Hub nut how tight?

[Chris Fella]

Hi I have just finished cleaning and painting my front wheel assembly and putting the hub on, the manual talks about a comparator. Which I don't have of course can I not just torque it up?

maybe just tighten it a little and then put in the cotter pin. I guess you just don't want any lateral movement but allowing the hub to turn without too much resistance.

All help greatly appreciated.

Chris

[John Brase]

Here's is how I do it (no guarantee that it is the correct way but it has always worked for me).

Tighten the nut to 10 lb/ft while rotating the hub, then loosen the nut about 1/4 turn till the cotter pin hole lines up. After you put the wheel back on check the play by trying to rock the wheel at the 12 and 6 o'clock positions. There should be just a very slight, almost imperceptible, play.

[Chris Fella]

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Brase Here's is how I do it (no guarantee that it is the correct way but it has always worked for me). Tighten the nut to 10 lb/ft while rotating the hub, then loosen the nut about 1/4 turn till the cotter pin hole lines up. After you put the wheel back on check the play by trying to rock the wheel at the 12 and 6 o'clock positions. There should be just a very slight, almost imperceptible, play.

[Travis_k]

The milano manual has more detailed instructions, basicly you tighten t to seat the bearing, the loose and retorque it, then back the nut off 90 degrees and put the cotter pin in. I have replaced one of my wheel bearings twice in the last 1000 miles and it still wont stay tight though, so those instructions may not be the best.

[racingswim2006]

FYI - especially if you track your car, not as relevant if you don't but still important:

These things, if replaced carelessly, are usually overtightened. When those bearings heat up, they expand (of course). When cold there should be a slight amount of perceptible play, and I detect it by rocking top of wheel back and forth while car is loaded on the ground. Obviously you don't want the thing clunking and moving around, BUT an extreme case scenario of overtightened bearing on the track means abnormally high hub temperatures, lending towards early bearing and brake failure.

Don't mean it to sound like a "duh" moment, but just passing along the info from those 116 guys wiser than myself...

[Biba69]

Rob, any idea of how much the hubs/bearings expand? A little or a lot? Quite frankly I've never considered that aspect. I have a strange combination on my '75 Alfetta GT. A '79 Alfetta hub with the outer 'sleeve' machined to take the same bearing as on the GTV6's and Milano's. Along with their front stub axles. At first everything seemed to 'bolt up' right on the button. No play on the wheels and the machine shop obviously was spot on in that there was no indication they got it off center.

However, I now find I have a lot of play in the wheels. I'll add that I did a complete rebuild on the front suspension two years ago. For now I've tightened one of the hubs way more than it should be - I'd guess 14 ft. pds. It gets a bit warmer than the other one, but not all that much. Even though the bearings have only about 1500 miles on them, I'm going to replace them with new ones and might have to add some spacers because I believe they might have machined too deep.

Sorry didn't mean to hijack this thread. What I'm wondering though is if a bit tighter than spec is really okay. Why should there be space between the washer and nut? A tiny amount of space there, and it is amplified considerably at the treads.

I'll add that I'd never suggest tightening well worn hub bearings 'extra' tight, because in that case one is trying to make up for wear. New bearings are not all that expensive.

Biba