Well , I put new brakes and wheelbearings in today , and was curious about the tightnes of the spindle nuts ? I read my chiltons book , and it said to tighten to 12 ft-lbs ( to seat the bearings ) then unscrew nut till it's "just loose" then "hand tighten" from there and intall cotter pin . Should I feel safe about this , I mean , wow .....hand tight ? Please help asap!

 

That's basically correct. I think they mean to use a socket and ratchet wrench, however, and that is still considered "hand tight".

The idea is to torque the nut so the bearing gets fully seated in the race. But that is too tight to run, and would cause the bearing to over heat. by backing off the nut, you slightly take pressure off the bearing, but it stays seated. then, you snug the nut, line up a cotter pin hole, and pin it.

I do it that way, and it is just fine. If you want to know the correct, professional PITA way, you actuallyuse a dial indicator set-up and measure bearing free play. Almost nobody goes through that trouble however.

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FORMULA 350 TK
Southern California 3rd Generation F-Body OrganizationŠ

 

Yeah, that's exactly what I do.. the nut feels nice and loose, but the cotter pin keeps everything happy.

Don't forget to re-check the bearings after a couple hundred miles. Basically, jack front of the car up, grab the top of the tire with one hand, and the bottom with another, and try to tilt the tire. It should barely move (I think spec says 0.01"?). If it's got a bit of play in it, repeat the same adjustement. Make sure to turn the tire forward as you're tightening the spindle nut to 12 ft/lbs, this gets any metal burrs out of the bearings. Then back the nut off and do the cotter pin again. When the pin's back in, wiggle the tire as you did before; it should feel tighter.

If you don't do a readjustment, your tires will be wobbling slightly as ya go down the road. Also, your brakes won't be as effective, since they'd be grabbing a slightly-tilted tire. Handling also improves.


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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards