Loose front wheel bearing

[Olazz]

Just had truck MOT'd and told front wheel bearing loose. I had CV's rebuilt and new bearings fitted all round about 6,000 miles ago.

Am I right in assuming I can just knock off the end cap, remove flange, lock nut, and then just tighten the bearing hand tight checking preload to 15lbs?

Or do I need to remove the whole hub and repack with grease again to do this job.

Anyone know how long this job takes as I might tackle it today while warm and sunny in Herts!

 

[Bat21]

Yup, just do as you have described... if you do it with the wheel on* it is easier to check when you have eliminated the freeplay.

Should only take an hour max

* you might have to take the wheel off first to knock the cap off

 

[Andrew Prince]

Yes, that should work - just remember that according to the FSM, you're supposed to torque up the lock-nuts to 47ft-lbs (off the top of my head ) and then back off. I presume the temporary tighter setting is to ensure that the races are forced into place.

If you haven't seen this write-up from Julian then it's worth a read.

Pretty simple job If you just want to re-torque, you can do it with the wheel on as Paul indicates but if you want to pull the hub off and inspect the bearings, then it'll be easier without the wheel attached to the hub As you're going in anyway, I would personally inspect the bearings and have some lithium grease to hand in case they weren't well greased first time.

You might want to use a new tab/lock washer - if the one in there has worked loose or lost a tab, then that would explain why the pre-load was lost.

Cheers,

 

[Olazz]

Thanks guys great help!

 

[Olazz]

Ok done both fronts...

To my astonishment I could turn both the lock nut and the bearing nut by hand on both wheels! The lock washer was in place correctly
there was no preload at all..

So the question is, how often should I be checking the bearings.... and would they now be beyond serviceable use? I don't know how long I've been driving with them in that state.

 

[Bat21]

Ok done both fronts...

To my astonishment I could turn both the lock nut and the bearing nut by hand on both wheels! The lock washer was in place correctly
there was no preload at all..

So the question is, how often should I be checking the bearings.... and would they now be beyond serviceable use? I don't know how long I've been driving with them in that state.

The answer was in your first post.

.... I had CV's rebuilt and new bearings fitted all round about 6,000 miles ago.

It's always good practice to recheck the bearings once things have 'bedded in' following a rebuild

They should be fine now but, I guess it won't hurt to recheck them after another few thousand miles.

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

If you had the work done by someone else, it can depend if they're used to Landcruisers or LR's. On LR's it's normal (I've been told) to have a little bit of play, on a cruiser that leads very quickly to a lot of play.

 

[Olazz]

The answer was in your first post

Ok, I realise that, wasnt sure if bearings have been loose for whole time or just last 500 mls.

Lets hope then that all's well.

Many thanks for the guidance and help.