Front wheel bearing adjustment: how to

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Folks,

Tried to re-adjust my Ford F15A front wheel bearings today, as per the manual, but somehow it did not work out as intended.

It states "tighten the nut until the wheel becomes hard to turn" but however hard I tightned it, the wheel kept easy to rotate. Am I missing something?

I expect to having to remove some shims as the bearing settles / wears out: is this correct?

Thanks in advance!

Hanno

[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

[Lynn Eades]

Hanno, I am not familiar with the set up, but it sounds like you have a spacer and shims between the two Timken taper rollers.
It sounds like you should remove? (or add?) a shim and try again.
You would need to first check that the bearings are in good order. (check the inner races under the rollers).
When checking to find out if any movement (play) is in your king pins or wheel bearings. When you have the wheel off the ground and you are moving the wheel in and out (top and bottom)
If you have someone apply the brakes, and the movement stops, it is the wheel bearings. If it continues, it is the king pin bearings.