Date: Sat, 28 May 2016 09:41:30 -0400
Reply-To: Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: {front} wheel bearings on an '88 Westy
In-Reply-To: <A120DE1A-1428-4424-9826-47B9BF9E32C9@NBNet.nb.ca>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
You won't feel an overtighten wheel bearing by spinning the wheel or tire. The brake drag alone will mask that. Won’t be noticeable until after the destruction. This is what you do. Get a feeler gauge set. Loosen the nut, place a .002 feeler between the thrust washer and bearing. Snug up the nut with the feeler in there. Mark the location of the nut. Loosen, remove the feeler. Return the nut to that marked positon an lock it down. You are set. As the final test you should just barley be able to slide that thrust washer.
Dennis
-----Original Message-----
From: Roy Nicholl [mailto:RNicholl@NBNet.nb.ca]
Sent: Saturday, May 28, 2016 9:02 AM
To: Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM>
Cc: Vw Agon <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Subject: Re: {front} wheel bearings on an '88 Westy
Dennis:
Over-tightening the bearings is my concern. Is it possible for things to feel too tight (maybe like there is drag on the wheels)?
I guess I get to lift the van this weekend, pull the wheels and check the hubs.
The old mechanic who owns the shop would have known about the wear of the spindles and not to tighten beyond the proper pre-load, but he doesn’t do much of the work anymore.
> On 27-May-2016, at 23:17, Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
> Usually if they really loosened it was due to the races not being fully pressed in. Some of the tools shops use to press them in do not quite fit the Vanagon bearings or hub. On the outer bearing the tool may bottom out and for inner most of the bearing tool driver sets do not have the correct size for that large bearing race. If the peening on the nut was not sufficient that would be obvious.
>
> More concerning is that most of these spindles now have enough wear on them that the outer bearing is not a tight fit. As such even after proper adjustment (preload-gap) the unloaded wheel will be able to move up-down, back-forth slightly making the bearing look loose. In this case tightening until the play is gone will mean an overtightened bearing with a resulting short life or unexpected failure. Bearing need some room for thermal conditions and space for the lubricant to be between the rollers and races.
>
> Dennis
>
>
