Greatest fear finally reared its ugly head
In my 50+ years of owning and using an RV my fear raised its ugly head. We left a camp ground in the Mountains of North Georgia and as I would go around really sharp curves I could see the wheels on ...
Forum Discussion
jfkmk wrote:
The castle nut is NOT supposed to be tight! If that's what this guy is telling you, take it elsewhere! You're supposed to "preload" the bearings by torquing them to about 20 ft pounds while turning the hub. Then loosen the nut, then retighten AT MOST finger tight and apply the cotter pin. Over tightening the nut is a sure fire way to destroy another set of bearings.
Also, when you replace the bearings, you should replace the race, especially if the bearings were destroyed as described.
100% correct. You first torque the nut to 20 lbs while rotating the wheel. This "seats" the bearings and forces out excess grease. THEN you perform the next and most important step which calls for backing the nut off to the first cotter pin hole. This leaves your bearing slightly loose with ZERO pre-load on the bearing.
