The fine line between wheel wobble and too tight - *update*

Big Trees

Member
I had a front wheel wobble that I posted about and got some great advice as always from you all. I determined that the wobble was NOT in the spindle and was in the hug/bearing area so I removed the hub and cleaned everything well and replaced the rear bearings in both hubs and the dust seals also. I reused the front/outer bearings as they appeared to be in great condition.

After cleaning and reinstalling and tightening the adjusting nut by hand and back out a tiny bit, I still have wheel wobble on both wheels. If I tighten the adjusting nut too tight to where I don't have very much free spin then the wobble is gone.

I don't see how this could be very complicated, it seems like the wobble would almost have to go away after I did what I've done but it hasn't IF I have the adjusting nut where it's suggested.

It's either too tight (no free spin) and no wobble or just tight enough (has free spin) and wobbles.

Can anybody please tell me what you think may be happening? I'm stumped.

Thank you in advance!
 
you have the brgs. too loose, that is the wobble. to adjust wheel brgs... you tighten nut to a preload of say 30 ft lbs. spin
wheel and back off till cotter pin goes in to closet hole. just tightening nut by hand and then loosening is waaay to loose. you
need o end play on the brg. slight preload is good. what is this on???
 
(quoted from post at 14:44:07 09/20/15) you have the brgs. too loose, that is the wobble. to adjust wheel brgs... you tighten nut to a preload of say 30 ft lbs. spin
wheel and back off till cotter pin goes in to closet hole. just tightening nut by hand and then loosening is waaay to loose. you
need o end play on the brg. slight preload is good. what is this on???

Thank you very much for your response!

Sorry for the lack of info, I just assumed the people reading was familiar with my last post, my apologies.

This is on a 8N (1950 ish)

Shouldn't the tires have free spin when I spin them with my hand and the wheels off the ground?

If not then I need to tighten the adjusting nuts up some. I read that it was to have free spin and I assumed that was true.

Again, I appreciate your response and helpful advice!
 
They shouldn't be so tight that they drag
hard but don't expect them to spin like a
bicycle wheel either. Snug, more than hand
tight for sure, but not like your
tightening a bolt either. Definitely don't
want them loose
 
(quoted from post at 18:24:13 09/20/15) They shouldn't be so tight that they drag
hard but don't expect them to spin like a
bicycle wheel either. Snug, more than hand
tight for sure, but not like your
tightening a bolt either. Definitely don't
want them loose

Great, thank you very much for the response and advice. I will find that happy medium and leave it at that.

I appreciate it!!
 
This is what I have done on all of the cars and
tractors I have done.

Snug the nut down tight. Now back it off until you
can just move the washer under it with a
screwdriver. I'm talking about being able to move it
side to side and it should be just barely doable
when you are twisting the screwdriver handle. That
gives you a few thousandths slack. It shouldn't be
so tight it won't turn, but like has been said, this is
no bicycle.
 
Actually, NO pre-load and .001" to .003" of PLAY is pretty much an industry standard for setting up tapered roller bearings, other than for pinion and differential bearings that DO get pre-loaded.

I believe, in most cases, those bearings have a different taper than wheel bearings and general use tapered roller bearings.
 

Thank you all for the advice! I will be taking a look at it here in a little while. I sincerely appreciate all of your help as I always do!

Thank you.
 
I'm with Bob,
tractor...after gentle wrench snugging-loosening-strong finger tight, a choice between nut flats of a feel-able drag or tiny loose, I'll always take loose.
If you have noticeable drag, when you put the tractor weight down on em, they will be in distress.

cleaned, good bearings, new grease.....yes, they will spin like a bicycle when in the air.

ps problem tractors that are too loose/tight either way to get the cotter in....various thickness machine bushings (fancy accurate washers)
can get you where you need to be.
 
(quoted from post at 16:41:39 09/20/15) so I removed the hub and cleaned everything well and replaced the rear bearings in both hubs and the dust seals also. I reused the front/outer bearings as they appeared to be in great condition.

Several questions come to mind:

Did you replace the inner bearing cups (races)?

Maybe the outer bearings / cups aren't as good as you think.

Sometimes new inner dust seals can be a tight fit causing you to think you have the bearing nut tightened to zero bearing preload, but not. Also this new inner dust seal will cause drag on the wheel when spinning by hand.
 

Thank you all for the replies, it sounds like if I have to choose one over the other, I should go for a little loose vs too tight.

Jimtrs, to answer your question.

No, I did not replace the races. They appeared very smooth with no marks in them at all (scratches etc) so I cleaned and left them. The dust seal went in really well on one side but the other one I had to work it in with a piece of wood and a small hammer. On both sides the rubber part seems to be flush with the hub, maybe inward a little bit from the edge of the hub, I can't recall exactly but they seemed to be in correct.

When I am tightening the nut by hand I am spinning the wheel at the same time to see how much free spin it has and it starts to have some drag as I'm getting close to being "hand tight".

I have been running errands this morning and just getting back home and will be jacking it up and looking at it again. I will take into consideration everything everybody has said. I sincerely appreciate you all's help. Great group of folks that are a blessing to people like me. Thank you all so much!!
 

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