Old Ifor horse trailer bearing adjustment

[reb78]

We have a fairly old Ifor HB505R horse trailer. Its probably 30 years old. Noticed a hub cap was missing today and I dont know how long for. Lifted the wheel and spun it and the bearing is very noisy so noticeably shot. Its the old taper type bearing in there with races that you knock out of the hub. Its all dismantled and I will get new bearings in the morning.

Does anyone know the process for tightening these up? On the defender I would tighten until the play is removed and it just starts to bind, then back off so its no longer binding. Is it the same for this setup on the ifor? I cant seem to find any info i trust (The AI responses to google searches seem to say just do it up finger tight but not sure thats right as with most of the tosh it churns out).

 

[Red'n'Black]

We had one of these, from what I remember there is a crush tube between the two inner races so the preload is set by just doing the hub nut up to the specified torque, Google suggests 260 lb ft.

The bearings were OK on mine but it all had to come apart anyway to get at the brakes, which definitely weren't.

 

[reb78]

Thanks. But unless it was missing, definitely no crush tube. I could undo the hub nut with my fingers once I'd pulled the split pin.

 

[jenki]

I remember for my MGB the specification was tighten the nut spin the bearing and then back off to give 4thou end float, of course i did not have a DTI back then so just perceptible play was the order of the day. In the absence of any info to the contrary I would do that but check for overheating or excessive play after a test run.

 

[tom2207]

your methods grand , ask five old school mechanics to set up wheel bearings and you will get five different methods ,,, but they all work ok , I normally nip them up until I feel resistance increase , then back them until I feel play , then forward them 1/8 of a turn , or a flat on the nut 1/6 , as long as theres no drag all is grand , the mot boys get grumpy if plays felt on land rover wheels , and the army method of old was to back them until play was just perceivable and no more ,,, but they didnt have an mot inspector with a computer driven shaker table to check them .