Front Axle wheel bearing load

I have a 1977 C10 Suburban 2WD. I can find no specs on how to set the torque on the axle nut that sets the load on the front wheel bearings. My Towncar manual specifies a seating torque of about 20 ft-lbs and then a final torque of 20 in-lbs but there is no specs of this sort in my Suburban manual. Some people have told me to seat the bearing until the disc turns stiffly and then back off until it turns freely, but that seems pretty subjective to me. I assume this is done with the calipers removed as they will cause some drag also. Any ideas?

Also one of my spindles had some light to medium scarring in the area were the inner race of the inside bearing rides. I removed the scarring carefully with fine silicon carbide paper and then polished it with brasso. Wondering if I might need to replace it I called the Chevy dealer and they said it was discontinued. Do you think I need to replace it?

Thanks, Bob

"Robert L. Wells" wrote

There is no "torque" spec...because you don't actually apply torque to the wheel bearings...ie: you don't preload them. You need to tighten the wheel bearing nut while rotating the rotor, tighten it to the point where you can feel some resistance to turning the rotor...and then back it off. Then tighten it with your fingers only, tighten it until you can't move it anymore (with your fingers only) and see where the slots in the nut line up with the holes in the spindle. If they line right with a hole, put your cotter pin in that position, if they don't line up with a hole, back the the nut off to the nearest hole and insert your cotter pin in there. That's it.

Probably not if you have cleaned it up and the bearing will slide onto the spindle without being either tight or excessively loose. The inner race shouldn't normally turn on the spindle, but often it happens due to lack of grease or bearings improperly adjusted.

Ian