Brake Assembly Installation

marpel wrote:


Lynnmor - not sure I understand your comment about the shoulder that locates the inside bearing and "naysayers".

Wayne - not sure how the castle nut keepers did not keep the castle nut in place, as you know, one side is flat and can't turn so once on it presumably stays in place. After torquing, and backing off a bit, I actually went a bit beyond finger-tight then bent up the tab. Everything felt firm and reasonably tight when rotated and jiggled.

The inside bearing goes against the shoulder of the spindle that the seal rides on. When you look at the bearing, you will see a large radius and often an undercut where the bearing meets the shoulder. The remaining effective diameter of the bearing and the diameter of the spindle are just about the same size leaving no appreciable shoulder to locate the bearing. That tiny contact area can wear away or deform causing excessive bearing clearance. Others choose to ignore the problem and defend the poor design.

The reason for torquing the spindle nut is to seat newly installed races. Just a firm tightening with channel lock pliers is all that is needed in subsequent work. Once tightened, you loosen the nut completely while preventing the wheel from rotating, then just turn the nut to take up the clearance and no more. Last, insert the cotter pin or keeper loosening the nut if necessary to match the hole or retainer. When complete, there should be a very small amount of clearance and the nut will be free to move.

Thanks for the replies. Just to clarify,

Both the races and bearings were properly seated (races placed in with a hand actuated press and visually/physically inspected to make sure they were all the way in and fully seated). Same with the rear seal (level with rear lip of hub).

The hubs were seated to the lip/edge of the backing plate and when torquing for the pre-load, the hub was rotated to make sure it was all the way on.

Caps were put on straight and pressed to fully seat against the hub. I don't think the spindle pushed against the cap as there was some grease in the cap that appeared undisturbed (and I don't use the zerks to "over-pump" extra grease in so that could not have forced the caps out). So it's a mystery as to why the caps came off.

And like I initially mentioned, I really studied this process (I tend to be a bit OCD when doing things like this and take extra time/effort to get it right), prior to doing the job). And, really, it may be a bit tedious and dirty but it's a relatively easy process to do and understand.

Lynnmor - not sure I understand your comment about the shoulder that locates the inside bearing and "naysayers".

Wayne - not sure how the castle nut keepers did not keep the castle nut in place, as you know, one side is flat and can't turn so once on it presumably stays in place. After torquing, and backing off a bit, I actually went a bit beyond finger-tight then bent up the tab. Everything felt firm and reasonably tight when rotated and jiggled.

I have cleaned and inspected all bearings etc (and hand-packed with new grease), and everything looked in good working order.

So, I'm just not sure what I could do any differently (other than tightening the nut with a wrench rather than by hand - but that is not recommended).

Marv

You need to remove the bearings and clean them completely, then inspect them for any issues. I have had the cheap Chinese bearings fail in one long trip. Also the shoulder that locates the inside bearing is pretty much nonexistent allowing increased clearance in short order, despite the naysayers that counter that fact. The cap coming off may have been distorted too much when you installed it, or maybe when it was payed off. Clean things up, take photos and let’s see if we can get this resolved.

My first thought is the castle nut keepers (cotter pins or tabs) were not holding the nuts in place if the hubs were loose. It sounds like you were careful with your process but perhaps you missed or misunderstood something. A second set of eyes may get you the safety you need. Perhaps the drums weren't fully seated when the castle nuts were originally tightened allowing for enough play to push the grease caps off. Or, perhaps the inside bearing race wasn't fully seated in the drum prior to assembly. That would explain the water if the seals then didn't fully seat on the largest part of the spindle. Good luck and be safe.

Snug could be interpreted differently by a novice or a professional. Was one of the races not seated all the way? Was the cap put on wrong, if not, who removed it?