12 & 6 wheel play (2 Viewers)

[leonard_nemoy]

Getting ready for a long trip this weekend so I decided to give the rig a good inspection.

When I jacked the front tires up they were both nice and tight in the 3 & 9 direction but they both had some play in the 12 & 6 direction.

It's my understanding this would indicate loose wheel bearings? Is this correct?

What's weird is I have no vibrations, noises or any other indications that the wheel bearings are problematic.

Would the part time kit and hubs cause 12 & 6 play?

Thanks

 

[BILT4ME]

Getting ready for a long trip this weekend so I decided to give the rig a good inspection.

When I jacked the front tires up they were both nice and tight in the 3 & 9 direction but they both had some play in the 12 & 6 direction.

It's my understanding this would indicate loose wheel bearings? Is this correct?

What's weird is I have no vibrations, noises or any other indications that the wheel bearings are problematic.

Would the part time kit and hubs cause 12 & 6 play?

Thanks

That is definitely loose wheel bearings.
You may not have any vibration or grinding, that's a good thing.

You don't need to "rebuild" you can just tighten the wheel bearings to the 35 LB-FT on the inner nut and 45 LB-FT on the outer nut.

Make sure you get the tabs bent over after the inner nut is torqued properly.

 

[jpoole]

It's my understanding this would indicate loose wheel bearings? Is this correct?

Most likely, yes. Doubtful that you would have trunions so worn as to feel them like this without other noticeable handling issues/etc.

Would the part time kit and hubs cause 12 & 6 play?

Nope.

It's pretty common for the factory torque procedure to lead to under-torquing of the front wheel bearings that then leads to some looseness. The best next step with your rig is most likely to re-torque the front bearings the "mud" way and then re-assess. If that resolves the slack and they run cool/quiet moving forward then you are good to go. I'd only go in for full re-grease/seals/etc. if you are due but if the last service was fairly recent I'd just try the torque for now.

Typically you can do this without any new parts though if you damage the flange seals you may need to replace them or add some rtv/similar on re-assembly. The main tools you need are the large socket for the spindle nuts and a torque wrench. I often use new star washers when I do this work but you can often reuse the old ones. If you reuse you can lay the old ones flat on a hard surface and gently hammer them flat again.

You may also want to inspect the flange/inner washers that are inside of the inner spindle nut. Sometimes these can be damaged. Smoothing the damage and/or flipping them over before re-assembly can work if you don't have replacements handy.

See @BILT4ME post above for torque numbers though for stock tire sizes some folks use a slightly lower inner nut torque anywhere from 20 lbs and up. I typically use 25 lbs or so on my rig which has stock tire size currently. I've read that you can run in the 40s for the inner torque with no issue but haven't tried it.

I monitor hub temps after long highway drives by just putting a finger on each of the 4 hubs to compare temps. All should be warm but none what I would describe as painfully hot to the touch. Sunlight on one side or hard braking can cause temp variations side to side or front to back so checking this at different times can help you identify if one hub is really running hot. An IR gun can help give you a more precise temp but isn't really needed.

 

[leonard_nemoy]

That is definitely loose wheel bearings.
You may not have any vibration or grinding, that's a good thing.

You don't need to "rebuild" you can just tighten the wheel bearings to the 35 LB-FT on the inner nut and 45 LB-FT on the outer nut.

Make sure you get the tabs bent over after the inner nut is torqued properly.

That's what I figured, but I am still kind of new too this part time set up and I wanted to make sure the slop wasn't normal or something else with the part time.

I guess I will have to snug them up before I leave for my trip.

Thanks again

 

[REKCUT]

So my truck had the same 12 and 6 play and i tightened up wheel bearings. Usually go with the standard 30 lbs inner and 47lbs outer but increased it a bit. 33 and 50. Just assumed it was wheel bearing like statements above and didn't check for play again. One week later had it back on lift for something and had the 12 and 6 play again. Took apart and went to 38 and 55 i think, put it back together and still had play. It wasn't wheel bearings. Only thing left was trunions. Took them apart and they had a little wear but nothing to bad. Replaced and as i was putting back together and cleaning parts i found needle bearings in all the grease. Turns out it was the spindle bearing. It had come apart. As luck would have it i caught it with no other issues.

So sometimes it not the wheel bearings.

 

[jpoole]

Turns out it was the spindle bearing

Sounds like it was actually your trunion bearings. It was definitely not the spindle bushings/bearings causing your wheel to be loose. You could take the inner axles, birfs and spindle bushings/bearings out completely and it wouldn't make your wheel loose. The knuckle is connected to the axle via the trunion bearings and the wheel to the spindle via the wheel bearings. Unless you had loose bolts on the trunion caps, spindle flanges or your wheels all that's really left are your trunion and wheel bearings as sources for wheel play in relation to the axle housing.

The OP may have loose trunions but it's easy to start by checking the wheel bearing torque before going in deeper.

 

[leonard_nemoy]

I don't have worn trunion bearings.
I don't have worn trunion bearings.
I don't have worn trunion bearings.
I don't have worn trunion bearings.
I don't have worn trunion bearings.

I am going to keep chanting this all week, this way when I tear into into the rig Thursday morning I can tighten the wheel bearings, call it a day, and finish packing for my road trip/adventure. The rig only has 127,000 miles on the odometer, the trunion bearings have got to be good........

 

[Grandlooser]

Yeah what he said ^^. Spindle bearing makes no input on play possible. To OP I would suggest at least looking at trunions, good thing to check regardless.


EDIT: LOL, a little late.

 

[leonard_nemoy]

Yeah what he said ^^. Spindle bearing makes no input on play possible. To OP I would suggest at least looking at trunions, good thing to check regardless.


EDIT: LOL, a little late.

Is there an easy way to check the trunion bearings?

Maybe the easiest way is to tighten the wheel bearings and check again for play.....

 

[Grandlooser]

Exactly

 

[baldilocks]

Whatever you do, post some more spectacular photos.