A little tight, or a little loose ?

[MANTAJ]

I recently replaced my inner/outer bearings, races, and grease seals on my trailer. My question is, would it be better for the wheel to have a little wobble, or for the bearing to be a little tight? It seems like when I adjust the castle nut, it is either too tight or too loose.

 

[SpinnerBait_Nut]

Re: A little tight, or a little loose ?

You do not want any play/wobble in your bearings. If you do they will wear out from the side to side movement.<br />Tighten the nut till you have all the wobble out and give it enough to get to the next hole to put the pin through. This should be enough.

 

[Jhall]

Re: A little tight, or a little loose ?

Usually with wheel bearings you pre-load them by torquing the nut to the manufacturers spec, backing off on the nut, then retighten the nuts hand tight plus a quarter turn.

 

[Pascal]

Re: A little tight, or a little loose ?

Hi Mantaj<br /><br />I gota go against the flow here. where tapered roller bearings are used as wheel bearings the specs are for 1 to 10 thousandths of an inch end play. this allows for hub expansion due to heat expecially with brakes on the axle end..thats the spec for pickups, RWD cars and semi's.<br /><br />the preload of 1/4 turn past finger tight will result in around 0.020 crush on the bearing. way to much.. especially if water enters the bearing. <br /><br />generic procedure for free spindle wheel bearing adjustment is <br /><br />1. tighten nut to about 25 ft/lb with wheel rotating<br /><br />2. back nut off till loose.<br /><br />3. tighten finger tight<br /><br />4. back off to first notch and install cotter pin<br /><br />that will get ya in the range of the 1 to 10 thou. spec. not too loose and not too tight just right!!<br /><br />Gene

 

[boatingfool]

Re: A little tight, or a little loose ?

Just the title of your post alone I had to reply!<br />The tighter the better of course!! <br />My mind usually isnt in the gutter but I couldnt resist with this one!

 

[Boatist]

Re: A little tight, or a little loose ?

Manta<br />I agree with Pascal on this one the Bearing need to be loose or it will over heat.<br />Tighten down good and snug and rotate wheel to make sure it is seated.<br />Back off till loose, then hand tighten and put on your castle nut or carter key. If need to turn it for nut or key then loosen to first spot.<br /><br />See link and look under setting the bearing or pre load bearing.<br /><br /> http://www.championtrailers.com/techsup.html#pre-loadbearings

 

[jeff_nicholas]

Re: A little tight, or a little loose ?

My personal experience says, 'Better a little too loose than a little too tight'. I didn't learn this until after I'd blown two hubs -- it's no fun looking in your rear view mirror, seeing your trailer wheel canted, wobbling and belching blue smoke.

 

[skydad]

Re: A little tight, or a little loose ?

Hand tighten the nut and if it doesn't line up with the hole in the axle, back off until it does. Loose is better than tight in this case anyway.

 

[MANTAJ]

Re: A little tight, or a little loose ?

Thanks you guys for all the replies and help. After much debate, I decided to go for the little too tight option (I hadn’t read any of these replies yet) I towed the boat down to Monterey this weekend from the bay area (about 150 miles or so) and I’m happy to report there were no problems. I pulled over about half way to check on things, the hubs were warm, but definitely not hot. Thanks again for all your help.

 

[jlshields]

Re: A little tight, or a little loose ?

Boatist, CARTER KEY!!!!! I thought us Hoosier farm boys were the only ones who called them that. Sorta like a quart of ORL. In town they call them cotter key. John

 

[Jhall]

Re: A little tight, or a little loose ?

That procedure was what I remembered from replacing the bearings on my car. For some good technical information regarding trailers and wheel bearings try this site: http://www.championtrailers.com/techsup.html#pre-loadbearings

 

[Boatist]

Re: A little tight, or a little loose ?

Jhall<br />Same link as eariler in thread, but correct info.