locking hubs full of grease did you? Not that it'd cause a heating problem, some people just don't realize you're not suppose to.

 

[Jason4x4]

without the pin, they can work themselves tighter when installing the rest. the pins do push into the nut, so if they aren't lined up when installing, they could just be flush with the surface

 

[chalet2506]

without the pin, they can work themselves tighter when installing the rest. the pins do push into the nut, so if they aren't lined up when installing, they could just be flush with the surface

you might have the inner nut on backwards, or the pin could be missing - in which case you'd need a new one.

As far as heat goes, I had a thread a while back about the same deal. The hubs on my 72 are usually warm and will get hot to the touch driving around town. I believe the heat is related to the brake rotors being part of the hub. Been running them for about six months since I put the new bearings in and no noticeable problems.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

I'm going to look into getting a set of those new locking nuts I think. My set is definitely not right.

We didn't goob up the locking hubs. We just sort of greased up what was already greasy and called it good. Thanks for the hubs chalet!

Going to go take it for a test ride and see what it does after a few hours. If it's the same or better I'll probably head back home and stop every hour or so.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

Well, made it 20 minutes home and stopped at the Sonic in Grand Rapids. On a lark I got out and put my hand on the d-side hub...


...about burned myself. Both hubs were/are HOT. No slightly warm now, damn hot. Something's wrong. I located one of the few sets of lock nuts with the pin in them in the Grand Rapids area and am now heading back over to my buddy's garage to tear it all apart, repack the bearings, and hopefully reassemble them correctly with the new parts.

How "free spinning" do you guys make the hubs when you loosen the adjusting nut the final time? I've heard 35ft/lbs, 3/4 of a turn, turn it back half a turn or so, "until it spins freely", etc etc etc. Everyone seems to have a different standard. My friend's theory is that we didn't loosen it enough. Wondering if that plus the lack of a pin on the adjusting nut means the bearings are just too tight?

 

[mr.smartass]

As long as you've got the right parts in there, I can't imagine it being anything else then to tight.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

Everybody keeps saying the lock adjusting nut with the pin needs to be there. It's there now dammit, and so is the "manual hub" ring instead of the "automatic hub" ring.

We redid the stuff in about an hour, took it for a test drive, only slightly warm, and then I went to my folks, grabbed the dogs, and split. 3 hours later the hubs are rather warm but you can just grab them and not worry about anything other than them being greasy/dirty. 3 hours mostly at 70mph will do that though.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

I took the center cap thingies off last night. After my 12 mile drive to work in the morning with half being 55mph long road and the other half being stop and go city traffic the hubs and the outside of the spindle are warm but not hot. You can hold your hands there. Thinking it must be the brakes as when I stopped for fuel last night I coasted up the offramp and then only used the brakes once getting into the station. Hubs were rather cool despite having been spinning at 70mph for almost an hour.

 

[mr.smartass]

Sounds like you got it sorted out.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

Dear god I hope so! Would like to fix the next set of problems.

 

[scouthead]

Yeah your wheel bearings were probably over preloaded. I always torque the adjusting nut(inner one) to 50lbs, spin the wheel back and forth a few times, crack the nut and set it finger tight. Then I line up the lock ring, and yes that lock pin must engage the adjuster, or the spinning of the bearing could cause the adjuster nut to readjust itself while driving. I only torque the locknut to about 150lbs, but as long as the tooth on the lockring (that goes in the spindle's slot) doesn't shear off I don't think that 180lbs would have retightened the adjuster...

Never had my hubs get that hot on anything that wasn't having brake problems.

 

[jonathon]

Brake heat.

ETA: Just dealt with this on the 89. It doesn't get driven enough and the calipers were wack, needed replacing. One bound up so bad the hub was pretty hot. Tore that side apart and repacked it after replacing the calipers.. no issues.