My Pete rebuild

[Nostalgic]

RF has the same wear - there was a spacer between the bearings on it, but both nuts were only finger tight. Spindle wear from 4-8 o'clock. You can rock the bearing on the spindle from top to bottom, but not side to side. Maybe I can get away using my mistake order of loctite 680?

[pearce trucking]

Yeah. I bought my 386 in 2015. Chased a shimmy and pulled the drive axles. My nuts also were finger tight. I torqued them to spec. Around 300 ft lbs. I can't imagine people doing them loose like that. But they do. And it's not like they loosen over time. The washer stops that!

[Chamberpains]

What a shame. Thats the result of some knucklehead wrench that didn't know proper torquing of those wheel ends and probably torqued them go a non crush sleeve spec. of 50 ft/lbs and back off a 1/4 turn. Yours with the sleeve should be a final straight torque of 300 ft/lbs, no back off.

I know axle doctor will come out and repair it at your site. They're not crazy expensive. I dont know how bad it is but they'll machine and sleeve the surface if need be.

[the missing link]

On the truck lean . Most of the time , I found if a truck is leaning it is in the steering axel springs . You might have said but is it in the driver's side . If it is , the last alliment shop did that to compensate for the crown in the road or could have . Measure the shims on the front axel .Just my own little rant on things .

[Nostalgic]

At least with a boat there's a chance of catching a fish, but this money pit has no end in sight.

I called Hunter's for prices on new housings, and while talking with my parts guy, got the number for Liberty Welding. He said he'd do them, (the price was more than a new housing, but that unless I had >.015" wear, I shouldn't waste the money and to throw the damned spacer away and set my end play to .002-006".

I'm no machinist, as I've stated, but I'm reading .007-.008" wear on the rear, and right around .010" wear on the front, with the spindle being .002" undersized overall.

Time for a nap to decide what I'm doing with it.

[Nostalgic]

(11-09-2018 )the missing link Wrote:  On the truck lean . Most of the time , I found if a truck is leaning it is in the steering axel springs . You might have said but is it in the driver's side . If it is , the last alliment shop did that to compensate for the crown in the road or could have . Measure the shims on the front axel .Just my own little rant on things .

It's the passenger rear. I measured frame height at a few points at the steer and both sides were equal - and the cab doesn't have any lean to it that I can see, it's just the frame rail on the passenger rear. Since replacing the RR leaf, it went from 3/4 or so low to 3/8" low - I'm pretty confident that if I changed the FR also it would take that last 3/8" out.

[Nostalgic]

(11-09-2018 )pearce trucking Wrote:  Yeah. I bought my 386 in 2015. Chased a shimmy and pulled the drive axles. My nuts also were finger tight. I torqued them to spec. Around 300 ft lbs. I can't imagine people doing them loose like that. But they do. And it's not like they loosen over time. The washer stops that!

With wear, I can see how the inner nut could possibly go from 300 ft lbs to finger tight against the bearing, especially if it's never been checked in 600k. But if the outer was torqued against the inner to 250 ft lbs, I can't see how anything could rotate enough for both to go finger tight without shearing a pin/lock-tab, but I may be wrong, it doesn't take a lot of rotation on the jam nuts.

My hubs are corroded, and there's mixed information on bearing types as to if I can just toss the crush sleeves or not, etc, that I said f'it, I'll put 4 new hub assemblies on it and call it a day. I don't have the luxury to let it sit where it is - it has to be together and out of the bay by Tuesday. That, and I REALLY don't want to sink $10k into rear housing at this point, which is about what it would cost all said and done.

[Nostalgic]

Rawze - It's been a couple years? since you did your wheel bearing videos. Wondering if you've been back in to check it or had any issues with putting that high of a preload on without a spacer?

[Rawze]

(11-10-2018 )Nostalgic Wrote:  Rawze - It's been a couple years? since you did your wheel bearing videos. Wondering if you've been back in to check it or had any issues with putting that high of a preload on without a spacer?

I have to torque mine about every 200k miles, even with crush sleeves. They do work themselves loose through wear, stress and fatigue of those aluminum hubs over time.

Quote:The term 'backlash' or 'end-play' is used when you can measure looseness with a dial indicator. The term 'preload' is used when your tightening something beyond 0.0 backlash and now putting resistance on the metal parts.

You could always simply put a sleeved match bearings in the hubs, torque them to about 300 ft-lbs, make sure you can spin the hub with one hand, but should have some resistance. Use a dial indicator to ensure you don't have backlash. -- Most of the bearing manufacturers of that size and type of bearings will tell you that they will actually last the longest when there is 0.001" pre-load (.001" tighter than the the point of no clearance at all, as shown in picture above) on them vs having some bit if .001-.003" backlash clearances. The only thing you want to avoid is having them so tight that the hubs get hot.


Many of the old documents would suggest 0.002 - 0.004" play instead of any preload, but with these newer/cheaper aluminum hubs, they tend to come loose and/or cause excess tire wear.

- If you can spin it by hand with some resistance, it is likely pretty close. - A dial indicator is your friend. Adjust the nut for 0.004" clearance initially. Then turn it until you get 0.003" clarance. - This will tell you how far to turn it for each 0.001". -- After that, if the hubs are aluminum, you don't want to leave them there despite what a bunch of morons at a shop would tell you. Torque them to 300 ft-lbs WITH THE SLEEVES REMOVED in increments while spining the hub a few times around until you get to 300. This will seat the OUTER RACES of the bearings completely in the hub and cause them to settle where they will likely ride under load. - Back it off again all the way. -- Next, install the sleeve, then adjust to the minimum torque required for 0.001" backlash, then turn the nut so that you remove an additional 0.002". this will put you at 0.001" preload (0.001" TIGHTER than the point where there is no more play). -- All while everything is completely dry, no oil on it yet. With sleeves, you will likely find you are now at about 300 ft-lbs or so. Without sleeves, you will likely you are around 70 - 80 ft-lbs or so.

-- This is how I played with mine, I suggest people follow correct procedures and read the manual, make their own decisions.

-- If you go with bearings without sleeves, you need to re-check them again in about 60 - 80k miles to ensure they did not seat further and get loose again. With the wear already on your spindles though,.. your only option though IS sleeved bearings.

the drivers side is the side that gets loose, the passenger side almost always never does, but needs checking anyways just to be safe and avoid what has happened to them already. The reason the drivers side gets loose first, is that the forward direction of travel of the truck makes the nuts want to back themselves off over time. -- I looked at those pictures and thought to myself --, "Sheer Neglect!". -- And people wonder WHY they have nothing but problems out of their equipment. Re-torquing your hub bearings every 250k miles ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVE ALUMINUM HUBS (most trucks do now) is a must, not a suggestion!.