Excessive wheel bearing runout

[mechted]

While I was replacing a caliper on my Dana 60 I noticed that the hub/disk assembly had a lot of lateral runout in it (like 1/16" side to side movement of the caliper every rotation). So I figured that the wheel bearings just needed to be snugged up. Pull it apart, find everything normal, reassemble to specs, same problem.

Break out the dial indicator and measure it. 0.023 runout measured on the disk. 0.012 runout measured on the hub. No significant play in the bearings (0.001-2) Ok, my wheel bearings must be bad or the races arnt seated or something. Pull it all apart again, everything looks fine, beat the races in anyway. Reassemble, same runout. Pull it apart, pull out the races. Clean the hub out, reinstall the old races. Reassemble, same runout. Ok... now im annoyed. Pull it apart, install new bearings, new races, new seal. Same runout.

On like the 3rd reassembly I noticed that the bearings didnt just slip onto the spindle like I expected, had to be at a certain "clock" position to go on. This was with the old bearings (Timkin) and the new (National). The old bearings have like 100 road miles on them, 0 miles offroad.

Any idea what to do next? Is my spindle or hub bad? What is acceptable lateral motion on the Dana 60 caliper?

Also: This vehicle wont be on public roads anytime soon.

 

[3MAX]

When you say "runout", are you meaning runout when the hub is spinning, or endplay when the hub is being pushed / pulled on?

 

[miniwally]

Warpped rotor? Rotor not held tight to bearing hub?

I don't think that .023 is terrible bad but it would be enough to feel a shimmy in the front under breaking.

I don't know where on a hub you would have a machined true surface to measure runout on that wasn't part of the rotor.

 

[mechted]

It's as I rotate the hub. Don't think it's just the rotor as the hub surface is showing the same runout pattern (measured on the wheel mate surface)

 

[3MAX]

Sounds like a warped rotor / hub to me.

 

[nvrenuf]

It's a lot of work but maybe swap rotors side to side o see if the runout follows. Could be in the casting since it's the same on the disc and WMS.

 

[mechted]

Yeah. I thought of that today. If I go that far into the axle, I might as well install the axle shaft seals I have sitting on a shelf. It would allow me to isolate the problem though.

 

[rebelgregory]

Sounds like you've eliminated the bearings as a source. Wouldn't be a spindle. Spindle can bend, but will result in hub misalignment, not runout.

Couple options:

Swap rotors left/right as mentioned

Measure the high spot in hub and high spot in rotor; remove rotor and reinstall with the high spots 180deg from each other. BUT.....

If you were going to drive out the studs and remove the rotor, I'd take the hub to a machine shop or a shop with a brake lathe and get the WMS and rotor mounting surface trued up in a lathe. According to your readings, it won't take much and won't negatively affect anything. I would re-mount the rotor and check runout again. Your rotor runout is a fuzzy number right now if your hub is warped. You are measuring farther out (radially) for rotor runout, so any that is contributed by hub warpage gets exaggerated at the rotor. Also, if your hub is truly warped and you stud the rotor onto it, you could be inducing runout in the rotor. Long story short, I recommend option 3 - verify hub runout, machine it true, re-check everything.