After our 14 race at Sebring in September we noticed a pretty loud bearing noise coming from the right front.

We rebuilt both hubs using Timken bearings and Van's videos. We didn't run into any issues - the bearing races pressed out fine and the new ones pressed in without trouble.

I torqued the bearing as Van suggested in the video. When I was done, the wheel spun smoothly and had no play with the car lifted up in the air.

At our 10 hour race in december, we ran with no issues and the wheel bearings were quiet.

We're prepping for Daytona right now and during our checks of the front suspension we noticed a lot of play in the right front wheel bearing. I undid clamping bolt (hex), and once I did, I could feel that the hub nut was loose. It took about half a turn (180deg) to snug it up again.

I retorqued the nut to Van's procedure (I'd guess the nut ended up around 230deg from the original loose position). Now there is no play in the bearing and the wheel spins smoothly. There is no bearing noise, nor was there the entire time at the Sebring race.

Has this ever happened to anyone before? Since the spindle nut didn't come loose, I can only conclude that the bearings are now sitting closer to the spindle than they did originally. I suppose that could be caused by

1 - excessive grease not letting the inner race fully seat on the spindle? (seems unlikely)

2 - much bearing race or spindle wear - if this were the case, I would expect a lot of noise, and the bearings wouldn't tighten up after.

3 - bearing races were not fully seated in the hub and the load of the car pushed them in the last bit (seems most likely, but we really hammered these things home).

The driver side had a similar condition, but much much less severe.

 

Most likely the bearing races weren't seated. Being that you race, I would check the spindle for a crack, especially if the spindle is drilled for a speedometer cable.

 

Thanks. This is a late offset car, no speedo hole in the spindle.

When we tapped in the bearing races, there was a distinct change in tone of the ring when the hammer hit once the race was all the way in. I suppose that could have happened at 90 or 95% though.

 

Our chumpcar did the same thing after fresh bearings. I think it's just the heat cycling and big forces on the bearings that let them settle a bit more after the initial installation. Keep an eye on it with a good shake of the wheel periodically, but I wouldn't worry about that.

 

I just reread the first post and saw it was the right side. Right side spindles aren't drilled for speedometer cables. Opps!

 

Awesome, thanks for the feedback Justin. That gives me some relief to know this isn't unusual before we take the car out to Daytona.

How's your chumpcar doing otherwise? I haven't seen any updates in awhile.

 

Yeah I should make an update. We replaced the leaking radiator with a cheap Chinese aluminum ebay one. The radiator itself is nice, but it is NOT a direct fit replacement. We had to trim the body and fiddle with hoses. The passenger seat and belts went in. We also found the upper balance shaft was flipped and probably caused a lot of our backing out bolt problems. We flipped that and retensioned the belts. With that all done, we fired it up and let it warm up to discover a puddle of gasoline forming under the back of the engine! The fuel return hose had a slightly too big hose clamp at the pressure regulator and over the winter it loosened enough to leak. After mopping up the fuel and putting on a better clamp we fired it up again and no more leaks.

Check your fuel line connections periodically, especially the ones that rely on a hose clamp!

 

You can put a grease pen mark on the clamping nut and spindle. This will tell you whether it's the clamping nut moving or not. I have done this, and it didn't move. So it had to be wear, or it wasn't fully tightened down in the first place.

 

I've also had this happen after a bearing change and I agree with Justin that, on a track car, a new bearing probably needs a retorque after a few heat cycles. After this happened to me I now retorque after the first days track session and it has never happened again. I also I run with bearing caps, I know some people don't. I drill a 1/8in hole in the center of the bearing cap, I was told it helps to relieve bearing pressures, but it possibly also allows some heat to escape, idk. It certainly stops the caps from flying off which I've witnessed at the track before.

 

Thats interesting, because we noticed the cap was popped out as well. We run stock phone dials which captured the cap to keep it from leaving, but it was kicked out a bit.

Thanks again for the confirmation. I'll maybe add a check to the bearing after the first pit stop to be sure we're okay but it sounds like most people only need one retorquing.

 

Pull the bearing and check for free metal in the bearing...If the wear was excessive and not observed until now, you might have to replace the bearings again...clean and repack..run and retorque. just .02 cents