Shark Attack

Tonight I went to look at my upper and lower ball joints. I know they need boots and people here in renny said, if it needs boots, the joint may be bad also. So, I certainly have 12-6 wheel slop. But after looking closer it is not the joint, it is the bearing. I pulled the wheel, rotor and bearing cap. Pulled the hub off the spindal and all looks ok. I reassemble but have no idea how tight to make the nut. i am sure some of you know it is also not a traditional nut. No way to put a socket on it. So whats the trick?

I know if i make it too tight **** hits the fan. Learned that with my bicycle... that was a lot of scapes and cuts as I went *** over tin cup when the front axil broke. Lets not go there again!

Thanks
Kyle

928Myles

Has been discussed recently. WSM says tighten nut untill the washer behind it can be just moved with finger pressure on a screwdriver. From memory the allen bolt to lock the nut in place needs to be torqued to about 15 ft-lb.

Might pay to check this info with a search as it was a while ago that I read this.

Best of luck,

Myles

Mako 928

What I have found is that you want to snug up the washer so the wheel spins freely and not have any back and forth movement. Hands at 3 and 9 and 12 and 6. I did this a couple of times until I liked where it was.

mark kibort

just like what was said, just snug up the bolt and see if you can move the washer with the screwdriver and some pressure.

mk

JHowell37

Keep in mind that there can be absolutely NO pre-load on the bearing. It was suggested to "snug up" the nut which isn't the best word choice for the situation. You want to tighten it to the point where it just makes contact then tighten the allen bolt and check to make sure the washer moves by pushing on it with the edge of a screwdriver. Also keep in mind that you can't use the edge of the hub to get leverage to move the bearing. If you do then the big nut is too tight. If you do it as I said and there is still some play in the hub, then your bearings need replacement. It's not a big deal as those bearings are available at the local parts store and they're cheap, and come with new races. Replacing the race can be a pain in the ***, but it can be done with simple hand tools. Some say you don't need to replace the race but I beg to differ. When I first put my '85 on the road back in August I had bearing issues for about two months. I had replaced just the bearings and that didn't work. So I went and bought another set of bearings and replaced the races and bearings, adjusted them properly, and I haven't had an issue from them since. That was 10K miles ago.

Mrmerlin

if your going to be messing with the front wheel bearings then you should check the spindles carefully, they seem to be made out of a softer metal than the rest of the car.
That said look at the inner bearing seat on the bottom of the spindle and the outer seat test fit your new bearing on the spindle without any grease first. If you have worn spindles then only tighten the bearings per the WSM (able to move the washer with slight pressure without prying on the side of the hub) Dont try to tightwen the bearings to remove the play, its better to have them slightly loose then a bit too tight so they wont destroy themselves from too much heat.
If there is play then the front brakes will be more susceptible to front brake squeal mostly noticable at slowing speeds under 25mph.

944 guy

Whoever said that is a complete tool. If a bearing is worn, it wears on the inner and outer ring because the rollers will get damaged and transfer the damage everywhere.

NO play! The bearings will get knocked up from impact loading if there is ANY play on them. The fingerpressure+screwdriver thing is the way to go, I've never had any problems with that!

Glenn Evans

Heating the hubs to 120 to 150 degrees C (250 to 300C), as stated in the workshop manual, makes getting the races in and out much easier. Shout your wife a trip out of town for the weekend, make sure the hubs are clean before you put them in the oven, and do it on Saturday morning because even clean hubs seem to leave a hot grease smell in the oven for a day or two!

Also remember not to put the hot hubs on the unprotected kitchen floor. ;-)

Bill Ball

I use something close to Wally's method, which he just reiterated on the email group.:

As you guys know, the nut on the front wheels is not really a nut but a threaded clamp, so you can't really torque it with a wrench as Wally describes. I insert the Allen key into the clamp bolt head and use that as a lever to snug up the bearing - maybe not as tight as Wally says, but snug enough to "seat" the bearing without risking any damage to the race as I rotate the wheel a few times. Then I back it off and do the hand snugging - just grip the clamp as hard as possible with my fingers and twist it tight. Then I tighten the Allen and put on the wheel. Check for ANY play 12-6. With my finger tightening I cannot quite eliminate ALL play - I can still feel a tiny click. So, I take the wheel off (maybe with a short Allen key you can leave the wheel on - dunno) and go back in and use the Allen key to turn the clamp maybe 10 degrees beyond hand tight. Put the wheel back on and recheck for any play.

I find the washer movement test to leave the wheel slightly loose. Maybe again, my finger/hand strength is on the low side. I haven't had a problem with the wheel bearings being slightly snugger than the washer test would indicate. If you get to no 12-6 play using whatever method, be happy.

Mrmerlin

The play i am referring to is the play that will develop if the spindles are worn, if they are worn then there will be 12/6 play even if the bearing is made slightly tighter than the suggested tight.
So thats what I am referring to, tighten the bearing as described and if you still have play then you have to live with it or replace the spindles

dr bob

I use the torque-to-seat method that Wally describes. A screwdriver bit on the torque wrench makes that part a snap. I've tried using my torque screwdriver (inch/lbs) but it doesn't go low enough for the final setting. So the finger-tight method works pretty well, with a follow-up confirmation with the screwdriver on the washer per the WSM.

Redline CV-2 grease and Mobil-1 synthetic grease both look just like the pink stuff that Hans and Fritz used when they assembed my car way back when.

jon928se

If the front spindles are worn enough to allow the bearing inner races to move at all you probably need to torque the clamp nut to about 1000lbs ft to squash the race onto the spindle. Works for long enough to sell the car as long as the test drive is not too long LOL.

BTDT but not on a 928.

Shark Attack

Ill do the washer trick, thanks

Bill Ball

Great, but still check for any play 12-6. It may not be the bearing adjustment, but if snugging the bearing SLIGHTLY tighter eliminates the play, it is.