bearings, how tight?

[L0veless]

just finishing up my disc brake conversion and its been pretty smooth sailing couple issues you guys have helped me on.
now I'm getting ready to put everything back together and I have a simple question being old school hotrodder I always I always rotated to hub and torqued the nut to 20lb then backed of 1/4 turn. watching the videos of this conversion seems everyone just rotated the hub and tightened by hand or used Channelocks then backed of 1/4 -1/2 turn. reason for this question was when taking things apart all 4 hubs were different, one was loose one was hand tight one was snug and one I had to use a socket to get loose.
how do you guys do this rather simple operation? I just assume RV and cars would be about the same when doing wheel bearings. oh yea its a 2016 new with around 10,000 mile on her

thank you

[jcurtis934]

The reason to torque the axle nut is to fully seat the bearings. The dexter axle book said to torque to 50 ft lbs while rotating the wheel slowly, then loosen the spindle nut to remove the torque...but do not rotate wheel at this point. Then finger tighten spindle nut until snug, then back it off to line up for cotter pin OR if spindle uses the ez lube retainer, then finger tighten to snug and align retainer onto nut and snap in place. Nut should be move slightly. Okay to back nut off a twelfth of a turn and put retainer on.

[L0veless]

that makes a lot more sense to me than the videos, 50 ft lbs. will do
thank you
oh yea and to anyone thinking about upgrading to disc and doing it yourself, rather easy so far but in a senior moment I ordered universal tandem axle brake line kit forgetting that universal means it will fit nothing. couple trips to the store for fittings and lines but all is good.

[dieselguy]

Us old schoolers just use a pair of channel locs to make the spindle nut "wrist tight" while spinning the wheel hub. If you can't get a cotter key or snap washer on … go to the closest hole or flat to the loose side, not the next hole or flat tighter. The 50 FT LBS is more for new bearings to make sure they are seated to the new races before adjusting up the nuts.

[bigred715]

Thats the way I did mine. No torquing, and then back off until a flat spot was found. Hope my wheels don't fall off. Always had camping world or my dealer do it. Time to save some money. Did it on several of my cars and it worked out in the past.

[L0veless]

gotta luv you guys,
my old school is from the early 70's and I used torque wrenches then (California thing),any way yes these are new bearing, races and rotors. I like the feeling of driving down the road not worrying about if I did things right. by the way my sons
Chevelle BBC he did tell me that once he did exceed the speed limit, glad the front wheel stayed on. love this forum

[bethandkevin]

[QUOTE=jcurtis934;1105583]The reason to torque the axle nut is to fully seat the bearings. The dexter axle book said to torque to 50 ft lbs while rotating the wheel slowly, then loosen the spindle nut to remove the torque...but do not rotate wheel at this point. Then finger tighten spindle nut until snug, then back it off to line up for cotter pin OR if spindle uses the ez lube retainer, then finger tighten to snug and align retainer onto nut and snap in place. Nut should be move slightly. Okay to back nut off a twelfth of a turn and put retainer on.[/QUOTE

this is what is taught in automotive repair and the method I have used for over 35 years. Typically it is best to rotate the hub in the opposite direction of tightening the spindle nut. Don't know exactly why this is but it is what I was taught and I still follow it to this day. Have never had a bearing failure come back to me using this method.

[L0veless]

rotors are on and feeling pretty good about torqueing to 50ft lb then backing off the bearing feel like they set great. calipers almost on had a broken fitting from shipping let that caliper sit over night to let TFE set up. add fluid, bleed brake line, mount tires and we should be good to go.
thanks for all the help.

[L0veless]

well took her out for a test drive today and all I can say is WOW what a huge difference with disc brakes. anyone is thinking about doing it just pull the trigger and never look back. the install was easy about a 5 on difficulty but time consuming plan on taking your time and it will go smoothly. so being a little anal on things like bearing tightening. here were my temps on the rotors both fronts were at 161deg both rear 172 deg. I thought that was awfully hot. I shot the fender on the truck it came in at 123 deg. am I reading to much into that temp? I'm guessing both fronts were getting the cooler air while both rears were getting hot air from the front.

thanks guys for the help

[dieselguy]

If you took the rotor temps right after a stop from road speed … you have to consider heat buildup from braking. Go out on a county road and gear it down from road speed to a stop with minimal braking to get a better running temp. If you tightened your spindle nuts similar to wrist tight with a pair of channel locs like has been talked about … you'll be fine. We've already covered what the 50 ft lbs is for … then back it off. No two rotors will have the exact same pad drag, one wheel may carry more weight, you may have a tiny bit of air in the system yet, the sun may be shining on that side, .... You may be a little heat gun happy …

[L0veless]

thanks for the reply Dieselguy, I'm pretty sure they are bled pretty good, did them when finished then again the next morning so all the air could rise. I had parked it and waited about 10 minutes. no real braking coming into my home so the rotors weren't heated from braking. temps on both sides were identical within 2 deg. which I thought was pretty strange on both front and rear. as stated just a little nervous on these as not really worked on them. if my car breaks down I'm 10 minutes from home and a quick call to AAA out on the road is a different story.

[L0veless]

actually I feel pretty good about this just over thinking I guess, its a "FATBOY" thing.

no disrespect to anyone on that, its my license plate on the RAM.