350i front hub nuts

[ralph350i]

Evening Guys
Well giving the car the once over before the Mot and found the front hubs to have movement in, removed cap and found the hub nut lose, are these torqued or just hand tighten please, Regards, Ralph

[Jack Valiant]

Hi Ralph, try this:

Romove wheel and support on axle stand

remove hub cap
Remove split pin
Undo castillated nut with its washers ( x2 one flat one with slot remember order they fit)
Remove outer wheel bearing and race (examine for wear in the race if in an doubt replace, also have a close look at the inner bearing for the same) i would recommend changing anyway if you do not know the history
Clean and re-pack with grease both in the hub and the bearing
Replace into the hub
Tighten the nut until you feel resistance on rotation of the hub, back off 1/4 turn
Re-fit a new split pin
Pack the hub cap with grease and refit

Replace wheel and check for end float from top to bottom of the wheel. There should be a slight amount of end float
if excessive repeat and tighten. If the excessive play persists then hub removal and replacement of the inner bearing will be required with a press.

Good luck!

Chris

[MrPicky]

If there isn't enough end play then if you break heavily a few times the temperature will transfer from the disk to the hub and cause it to expand. This will cause the bearings to lock up and maybe spin in the hub - wrecking the hub.

Initially torque the nut up to 27 ft/lb to seat the bearings and to ensure the wheel turns, then loosen off.

The end float needs to be 1thou to 5 thou (0.03mm to 0.13mm) if the thread pitch is about 1.25mm then 0.13 is about 1/0th of a turn

[ralph350i]

Cheers Chris and Mrpicky
Thank you both very much, will attack this weekend, cheers, Ralph

[adam quantrill]

I've usually done it by hand and feel with no problems, echo the cleaning and repacking with grease, I usually use Moly grease myself (the black stuff).

[RCK974X]

I tend to tighten until you can *just* feel a bit of movement, with the wheel attached and rocking the tyre with your hands. That's possibly a little too much play? not sure.

Some UK MOT testers used to say the wheel bearings were "a bit slack but OK",
NZ testers typically say, "They're OK, but you can tighten them so there's no play at all".

Hmmm... not convinced about that, may be OK for the modern Subaru buzz box, but Wedges are older designs...

(NB. I always tend to ask if tester has seen anything suspect, even if it's not a test item.
Why not ? Their eyes are probably better than mine ! )

[uglymug]

Reminds me when I had a Lancer Turbo back in the 80,s. Wheel brg was making a noise so me and the old man decided we could do it. Got the new bearing fitted, he said tighten it down and back off 1/4 turn, so i did. Went out for a test run and first left hand corner it failed and off came the whole stub,with the wheel going straight thru a hedge. Scrape scrape along the road for about 100 yrds. No mobiles then had to walk back, my father came out with trusty old MK3 Cortina, put a trolley jack under the front and towed me back 1 mile to the house. Had to borrow his car to go to A1 spares in Hendon to get secondhand strut. Ahhh!!! those were the days.