wheel bearing won't tighten?

whitneyj

whitneyj

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2008
Location
Mayville, WI
Did a little searching and didn't find what I'm looking for. I've got a Ford hpd44 with all new bearings/races and with the p/s bearings torqued, rotated, and backed off, the hub still has alot of play in it-I can move the wheel back and forth. What's worn out that I'm missing? The spindle looked good, it's tight on the knuckle, the hub looked fine when I installed the new races. The races did go in very easily, maybe the races spun in the hub and wallowed it out?
 
like how much motion ? How much are you backing off? Does it do it with the nut snug? (rule that part out) Put a large slip join on the TREs and see how much you can compress them ~1/8" is normal over that they might be worn out. Try moving wheel from top/bottom.
 
I'm tightening the nut to 50 lbs, turning forward 5 times, backward 5 times, backing off 1/8-1/4" turn, torque to 35 lbs. The balljoints are tight, I don't run TRE's. You can actually see the movement of the rotor/hub vs. the knuckle.

All bearings and races are new, the races did go in the hub too easily. I think the races may have spun in the hub. Someone on pirate said that maybe I ran out of thread on the spindle and to try putting a washer in between the bearing and the spindle nut. But with everthing brand new I dont see how I'd be running out of threads on the spindle.
 
Are you sure you have the correct bearings?
 
Been a long time since I had a D44 apart, however, on every wheel bearing job I've ever done there was a washer between the outer bearing and the nut. Was there one there before you took it apart? Have you done both sides? If not, it might be wise to look at the other side to compare. It's easy to forget or misplace parts.
 
I matched the bearings I pulled vs. the ones I put in: same ID-OD, I never checked width, didn't think I needed too. Neither sides had a washer when I tore then apart, neither did the Dodge d44 I tore apart. I would think that they need one, seeing how you don't want something tightening right against a bearing. I may try the washer idea when I get home tonight.
 
I just did the bearings on my HP 44. There is a nut with a nipple on it that points out, then a washer with holes in it and the nipple has to go in one of the holes, then another washer. Did you get all those in? Did you get the nipple lined up in a hole on the washer?
 
yes, I have the spindle nuts and indexing washer installed correctly
 
They were when I installed them, but I think they may have spun in the hub. Would that have possibly wallowed the hub out?
 
whitneyj said:
They were when I installed them, but I think they may have spun in the hub. Would that have possibly wallowed the hub out?
Click to expand...

YES.

don't worry about torque numbers. tighten them as friggin tight as you can, to seat everything. back them up so that the rotor spins easily by hand (grab a lug stud and spin hard, it should make about one full turn) if the hub still has exessive movement, something is worn out. double check to make sure the indexing washer/nut are installed correctly so that it doesn't back off.
 
The outer race has spun, but the hub isn't wallowed out yet. I had run out of threads on the spindle, so I made a washer for both sides, set the bearings, backed off, and torqued them and they're good now. Is there a fix for the hubs vs. buying new ones? Maybe hit it with a center punch a couple times?
 
so far so good at least. I made it out of 1/2" plate steel and a dremel. I'm going to start making them in bulk and selling them.
 
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