Installing New Front Wheel Bearings '67

[panpan388]

After finding out that I have a '67 front end, I got all of the parts that I need to replace everything in the front wheels..... seals, inner and outer bearings, wheel cylinders, new brake pads, brake lines, etc. I believe that the passenger side went fairly well. The seal did not really stay in the hub, so I slipped it on the spindle first. I'm not sure how freely the wheel is supposed to spin, with everything new though. I tightened up the spindle nut where I thought it was a good fit. So I went on to the other side. I had a little bit of problem getting the hub past the new brake pads. After working at it a bit, I finally got the hub on. I cannot tighten the spindle nut at all though without the hub getting tight. It is already slightly snug for some reason, but if I even hand tighten the nut, the hub is tight. The only thing I can think of is that the tolerances of the new wheel cylinders and brake pads are stacked up and are too close to the hub. Does this sound correct?
Does anybody have any suggestions on how much "drag" I should have and what is the best way to get the driver side to spin more freely when I tighten the spindle nut. I am not overtightening the spindle nut. I am using the allen wrench to spin the nut around.

[61SNRF]

I'm going to try to follow the questions in order from your long paragraph...

1-if you got the correct seals, they should be driven in carefully until seated firmly in the brake drum hub. Not going to work properly, or as designed, if you put it on the spindle first. Grease will leak out and spoil the friction linings.
So...
a-make sure you have the correct parts, do some searching for the correct part number vs what you have in hand if needed.
b-too much grease on the outside of the seal or inner hub, they both need to be wiped somewhat clean before installing seals.
c-some cheaper seals are rubbery and just pop back out, try another vendor for parts.

2-You don't have a service manual to guide you in the proper methods for wheel bearing adjustment?
a-do some Googling and adjust your new tapered roller bearings to common industry standards...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RqlrnoiqnY

3-With the new wheel bearings adjusted properly, and with the brake shoes fully backed off, new bearing full of heavy grease will have a very slight drag, as in the won't spin much past 1-2 turns if you give the hub/drum a good spin by hand.

Can't get driver's side to go on?
a-again make sure you have the right parts.
b-make sure you have both angled brake shoe adjuster screws in their proper positions, as in angled notches in adjuster's screw tips match ends on brake shoes.
b-tolerance stack-up not likely the cause unless you have brand new drums in combination with brake shoes that are specified as having oversize linings.
c-don't be afraid to take it back apart and try to install the drum/hub without the brake shoes on to see if they are in fact the problem.
_________________
-Bruce

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

[panpan388]

Sorry for the long paragraph, I just like to give as many details as possible when describing my problems.

I will definitely be taking both hubs back out and rechecking everything.

1. They should be the right parts. I did ask some questions on here about finding out what year my front end is and the replies gave me the answer.
a - The new parts matched the old parts too, so that was a good sign.
b - I probably do have some grease on the outside of the seal. I will make sure this is all clean.

2. I watched some YouTube videos on installing the wheel bearings, but the link you supplied was much better. Do you have any suggestions on how I can torque the clamping nut since it is not a regular hex nut?

3.
b - I have to double check the angled adjusters. That makes sense, although I though I had them in correctly.
c - I am not afraid to take things back apart. I am getting very good at that. haha.

Thank you for the response. I will post my results.

[61SNRF]

AFA the video, I suspect the bearings they use as an example are for a large truck or such, the bigger they are, the more torque in step #1 you need to apply.

No need to go that high for smaller bearings, and you should be able to get away without a torque wrench.
The critical elements are,
-tighten the lock nut down with an open end or adjustable wrench firmly by hand while simultaneously rotating the drum. 25-40 ft lbs should be sufficient. Without a torque wrench you're just going to have to get a feel for it, but with a ~12" wrench and by hand, you should be okay.
-back it off and then moderately re-torque the nut back down until just snug,
-back it off and re-tighten by hand only.
-grip the drum at 3 and 9 o'clock and use an alternating squeeze to see how much the hub rocks on the spindle. You are shooting for a very slight amount of play as the bearing expand once heated under use. Don't look for it, close your eyes and feel for it. See video for results of over or under tightening.
-a little loose is better than too tight right off the bat. You can take a short road test and re-check/re-torque if the play has increased.
_________________
-Bruce

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

[marklee]

ok easy way to adjust front wheel bearings as shown to me by a VW factory trained mechanic who worked at VW in the 60s.
Spin the drum/disc as you tighten up the big nut with a crescent wrench or adjustable wrench.when tight, back off 1/8th of a turn. You should be able to move the thrust washer behind the nut ever so slightly with the point of a screwdriver. It mustnt be loose but must have some drag. Thats about where it needs to be.
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[61SNRF]

@marklee that method is actual factory procedure and works well with the early -'65 ball bearings because they need a slight pre-load applied to them for a long life.

But for the later tapered roller bearings, as seen in the linked video by a major bearing manufacturer, a very slight amount of play is desirable with '66-later bearings. By nature they tend to expand when heated, so under use that plays diminishes to zero.
_________________
-Bruce

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

[panpan388]

All I can say is that I wish I was a heavy drinker. If I were, I could use that as the reason I had the adjuster in backwards AND the pads in backwards. I so very much appreciate the help with this. The passenger side spins very smoothly now. The driver side has just a very slight rubbing, I believe from the new pads. That side is smooth though even with the slight rubbing. I hope I am correct when I believe it will "break in" in a few miles?

[61SNRF]

Yes, a slight drag is okay with brand new out-of-the-box brake shoes, so unless you have the means to have them custom "arced" to the drums, expect to have a progressive 100-1000 mile break-in period until they wear in enough to seat and better conform to the drum's ID.
Optimally, check and re-adjust at 100 mi or so, then again as needed if you feel the pedal getting too low.
_________________
-Bruce

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.