Front Wheel Bearing and Hub assembly Qs
Posted: April 26th, 2008, 11:34 pm
Good Evening,
I took off my front drums to inspect shoe lining thickness, and prepare for a change of wheel cylinders and flex lines. On the driver side, I noticed that the two top bolts (of the three bolts) that secure the backing plate to the spindle have a groove worn into the head of the bolt. Flipping the drum over, it is obvious that the inside of the drum where the inner wheel bearing resides was in contact with these bolt heads.
I should point out that I have run the car twice in the last month, and have not noticed any peculiar issues. I did notice that the driver side wheel bearing was a little sloppy after the first event, so I reset the clearance before last weekends event.
Inspecting the inner wheel bearing (standard ball type) it appears as if the balls have been pushed toward the outside (away from the car) about 1/8" of an inch. I can literally push the balls in and out with a gentle touch of a finger. It appears that this displacement of the balls is allowing the entire drum to push onto the stub axle too far, and thus drum to bolt head contact is made.
So the obvious question is...is this a syndrome of a bad inner wheel bearing? Or has something with the drum causeed the wheel bearing to have this type of outward movement? Did I perhaps tighten the front axle nut too much during my wheel bearing set, and somehow caused the inner bearing to be displaced?
I have not changed front wheel bearings on this car (one of the few things I have not changed yet) so I'm a n00b at this procedure. Any tips or guidance on the cause of this issue, as well as wheel bearing replacement would be appreciated.
Thank you,
Chris H.
Chico, CA
'64 AD
I took off my front drums to inspect shoe lining thickness, and prepare for a change of wheel cylinders and flex lines. On the driver side, I noticed that the two top bolts (of the three bolts) that secure the backing plate to the spindle have a groove worn into the head of the bolt. Flipping the drum over, it is obvious that the inside of the drum where the inner wheel bearing resides was in contact with these bolt heads.
I should point out that I have run the car twice in the last month, and have not noticed any peculiar issues. I did notice that the driver side wheel bearing was a little sloppy after the first event, so I reset the clearance before last weekends event.
Inspecting the inner wheel bearing (standard ball type) it appears as if the balls have been pushed toward the outside (away from the car) about 1/8" of an inch. I can literally push the balls in and out with a gentle touch of a finger. It appears that this displacement of the balls is allowing the entire drum to push onto the stub axle too far, and thus drum to bolt head contact is made.
So the obvious question is...is this a syndrome of a bad inner wheel bearing? Or has something with the drum causeed the wheel bearing to have this type of outward movement? Did I perhaps tighten the front axle nut too much during my wheel bearing set, and somehow caused the inner bearing to be displaced?
I have not changed front wheel bearings on this car (one of the few things I have not changed yet) so I'm a n00b at this procedure. Any tips or guidance on the cause of this issue, as well as wheel bearing replacement would be appreciated.
Thank you,
Chris H.
Chico, CA
'64 AD