I decided to venture into why it "seems" like the front end seems to vibrate a little as I'm cruizing at 60MPH ... not sure, that road isn't the greatest and smoothest road known to man ... but in my other cars, it doesn't seem to "vibrate" as much. Or feel slightly loose ... something to that effect.

Anyhow, I decided to repack my bearings. Only got the driver's side done before it started to rain so I still have the passenger's side to do ... later.

The manual says to tighten to 12 ft/lbs then back off 1/4 turn. If I do that, the rotor moves ever so slightly and you hear it clunk a little when you pull it from side to side. What I did was tighten it ... loosen it one hex side back, to where I could put the cotterpin in and it still moves freely (not as free as if I moved it 1/4 turn back) but it moves freely and it doesn't budge when yanking from side to side. Should I have a little play in it? Should I back the nut off a hex side or not. It seems that if I back it off to where it moves ever so slightly, that's the way it was ... or will these bearings heat up, expand and seize up?

it's really hard to explain unless you're right here doing it. basically, are you supposed to feel a tiny bit of play in the rotor against the shaft, or just enough to where it still turns freely, but no play at all. play i mean it moves ever so slightly side-side?

 

allen you dumbass, you're as bad as jester with all your stupid questions. if you used a ft/lbs torque wrench to torque it to 12 ft.lbs i doubt if your wrench was that accurate at the lower end of it's scale. if you're set on using a torque wrench try an in/lbs one and go to 144 in/lbs. i never do, just tighten the nut up till it's snug, spins freely then back it off to get the pin in place, never had a bearing failure yet.

 

In my very limited experience, I have come to the conclusion that rotors only do one thing:



rotate


Any other movement or looseness is a problem. And using a torque wrench when tightening the bolts is a must.

 

Dammit, ede! You still work here?!

LOL! Okay, this is what I did, according to Helms ...

1-Tighten spindle nut to 12 lb. ft. while turning the wheel assembly forward by hand to fully seat the bearings.This will remove any grease or burrs which could cause excessive wheel bearing play later.
2-Back off nut to the just loose position.
3-Hand tighten the spindle nut.Loosen spindle nut just enough that either hole in the spindle lines up with a slot in the nut.Not more than 1/2 a flat.
4-Install new cotter pin.

I did it this way and ended up one hex nut side tighter than it was before with no play at all. ... clearances from Helms say .001 to .005 whereas my dumbass chiltons says .003 to .015.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Oh, the bearings are fairly new .. was a good time to check them anyway since it's been about 4 years or so. No flat spots, etc.

 

it's not very exact but i like to be able to spin the rotor or hub with thumb and finger on a wheel stud with not a lot of effort, and like i said i never have used torque wrench

 

I've never used a torque wrench either. Always done it by feel.

 

I ended up doing it by feel. I can still spin it very easily with my pinky and no play side to side. I feel pretty comfortable with it now. If I spin it and let it go, it won't spin for as long as it did before, but not by much at all.... it still spins very easily.

 

Yep. Do it enough times on enough different cars and you'll soon get a good feel for how the rotor should spin. Never done a FWD car though, I imagine they're very different.