Front wheel bearing adjustment: how to

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Hanno

From your description I take it that you did remove the center spacer as well as the shims. Take it that you are doing this with just the brake drum and hub and not with the tire assembly. Does the Ford Manual mention that the hub may not seat all the way because of tight splines?

When I have adjusted my trucks the tightening with the 8" wrench always resulted in drag on turning the wheel.

What is strange is that none of my trucks have shims or ever had shims as far as I can tell. The adjustment procedure seems to come out correctly anyway according to the book when the spacer is reinstalled and tightened.

Over the years I've also gone over to checking bearing play with a dial indicator to measure wheel and drum movement when the wheel is jacked up and a pry bar is used to try and lift the bottom of the wheel. I've kept notes on how much play is seen from year to year so far no measurable change. Went over to dial indicator to save removing the nut keepers when placements were not to be had.

Cheers Phil