Changing a flat tire.... with a sledgehammer??

Does the "bearing format" change between driven and non-powered wheels?

"Hub Assemblies and Wheel Hub Bearings are an entire, enclosed hub unit containing one or two bearings that can vary in type. These units are fairly easily replaced, and weigh from 5 to 20 lbs. Other vehicles require a press in bearing. These press in bearings weigh from 1 to 5 lbs. When replacing the bearings in these automobiles, you need a Hydraulic Press. Still others have an open, not sealed hub. In these hubs, you can easily take the bad bearings (and sometimes races) and replace them with new bearings. Most of these serviceable hubs exist in older vehicles, and in some newer vehicles in the rear."

IOW, "IN THE REAR means that the rear bearings are NOT the same as the front bearings on a FWD vehicle.

Lg

I've done that. I remember telling my friend that we're gonna need a bigger pipe and he pulled out a doozy. We also needed a better breaker bar. As I recall, it was called a "gland" nut but I have no idea why.

Thanks for the info. I never did like left handed nuts - sounds like something the commies would do. (-:

On 10/27/2011 3:22 AM, dsi1 wrote: ...

MOPAR (Chrysler/DeSoto/Dodge/Plymoth) used them as well at least up into the 50s or 60s.

AFAIK, GM never did, I don't have a clue about Ford amongst the big three.

Not necessarily, no...

depends on the vehicle. but you're focusing on the wrong thing - whether or not it's driven is irrelevant. take the civic and accord for example: the front is driven and the bearing is double row ball. it's "self-spaced" and gets torqued up to near 200 lb.ft. the rears are driven, use two tapered roller bearings, and are precision spaced. these also get torqued up to near 200 lb.ft.

this principle applies to any type of vehicle and any type of axle - the torque depends entirely on the bearing configuration, not the drive configuration.

oops. undriven.

I never knew this. I guess the question now is why is this no longer done?

Simplification, primarily, and demonstration that there wasn't any prediliction to loosen owing to thread direction despite orientation wrt wheel rotation if properly torqued.

Basically one of those nice thoughts in theory that turned out to not be necessary in practice.

Both of my American Motors Ramblers had LH left side wheel nuts.

"> I never knew this. I guess the question now is why is this no longer done?"

The common link among those cars is a plain flat nut. Needs to be LH on the left side or the wheel falls off.

With conical head nuts set in a concave wheel aperture, the precession effect of a flat nut on a flat surface is minimized/obviated.

It was fairly common back in the day. Studebaker used them as well, but quit sometime before the end. Chrysler used them into the early 70's IIRC.

nate

2 easy ways to figure it out:

a) read instructions that come with bearing

b) if you need a long breaker bar (and possibly pipe extension) to get spindle nut off, you need to torque high (e.g. 200 lb-ft)

(b-1) if you can easily spin off the spindle nut, you do not need high torque; just preload with 35 lb-ft, back off nut, retighten to 16 inch-lbs, thread spindle nut with cotter pin.

There are just too many cars and too many variations, so a person can follow a Service Manual if they can get their hands on one, or the method I just mentioned.

Lg

Oddly enough, on the MGB with wire wheels had the center hub on the right side with left handed nuts. The left side had right handed nuts. I know, it's nuts.

Interesting - thanks.

My MG midget had the same arrangement. If you think about what happens when the play in the driven (rear) wheel splines are taken up, you'll see why, for example, you need left-hand nuts on the right side, to keep the nut from loosening.

Correct.

Moreover:

[ ... ]

Well ... I never had a MG with the knock-off spinners (which also had a spline between the axle and the wheel hub to prevent slipping). Friends had them, which is why I know about the spline.

My MGAs (two of them) had pressed steel wheels, not the wire wheels, and I believe that the left hand ones were left-hand thread. I

*know* that the Hudson Hornet (I think it was from about 1954) had the left-hand nuts on the left-hand wheels.

All in all -- I consider it a good way to do things -- except for training new monkeys with *big* impact wrenches, who would insist on keeping trying CCW to unscrew the nut until the stud broke. :-)_

Enjoy, DoN.

The forces from a loose nut would be different in a single nut wire wheel so it does make sense, even though it feels strange.

Enjoy, DoN.