Wheel bearing adjustments

[CountryB]

Attached is the standard Wheel Bearing adjustment procedure for adjusting wheel ends (trucks, large RVs, etc.).

Note the basic steps are:
1) tighten adjusting nut to 200 ft-lbs while rotating wheel.
2) Back off the adjusting nut one full turn
3) retighten nut to 50 ft-lbs while rotating wheel
4) back off adjusting nut 1/16 to 1/4 turn
5) Tighten outer jam nut to 200- 300 ft-lbs (torque depends on nut size)
6) check end-play with a dial indicator. Want .001 to .005 movement
7) If end play is wrong, remove jam nut and turn adjusting nut slightly (direction depends on if you need to add or remove end-play)

[Dominiqueb]

Originally Posted by arcaguy

Preloading a bearing is when you tighten the nut holding the bearing to a preset torque to ensure that the bearing is not going to have any play. In this particular case there does not appear to be any preload as the bearing is supposed to have .001 to .005 in of play in the bearings. A preloaded bearing will not have any play it will be tight, but not too tight. My thinking is that the OP either didn't get the bearings seated correctly on the shaft or was not rotating the wheel when the bearing was torqued. We or the OP will likely never know. It's just good that he found the issue before it left him sitting on the side of the road. Here's a explanation that it probably better than mine.
https://www.skf.com/binaries/pub12/I..._12-299896.pdf

Great answer

Question


if i inspected the external bearing and I'm not find any damage;
Do you believe that I can stop right there or I should continue looking to the back bearing too, I don't try to be lazy it's just very hard for me since I'm not a mechanic, to get to the back bearings I have to take the Hub and I may damage the seal, but if you think I need it I will do it.

[bigb56]

Did you make your adjustments with the wheel installed?

[arcaguy]

If you don't see any bluing of the outside bearing or race I think you're probably good. It generally takes a while for bearing to go bad and at 500 miles I wouldn't think that you will have an issue.

[twinboat]

Originally Posted by CountryB

Attached is the standard Wheel Bearing adjustment procedure for adjusting wheel ends (trucks, large RVs, etc.).

Note the basic steps are:
1) tighten adjusting nut to 200 ft-lbs while rotating wheel.
2) Back off the adjusting nut one full turn
3) retighten nut to 50 ft-lbs while rotating wheel
4) back off adjusting nut 1/16 to 1/4 turn
5) Tighten outer jam nut to 200- 300 ft-lbs (torque depends on nut size)
6) check end-play with a dial indicator. Want .001 to .005 movement
7) If end play is wrong, remove jam nut and turn adjusting nut slightly (direction depends on if you need to add or remove end-play)

That's great if you have an adjusting and jam nut.

Some axles use a single castle nut or a cover over the single nut with castle like tabs and a cotter pin..

[SteveJ.]

Originally Posted by CountryB

Attached is the standard Wheel Bearing adjustment procedure for adjusting wheel ends (trucks, large RVs, etc.).

Note the basic steps are:
1) tighten adjusting nut to 200 ft-lbs while rotating wheel.
2) Back off the adjusting nut one full turn
3) retighten nut to 50 ft-lbs while rotating wheel
4) back off adjusting nut 1/16 to 1/4 turn
5) Tighten outer jam nut to 200- 300 ft-lbs (torque depends on nut size)
6) check end-play with a dial indicator. Want .001 to .005 movement
7) If end play is wrong, remove jam nut and turn adjusting nut slightly (direction depends on if you need to add or remove end-play)

Recommended preload torque on a grease packed front Chevy/WH (P30) bearing set is 12 ft lbs then loosen and re snug as directed in the manual. I shudder to think about putting 200 ft lbs of torque on this bearing set.

[CountryB]

Originally Posted by SteveJ.

Recommended preload torque on a grease packed front Chevy/WH (P30) bearing set is 12 ft lbs then loosen and re snug as directed in the manual. I shudder to think about putting 200 ft lbs of torque on this bearing set.

I was providing info for "trucks and large RVs".

I didn't check to see what size RV OP has (I guess he has a light-duty chassis) - so perhaps my reply doesn't belong in this thread.

[SteveJ.]

Originally Posted by CountryB

I was providing info for "trucks and large RVs".

I didn't check to see what size RV OP has (I guess he has a light-duty chassis) - so perhaps my reply doesn't belong in this thread.

No harm, no foul. It's just that different brands and setups will have different procedures.

[mackwrench]

CountyB is correct on heavy axle wheel ends, The PDF he's attached is spot on....or Google RP618, that's the American Trucking Association (TMC) recommended practice for adjustment on steer/tag and drive axle wheel ends.....on heavy truck/motorcoach axles.

I'm just putting this out here.....

I don't know what axle the OP has or needs information on, but it's apparent that there's some "larger wheel end" folks here.

YouTube has lots of failed wheel end videos, hopefully no one here will be able to add to!


No matter the size of axle, bearings or hub, on a Jon boat trailer or a off road dump truck, the spec is the same 0.001 to 0.005 of end play.

[HarryStone]

Preloading isn’t tightening the nut and leaving it. It is putting a load on the bearing, by tightening to a preset torque, usually while spinning the hub, to ensure everything is seated properly, then loosening the nut a required amount. It never means keeping it torqued.

[twinboat]

Originally Posted by HarryStone

Preloading isn’t tightening the nut and leaving it. It is putting a load on the bearing, by tightening to a preset torque, usually while spinning the hub, to ensure everything is seated properly, then loosening the nut a required amount. It never means keeping it torqued.

That's not accurate. There are some bearings that are preloaded, meaning they have some side load against them.

Rear differential bearings are shimed with no endplay. Any endplay will effect the gear backlash.

[MoCoTom]

Originally Posted by twinboat

That's not accurate. There are some bearings that are preloaded, meaning they have some side load against them.

Rear differential bearings are shimed with no endplay. Any endplay will effect the gear backlash.

The OP question is about wheel bearing adjustment so how did we get to differential pinion bearing settings. I didn't think the forum objective was to confuse him even more.
Tom

[MarvinG]

It’s all helpful info for various ones of us reading the thread, since we have varied chassis.

[alank]

New bearings, to put on spindles, normally come as a bearing & race set. Did you replace the races along with the bearings?