The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Torque setting for tapered roller bearings on a 58 apache

Does anyone know the proper procedure and torque settings for the new style tapered roller bearings. I'm putting them on the front of my 59 Apache, and I'm not sure how to go about tightening them and what initial and final torque settings I should be at.

Got the conversion kit from ClassicParts (formerly Chevy Duty) There website had directions, but said nothing about tightening the spindle nut, and a search on this forum did not turn up any old threads dealing with this issue.

Thanks for your help.

I believe that I initially had them on two loose, then tightened them too much, and will probably have to replace them again. Just don't want to do it a third time. But as a good friend said to me "I can screw it up twice for what it costs me to have someone else do it right the first time."

I doubt there's a "proper procedure" considering that it's an "undocumented modification", with neither the spindle nor bearings being intended for it ... otherwise I'd tighten the nut well, spin the wheel, then back off one slot for the pin

as for replacing them repeatedly, keep in mind that you have spindles with 50 years of wear and abuse that you're trying to use bearings on that do not exactly match the original bearing size specs ... "upgrades", sometimes aren't

example:
outer ball bearing [B01]: bore=19.044mm/ outer dia=52.8447mm
outer roller [MBS 909001R]: bore=19.057mm/outer dia=52.832mm

Bill

Thanks Bill, I didn't realise the slight size difference in the races.

I'm sure somone on here has made this conversion sucessfully before. Can anyone tell me the procedure they used?

My best guess is to spin the wheel and tighten the nut until there is just some resistence indicating that the bearings are just starting to bind then back it off till it spins free again and put the pin in it at that point.

My probem is that i've never changed wheel bearings before and really don't have a feel for how they should go together.

your 'best guess' is correct for normal bearing setup, ball or roller, usually it's back the nut off only to the nearest notch that lines up the pin - if you do it that way and munch the bearings, you have a fit problem - my experience with the torque spec number in the manual is it's way too tight

I know a number of folks here have said they've installed the rollers from the vendors [that's where I got the roller numbers to reearch], but I haven't seen anyone come back to say they worked fine after extended use

Bill

I'm gonna bet you haven't seen anyone say that they have failed either, Bill.

I'm coming up on 6000 miles since I converted. I did bury them a little at first to make sure everything seated, then used the same method described by lucky. After several checks, everything has maintianed a good feel so far. I suppose we'll see about that extended use concern.

Haven't had any problems with mine.

Thanks for the confirmation that I'm thinking along the right lines bill.

Avette4me, and Longbox55 Thanks for letting me know there are folks out there who have done this successfully. Seems like this ought to be a better and stronger setup. I'm running radial tires and a 327 with a cam, headders, an intake. I thought the upgrade was justified, and the old ball bearings and races were toast.

I'm running oversize (30x9.50x15) radials on mine, handles great with them. I have had it up to highway speeds (70 mph or so) and had absolutly no issues. Just make sure you pack them with a good quality wheel bearing grease, and adjust them as red58 sais, you'll be fine.

Most of the time the procedure for new or reinstaled whewel berings is after everything has been eased in to place to make sure the outer bering went all the way into the race, turn the wheel by hand while tightning the spindle nut nice and easy, continue turning and tightning untill the wheel stops, this insures that both berings have gone all the way into the racees, then back off 1/4 to 1/2 a turn, spin the wheel and if it rolls freely it should be ok, if not loosen to the next key hole untill it does, you are better to run slightly loose than slightly tight, you'll loose atight bering but not aslightly loose one,there is really no torque specs for wheel bering procedures, it is a feel by hand setup, I learned the hard way on a 4000 series rear end with barrel berings too much tight is no good.

here is a good article on tapered preloads
http://www.sae.org/technical/papers/942295