bearings

[Coloradobus]

We have '67 Globetrotter. This summer we replaced the wheels, tires, brake drums, and bearings.
The bearings being new needed grease. So greased them all up, and cinched the nut up like your supposed to, back it off and added the cotter pin.
We have had it out twice, for a total of 1000 miles.
Last weekend, winterizing after I re-adjusted the brakes, both hub assemblies have a slight clunk to them when grab hold of the tire and give it a wiggle. Is this normal, or do I need to re-pack and re-tightened the bearing nut before hitting the road again?
Any advice would be great!

[74Argosy24MH]

A clunk would make me take a look. When you tighten the nut make sure to rotate the hub, it helps seat the bearing.

John

[Chas]

A little clunk won't hurt anything. Much better than being too tight. You are supposed to torque the nut to a certain level to seat everything and then back it off a certain amount, just like you have done. Not much specific info here so I would say it is more of a gut feeling for me.

Chas

[Coloradobus]

Chas and 74 Argosy,

Thanks for your input. When I packed the bearings, I did rotate the tire/wheel to seat things and feel the tightness. Then I back her off just enough so the cotter pin would slide in. Bent pin back and placed the dust cover on. 1000 miles later we have just a very small clunk when you give the wheel a wiggle. Guess as you say, a little is OK. So I'll stop stressing about it and enjoy our Globetrotter.

Thanks again

[bryanl]

I agree with Chas

What to watch out for is visible movement when the wheel is off the ground. Hearing a clunk is good as that says the bearings aren't too tight. (This is with the wheel free and off the ground and pushing and pulling on the top of the tire)

The spec says something like 5 thousandths play - this is enough to get a clunk but not enough to see unless you are really good!

some ideas at http://sierranevadaairstreams.org/ow...ngs/index.html
and some links and even a photo gallery.

If you are paranoid, get one of those infra red thermometers (recently on sale at Radio Shack for $30) and scan the hubs every time you stop looking for temperature differences.