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Wheel bearing adjustment

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Bruce74B

Jedi Knight
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I need some experienced help from you guys. I just rebuilt the front suspension on my 74 B and have spent a lot of time to do it right. New shocks, springs and now wheel bearings. I spent 4 hours yesterday installng the wheel bearings. I read what I had in the Bentley and got some information here from some old posts.

The left side went rather well...I started with 4 shims and had a little too much play, so I removed the thinest shim and retorqued the nut. Now 40 ft lbs takes the nut past the hole for the cotter pin and 70 ft lbs does not reach the next hole...should I back off to 30 lbs or tighen the nut to the next hole??? How tight is too tight???
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The right side has taken more time. I started with 3 shims (that I removed and cleaned from before) and it bound when finger tightened. I have removed the entire assemble and rechecked everything, added another 3 shims and it still binds, but does not wobble. How many shims can be added here without causing trouble???

Any and all suggestions are appreciated.

Bruce
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Current thinking is that you can leave out all of the shims and adjust just as you would a std. wheel bearing; tighten, back off, slip in cotter pin, you're done.
Although skeptical at first, I now have a good selection of shims hanging on a peg.
 
But if I don't use any shims, the wheel wont turn at all...and it is dragging with 6 shims in it. How much torque is too much?

Bruce
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As Chris said above:
" Current thinking is that you can leave out all of the shims and adjust just as you would a std. wheel bearing; tighten, back off, slip in cotter pin, you're done.
Although skeptical at first, I now have a good selection of shims hanging on a peg."

A quote from the reference link above:
"MGB's have a spacer and some shims that go in the hub between the bearings. Use them if you must, but you don't have to. These items are engineering overkill, not really needed, and not likely to fit properly with new bearings, so we'll leave them out and do this like it's done on a billion other cars. Tighten the spindle nut good and snug, rotate the hub or hub/wheel assembly a couple of turns, back the nut off until slack, and re-tighten lightly.

If a cotter pin hole lines up with the slots in the nut you're set. If not tighten the nut ever-so slightly and check again, if the pin will go in, do it. If still not back the nut off until it will. Give the hub/wheel a couple of turns, press/shake it sidewise and up and down to detect any looseness. No looseness? Bend the cotter pin to secure it. Looseness? Remove the pin, tighten the nut to the next slot. Some spindles have two cotter pin holes, one vertical and one horizontal. Look for this and use whichever one makes the hub fit best."
D
 
Never used shims in the wheeel bearings. Just treat it like a 1955 chevy and tighten until it feels right. "Shims" is another British word like "whilest". Dont worry aabout it.
 
I am 48 years old and know "what feels right" and this was a head scratcher! I messed with it for a while...couldn't get the wheels to turn without shims. Torqued the left side down and backed off with 3 shims and backed off to line up the cotter pin with no problem. The right side took 6 shims to spin and lots of torque to line up the hole. But now, both spin well and no wobble.
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Got her put back together and took her out for a drive...even let my wife drive her for a bit...after all, it was Mothers' Day!
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It great to be back on the road again!

Bruce
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Many years ago I had a friend that had a '57 chevy and was always replacing front wheel bearings. He was getting them too tight. I told my father and he showed me how he adjusted them and had never had any go bad. I started doing it that way and also have never had any go bad.
I use a wrench and put a medium amount of torque to seat the bearings then back off until the bearings have play and shake the wheel on the top and at the same time tighten the nut with a socket without the handle by hand until the play is gone. Then I line up a hole for the cotter pin in the direction of least turning. This is usually very small maybe less than a 1/8th turn. If I have to go much ****her in the tightening direction I will go to the loosening direction. I little play is better than too tight and losing the bearings due to squeezing out all the grease when rolling.
Bob

[ 05-10-2004: Message edited by: mrbassman ]</p>
 
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