Bearings, Hubs and Grease Question

[sreidmx]

I've never used a torque wrench in mine either I do it by hand and feel. Like your friend said it's pretty much as tight as you could get one by hand, I use the spindle socket and a ratchet to set them like the gm manual states while spinning, then back it off some and check the endplay by pushing on the edge of the rotor. I have never had a wheel bearing failure and never burned one up.. And I jump my crap.. Soo..

 

[chulisohombre]

I just tighten My bearings as I spin the nut with the 4 prong socket. If I try to torque it until it pops out of the nut, as I spin the hub, I'm guessing around 30-50 lbs. I back it off then tighten it slowly until I feel resistance. Then add the lock washer and tighten outer nut as tight as I can with the socket. Never had a problem. As for grease I leave a thin layer on the spindle and Inbetween the bearing hub to keep it from gathering rust. Bearing I use my hand to pack the beating and leave a decent layer across it but not excessive.

 

[82355]

I've never used a torque wrench on a wheel bearing.

Martin

 

[6872xtc]

I used to agree completely with setting them the "old school " way. However this '95 can't be done that way with the single spindle nut. It is either too tight or too loose. Which is why it had an axle seal leaking.

 

[chulisohombre]

I used to agree completely with setting them the "old school " way. However this '95 can't be done that way with the single spindle nut. It is either too tight or too loose. Which is why it had an axle seal leaking.

That sucks.

 

[ktmoutfront]

I did hub bearings on a friend's truck a while back. He told me the hub's kept getting hot. So I checked it twice for him. They were good. Old school hand setting. Turns out, he was checking them when he got home from work. A mile of down hill on the brakes. "Of course the hub's were hot, you were riding the breaks."

 

[chulisohombre]

I did hub bearings on a friend's truck a while back. He told me the hub's kept getting hot. So I checked it twice for him. They were good. Old school hand setting. Turns out, he was checking them when he got home from work. A mile of down hill on the brakes. "Of course the hub's were hot, you were riding the breaks."

Heats got to go somewhere. Haha

 

[diesel4me]

I saw a guy's '77 Monte Carlo the other day,he was working on it,had the front wheels off--he had seen some black blobs on the inside of the rims ,mostly on the drivers side--thought it was road tar at first,but when he jacked it up and spun the rotors,he noticed the bearings felt rough,and "lumpy",made noises if you spun it faster..

He bought 2 grease seals and inner & outer bearings,one inner on the drivers side showed evidence of having spun on the spindle,but it didn't ruin it..(all the parts cost only 16 bucks!--ahh,the good old days,no "unitized" 100+ dollar bearings that aren't serviceable,and have speed censors to fail )...
When he went to drive the outer bearing cups out,he noticed there wasn't much grease in between the two bearings in the hub--a lot of it had gone thru the old leaky seals ,which almost looked melted,then solidified on the inside of the rim...what grease was left in the hub was more like roofing cement,half liquid,mostly "tar"...

I assume someone used regular chassis lube instead of the proper high temp disc brake wheel bearing grease...he had to use gasoline and a brush to scour the goop out of the hubs...

He bought this car off craigslist in PA,drove it home !..its in remarkably nice original condition...one owner..its possible the bearings had never been disturbed and original,with almost 100K on them..
I doubt the 16 dollar bearings will last as long as the originals..

 

[Blue85]

I've always tightened the inner nut while spinning the rotor (or tire),then back it off until I feel some play,and turn the nut in just enough to eliminate all end play,then assemble the lock ring and outer nut..

I've never used a torque wrench on a wheel bearing.

Martin

Same here. I always got inconsistent results using the book procedure and figured what they are really after is a very slight preload, but you can't write a procedure based on "feeling" (unless you're a liberal lawmaker - ha!). I do notice that torquing the locknut changes the preload slightly (compared to no locknut), so I set the inner nut to have just a hint of play, then torque the jeebers out of the locknut.