Wheel bearing install help

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DartVadar

DartVadar

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So I'm in the process of putting new wheel bearings in my 73 dart with front disc brakes. I'm at the point where I'm putting the spindle bolt on the hub.

What I did was tighten and loosen the nut while turning the wheel, I did this a few times. I then tightened to 70 inch pounds and backed the nut off so I could put the cotter pin in. I checked and there is no play in the wheel.

Is this procedure correct?
 
That is the basic manual process. I will do it that way and then recheck to see if there is any play in the bearing after backing off as the manual says. If so, I'l finger tighten out the play and then find a holeset on the nut retainer that works for that position of the castle nut. Basically, you want no pre-load on the bearing (no real torque left on the nut); but too loose will cause premature bearing wear.

I assume you packed the bearings with fresh grease?
 
I never have "backed off" the castle nut. Tapered roller bearings are designed to run preloaded. I simply tighten the nut until tight, while turning the rotor or drum to help seat the bearings good. Then I tighten the nut to the next slot that lines up and put the cotter pin in it. If you fail to put preload on tapered roller bearings, they will wear prematurely.
 
Per my 1967 Plymouth service manual:

Tighten to 90 inch pounds while rotating the wheel.
Position nut lock on nut with a pair of slots in line with the cotter pin hole.
Back off adjusting nut lock assembly one slot and install cotter pin.

The resulting adjustment should be zero (No preload) to .003" end play.

Those are Ma Mopars own words....page 22-6 in case you wanna follow along.

Good luck.
 
This ^^^ is the way I have always done it, except for the 90 inch lbs part.
I spin the disc while tightening as tight as a I can get it by hand and then back it off to the first hole for the pin.

Basically the same thing, but you don't have to pick up (or put away) any extra tools to do it.
Using the torque wrench method adds a full 2 extra min to your time, and if you are doing production line work that 2 min matters. :)

Use a torque wrench if you are retired or don't have anything better to do with your time.:D
 
Yup I packed them with grease properly and with correct grease.

And yea after doing It I can see how you wouldn't really need a torque wrench, but I used one but its done. The wheel turns really nicely and there is no movement.
 
Well, I will keep doing it my way because I have never burnt up a bearing like that in over 30 years.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Well, I will keep doing it my way because I have never burnt up a bearing like that in over 30 years.
Click to expand...

Me neither, and I have done it professionally for about that same amount of time.
(well, a little less) only 25, but in that time I have done thousands of them.;)

Thousands times 2 min =
 
RustyRatRod said:
Well, I will keep doing it my way because I have never burnt up a bearing like that in over 30 years.
Click to expand...

Not doubting that it works. But I noticed that when I tightened to the next slot the wheel became noticeably harder to turn. Aren't they supposed to turn easily without side to side movement?
 
DartVadar said:
Not doubting that it works. But I noticed that when I tightened to the next slot the wheel became noticeably harder to turn. Aren't they supposed to turn easily without side to side movement?
Click to expand...

Exactly.
You did just fine.
 
momoparman said:
Per my 1967 Plymouth service manual:

Tighten to 90 inch pounds while rotating the wheel.
Position nut lock on nut with a pair of slots in line with the cotter pin hole.
Back off adjusting nut lock assembly one slot and install cotter pin.

The resulting adjustment should be zero (No preload) to .003" end play.

Those are Ma Mopars own words....page 22-6 in case you wanna follow along.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

You will find the 67 and 73 DISK BRAKE procedure differs slightly

Download yourself a copy of the '73 manual here:

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?p=1970088617

This is out of the 73 service manual


 
67Dart273 said:
You will find the 67 and 73 DISK BRAKE procedure differs slightly

Download yourself a copy of the '73 manual here:

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?p=1970088617

This is out of the 73 service manual


Click to expand...

Soo I take it I should do whats in the manual then?

And I take it the initial tighten is to seat the bearings. But exactly how tight is "hand tight"?

And you want endplay? I thought you didn't want them to move around, mind you 0.001 is pretty small.
 
So I just quickly tried that procedure and it seems like the wheel is loose, It wiggles a bit when I move it side to side, seem like it should be tighter...

Also now that I'm looking at it is the thrust washer already attached to the outer bearing? or do I put that on after and then put the nut on? Because when I took the bearings out initially I don't remember there being a washer that I had to take out, the bearing was just there.
 
"Hand tight" is just about as tight as you can get just before you start to peel the skin of your fingers.

If the thing moves very much at all after this, you probably have either worn bearings, or a race is loose in a hub. This CAN be a difficult to find issue. Sometimes, you need to completely wash the grease out of the hub and get it CLEAN so you can "feel" wiggle in the races. They are pressed / driven in, so should NOT be loose

The spindles / bearings can develop problems, usually from rough wear caused by a bearing failure and spinning on the spindle.

And I've seen cases where the WRONG bearings were installed, IE larger bearing cone bore on a smaller spindle.
 
67Dart273 said:
"Hand tight" is just about as tight as you can get just before you start to peel the skin of your fingers.

If the thing moves very much at all after this, you probably have either worn bearings, or a race is loose in a hub. This CAN be a difficult to find issue. Sometimes, you need to completely wash the grease out of the hub and get it CLEAN so you can "feel" wiggle in the races. They are pressed / driven in, so should NOT be loose

The spindles / bearings can develop problems, usually from rough wear caused by a bearing failure and spinning on the spindle.

And I've seen cases where the WRONG bearings were installed, IE larger bearing cone bore on a smaller spindle.
Click to expand...

Okay that makes sense. And I guess saying it wiggles isn't quite correct, with the tire on there is a noticeable "click" sound, I can't see any movement. I guess this is 0.0001-0.003 inch end-play the manual was talking about?

And the bearings are brand new, so they are not wore or anything.

Those thrust washers, do they come with the outer bearings? Or am I supposed to use the ones that were supposed to be on there in the first place? I know they weren't there when I took the old bearings out.
 
Thrust washers are OEM. You need them and they MUST be keyed. "In the old days" suppliers like Dorman used to make them. Other than here on the want ads, or a junkyard, I've no idea where you'd find them
 
67Dart273 said:
Thrust washers are OEM. You need them and they MUST be keyed. "In the old days" suppliers like Dorman used to make them. Other than here on the want ads, or a junkyard, I've no idea where you'd find them
Click to expand...

So I just talked to my grandpa about the tightness and he said that its good in that aspect. But he though it was weird that the thrust washers weren't on there in the first place. Luckily he has an old cuda sitting out back, and he is pretty sure that the thrust washer will work, so ill grab that and be done with this.
 
Im suprised this thread went so far.....common sense fit is what the book should say.

If it wobbles then its gonna bobble.

If it dont turn then it will burn.

If it spins it wins.

How bout that for instructions :D
 
The 1-3 thousands is to allow for heat expansion, so what happens when you tighten it down by hand while spinning the disc and then back it off to the first place you can get the pin through?

(1-3 thou) :D

Since we are getting all technical about how to install a nut on a wheel you should probably recheck them in a week.

Might be a thousanth off you know. :)
 
"If it spins it wins"....that's just genius-I like it! LOL. KISS principle applied perfectly...well said.
 
Different wheel bearings take different procdures from my experince so there is no one right answer. Opel 50 series wheel bearings are are specifcally NOT not have any preload per the factory. I often got questions at tech inspection on why my bearings were a bit loose, and I had to explain.

Now, my 2001 F350 was run with the bearings just finger tightened, and they got noisy fast and wore prematurely. When I replaced them, I run them with the factory preload, and they are much quieter.

The Opel had maybe 600 lb static load per wheel max. The F350 has over a ton static load, and MUCH larger bearings than the Opels or an A-body, so that is probably the differennce.

If you do this professionally on hundreds of vehicles or just on your own stuff, you are best going by the book for the vehicle, not just doing them all the same way. Having said that, I did it 'by the book' for the '62 Dodge and the wheel ended up clearly too loose like Dart Vader found, so I took out all the play with finger-tightening but did not preload.
 
As always I'm over thinking this! LOL I'm going to get it all done today and not worry about it!
 
Well think about this. Using the method I described, it is going to come out just like the book says. Why? Because all I use to tighten the nut is a medium pair of pliers. As soon as the vehicle rolls any distance with the weight on, The bearings will loosen up to the point where they are no longer preloaded. Adjusting the nut so there IS play in the bearings while in the air will just assure they are even looser once it's on the ground. It's not like you can put 50 pounds of torque on the nut with pliers. Do it whatever way you want. I know how I am GONNA keep doin it. lol
 
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