At 12:25 PM 2/23/03, Nick Tucker wrote:
This is a silly question as I already know the answer but I just want to field the question anyway.
This morning I had a terrible grinding sound from the drivers front wheel. Pulled the wheel off and rotated the rotor and listened to some nice grinding noise, bearing felt loose too. Anyway popped the hub cover off to expose the outside race, cleaned the grease off, noticing some metal fragments as I went. From what I can see if looks like one of the
cone bearings (lack of technical name) is missing. If I squeezed all the space between them out it looks like I could fit another one in there. I assume that is the case and there should be no spacing between them. That true?
New bearings need to be installed, can anyone give me the PITA factor on this?

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Not too bad - nasty, though. Getting the cap off is a pain in the rear - you can just keep tapping, or you can use a wooden block to help avoid damage to the cap.

Be sure to install a new seal along with all new bearings and races. You must thoroughly clean the hub and spindle of all old grease and metalparticles. I like to use the soft, black moly grease.

The goal of adjusting the bearings is to have zero clearance and zero preload. The Workshop Manual suggests tightening the nut until you can just move the washer under it with a screwdriver. Another way to do that is to tighten the nut as you turn the hub; stop turning the hub; loosen the nut; tighten the nut as tightly as you can with your fingers - no tool, just your fingers. Check for clearance (free play) by trying to shake the hub - if there is any clearance or free play, do the adjustment again. Unless you are Superman, it is impossible for you to put preload on with your fingers.
Be sure to tighten the lock on the nut.

Go to http://www.nichols.nu/tip235.htm  for more info.

Wally Plumley
928 Specialists