Loctite 609

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DARKNESS

DARKNESS

10 Year
Joined
Jan 6, 2013
Threads
85
Messages
1,824
Location
Golden, CO
I'm in the process of doing my front axle and decided to use loctite 609 bearing retaining compound on my outer wheel bearing race. It's basically a glue meant to hold the race to the spindle so that it won't spin and wear the spindle. According to loctite, it's for parts that are meant to be disassembled later, though heat may be required (300 deg F). I only did the outer bearing since it seems to be the one people have problems with and it's the easiest to get a torch on if necessary.

Anyone use this stuff before? If not, I'll let you all know how it goes, but hopefully not for a long time.
 
Is the only way that the bearing assembly spins on the spindle is from a loose wheel bearing?

I have been dealing with loose wheel bearing for as long as I owned the 80. Tried couple methods here on this forum but over time I get a loose wheel bearing. Guess I should just take the hub off and check more often.
 
I think too little preload and/or worn spindles are what causes the bearings to spin. A seized bearing would do it too.
 
I guess the only way to find out if the 609 works is to try and spin the bearing after driving for "X "amount of miles. Heating to get it off could be a pain as you might get a grease fire going if you use a torch.

I could just see the next owner or a repair shop scratching their head trying to get the wheel bearing assembly off if the 609 really works like superglue.
 
Good point. Heat gun would probably get me to 300 degrees too though. I figure in the absolute worst case scenario the axle could be removed and it could be pressed apart, but I doubt it would come to that. Of course I could be a complete idiot, in which case I'll let you know in about 60,000 miles.

I think the only way to tell if it's working is the amount of spindle wear since I can't really see what is and isn't spinning with the hub put together.
 
Well, I tried a test. Put this stuff on my old bearing and spindle. The fit was really loose. Let it dry for a day. The next day it was rock solid. Could not pull or bang it off. Heated it with a heat gun until it sizzled water. Still rock solid.

Great. Can't wait to open my hubs again. Hope I don't have to cut them off. Hope nobody else tried this. Sorry if you did.
 
Ha, well got pissed off and went at it again with a heat gun. Heated it until the little grease residue left on the spindle just started to smoke. The bearing pulled off easily! Probably still wouldn't use this again, but it looks feasible that I can eventually pull my hub off.
 
FWIW I repeated this experiment, except this time using a small gear puller and no heat. The bearing popped off with little effort.
 
There are two races to a bearing. The internal race and an external race. The Loctite product should ONLY be used for the EXTERNAL races.

The external races are only in the hubs, so there is NOT an issue of not getting the hub off the spindle. You should NEVER use this material on the inside of the internal race where it lands on the spindle.

There are two reasons a bearing race spins on one of the front hubs. The first and most common is a loose wheel bearing that causes misalignment and then forces the inner races to seize or bind on the spindle and thus forcing the external race to spin. When the external race spins, it wears out the ID (inside diameter) of the hub, causing the tolerances to open up.

The other reason is that the external races have been removed and replaced so many times that the ID of the hub has been damaged due to the replacement.

I fought loose wheel bearings for years on the front of a Chevy truck until I discovered two things. The first is that I was not adjusting the wheel bearings in the correct procedure. The other is that the hubs I was using had been worked on so many times that they were no longer round. I bought new hubs, installed the external races using a press (not a hammer and punch) then installed the assembly following the FSM procedure. After that, I went 60K+ without having to re-do the wheel bearings. I was thoroughly amazed!

That procedure is the same as the Toyota FSM. Sine the Loctite product has a thicknes to it, you have to make sure that you get the external race properly seated (Square with the interior of the hub) so that when it cures it will be in the correct location. If you have a slight misalignment due to fluid being trapped behind the race, it can cure in a misaligned state and you may get a vibration once it is all assembled. Remember, you are using the product because your tolerances have already opened up and you want to get it close again. It may not be perfect, but it may be acceptable when you are done.

We design and build airlocks and we have to cut bearing seats in cast iron blocks. Sometimes we get the tolerances a bit too much and we can use that same product to lock the new bearing in place. If you replace it, you MUST clean out all the old Loctite material before putting in a new one.

Good Luck!
 
Hmm, well I used it between the spindle and the bearing. No vibration issues yet.
 
We use the green loctite at work all the time. For our current application, it is used in the main transmission and tail rotor gear box off a 1000lb. helicopter. No issues or slip.

There are 9 different "green" loctite products, all for different temp and tolerance applications. For example, the 638 version is high strength for loose fitting parts, which will fill a gap of up to .015".
 
Following up 11 years later...

I finally did my axle again. The hubs came right off. I couldn't tell that I had used this stuff at all. Spindles looked fine. Some normal wear on them. So, probably not worth using a bearing retainer.
 
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