Repacking and Installation of Wheel Bearings

[57chevyconvt]

I have a question concerning the amount of torque or tightness that is required of the castle nut to seat the wheel bearing when installing the hub after repacking the wheel bearings. One place I read that one is to torque the castle nut to 50 ft. lbs, whereas another is to snug the nut while rotating the hub after which the nut is to be loosened and re-tighten by hand. Which is it torque to 50 ft. lbs or snug the castle nut? To me, there is a lot of difference in applying torque to a given value and snugging to what I think is snug, not as strong as I once was a few year back. I the nut to be tightened with a 15" adjustable wrench until snug or do I use a large pair of slip joint pliers? The end results may be the same, but I wonder. Your thoughts.

 

[TeJay]

Jim,
Taught this stuff for 35 years. This procedure never failed me. There are only two reasons for overtightening the castle nut after repacking: 1. First, if for some reason you failed to seat the seal ( or bearing race(s) if you had to replace bearings) over tightening the castle nut it will assure that everything is seated. Secondly, over tightening and rotating the wheel will distribute the grease properly all around the roller bearings. Now how tight is tight?? Here's what I taught. Tighten the castle using a socket about an 1/8th to a 1/4 of a turn. At that point if the seating is needed then you'll tighten it maybe an easy 1/4 to 1/2 of a turn. If you did seat everything correctly then it will stop between a 1/4 to 1/2 of a turn. It is not necessary to tighten it any farther. In all my years teaching I never heard of initial torquing to 50 ft. lbs. then loosening. ADJUSTMENT PROCEDURE: Now back the adjustment nut off. While wiggling the wheel at 12 and 6 o'clock rotate the nut until the movement just goes away. Insert the cotter pin and you're done. If the hole in the axle won't line up with the adjusted position back it off until it does. It's better to be a little loose than a little tight. I prefer the more modern style castle nut that has the cover than can be moved so you can set the adjustment exactly as needed. Our NT 24-RBS didn't come with those but the next time I repack they will have them installed.

TeJay

 

[57chevyconvt]

TeJay,
Thanks for your informative response. I now understand why Lippert in their Lippert Components bulletin, "Trailer Axle Operation and Service Manual" on page 8 - Bearing Adjustment/Hub Replacement says to torque the castle nut to 50 ft. lbs. Your explanation, even though Lippert doesn't state so, of making sure the new bearing outer races are seated in the hub by torquing to 50 ft. lbs. makes a lot of sense. Since I am not replacing the bearings, I will use you method of seating the bearings by tightening 1/4 to 1/2 of a turn. I have added your post to my "How To" method of repacking wheel bearings.
BTW - I notice that the China made cast hubs do not have a detent(s) cast into the hub for easy removal of the outer bearing races. I am accustom to seeing these detents in U.S. manufactured hubs of years gone by. The detents provided additional bearing outer race exposure for driving out the race with a brass bar. I suppose that I will have to use a screw drive blade to remove the race if and when it is required.

 

[porthole]

Tejay "taught" the stuff for 35 years and I "did" the the stuff for over 20 years.
The procedure is the same.
But, you would be surprised how many wheel bearings I found over the years that were way too tight after being serviced by "ASE" Certified techs.

One reason why it pays to learn some of the simple maintenance and do it yourself.

 

[TeJay]

Pothole,
You are correct, ASE does not mean that they always know how or what to do. I usually try to ask some pointed questions when I have to use a repair facility that I'm not familiar with. If I'm having tires replaced I'll ask what the lug nut torque specs are. If they don't know then I'll either take it somewhere else or torque it out in the parking lot before I leave. I used to demonstrate to the kids by torquing all lugs to say 60 Lbs. Then locate a dial indicator to check for rotor run out. Next I would de-torque the lugs then over torque one lug by 20 lbs. It always warped the rotor in the area of the over torqued lug. Once that rotor got hot it could permanently warp causing brake pedal pulsations. There are other factors affecting the amount of warp (rotor size, mass, type of cast iron etc) so not all rotors warped as much but the point was made. Even the best torque wrenches can be off as much as 15-25%. The industry switched to, "Torque to yield" bolts in critical engine areas. They did this to take the technician out of the equation. Torque to yield bolts can't be over torqued. Once you reach their yield point they start to stretch and won't get any tighter. The construction of the bold determines when they will yield. Bottom line is more consistent even torque.
57chevy, I have not noticed that very many hubs have that little cutout so you can get to the race. There is however enough of the race sticking past the lip to get a flat punch on it. You will have to dress the punch several times because the hard race will chip away at your punch. Hit it several times then dress the punch. Always keep that edge . One the race begins to move down you can get your punch into a better location on the back of the race. Oh, by the way. Thanks much for those kind words. I'll send you a PM when I get a little more time.

TeJay

 

[porthole]

There is however enough of the race sticking past the lip to get a flat punch on it. You will have to dress the punch several times because the hard race will chip away at your punch. Hit it several times then dress the punch. Always keep that edge . One the race begins to move down you can get your punch into a better location on the back of the race.

And absolutely do not forget to wear eye protection!

 

[Bob&Patty]

What Tejay said. But, I have always used a brass punch to set the races. You can buy a tapered tool to set the races. Most dealers have them so the techs can do it RIGHT. You can only hope.

 

[TeJay]

I never thought of using a brass punch. I guess that would work but after years and years of using just a regular tapered punch and really never having any problems I just never tried anything else. The regular punch is still softer than the race and will do no damage to it. I would demonstrate the correct procedure for removing and installing the races and then I had the kids do it. Those races were hammered hundreds and hundreds of times and stood up quite well. The cast hub being softer than the race finally got to the point where the race was not tight and I finally had to replace the hubs.

TeJay