The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts '47 AD 1.5 ton front wheel bearing adjustment

Hi All
I finished my 1.5 ton 6 months ago. It had new spindles on the front, and new wheel bearings. These are the cup and cone ball bearing type.
The passenger side I adjusted once, and not again. The drivers side needed adjustment every month, always loosening about every hundred miles. Recently it needed adjusting again and I pulled it down. The outer bearing was extremely worn, the inner race was really worn and the cage was breaking up. The outer race wasnt much better. Bad bearing, I thought. I hunted down new bearings and while they arrive I installed an old New Departure bearing that I saved when I replaced it. It was in good serviceable order. After 100 miles or so- it needed adjusting. I pulled it out and it looks to be wearing, hard to tell.
Am I adjusting it incorrectly? Tighten to 33 ft-lb, then back off up to 1/6 turn to get the split pin in. Any looseness means a heap of play at the rim, so I err on the tight side. Plenty of grease. I will check for a bent spindle but I cant recall any hit and they were NOS. Anyone got any knowledge? As I say, the passenger side is fine.

spin the wheel as you tighten the nut up, does it feel like it is getting tight in one spot? I have heard of a race getting bound and not seating all the way against the hub and then as it was run, it would move in and the bearings loosen up. It almost seems like you may have had a race that was not seated properly, either not in straight or not in all the way.
Also, I believe the ball type bearings are not supposed to be as tight as the Timken tapered roller bearings.

Sounds to me like your inboard bearing inner race didn't get seated properly against the face of the spindle. There should be a grease slinger/shield dohicky behind that inner race. Most of those slinger deals don't fit very well - they're loose on the spindle and will hang slight off center until you seat that inner race against it. The inboard id of that race has a radius chamffer on it that matches the radius at the root of the spindle. If that slinger isn't hanging just right it will interfere with that fit and won't allow that inner race to seat properly. I usually put a small dab of silicone on the back side of those slingers to help them stick in place, centered, until I can drive the inner bearing race up tight against it.

Sounds to me like you had been adjusting them correctly, 33ft lb and back off as the service manual describes.
This page and the next:
http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/shop/1948_51truck/51ctsm0307.htm

In my opinion this procedure results in a little more tension on the bearings than Timken tapered roller bearings usually get.

I too suspect that something was or is not seated fully, be it a race in the hub or the dust shield keeping the inner bearing from sitting back on the shoulder of the spindle.
Or, bent spindle might be an issue but sounds unlikely in your case.

Could be damage to a race from driving it in with a steel punch instead of a nicely fitting circular tool as you'd use in the press?

Were the hubs thoroughly cleaned of old grease and who knows what inside?

Grigg

Look at the wear pattern on the cup. It should follow the same track all way round the cup. If you can see that the "track" follows an elliptical path, then the cup is not square with the cone.

Where did you get the spindles? NOS? Sometimes parts were never sold because they were defective and when sold as a lot the fact that they were defective gets lost. I have found ring gears with one bolt hole not tapped, connecting rods not finish bored and other weird defects. One spindle might be bent between the inner and outer bearing, which could result in bearing failure.

I recently ran across a heavy truck transmission that had been incorrectly machined from the factory, resulting in repeated bearing failure. Of course it was out of warranty so it cost $500 to have the machine shop bore the bearing bore square and sleeve it back to standard.

Thanks for the help. I will check that inner inside race against the grease seal. that may be it. I know the change from a thud to a ringing when the bearing gets home. I am pretty sure I would have noticed, but you never know. The hubs had the bearings removed and a thorough clean.
The failed bearing most certainly has uneven, possibly elliptical wear. If its a spindle I will need to find another. Painful.
Looks like a full stripdown so I can check the spindle is true between centres. The answer is in there somewhere.