Installing front wheel bearings.

[1tinindian]

Question is, are the new bearings supposed to be tight against the inner spacer to the point that they all turn as one? Or is the spacer supposed to be loose between the bearings?
Any information I have found on this topic is not clear and I want to hear it from some of you that have installed your own wheel bearings.

Thank you,
Leon

[Harvy]

Question is, are the new bearings supposed to be tight against the inner spacer to the point that they all turn as one?

Thank you,
Leon

Leon, logic and execution both tell me YES.

Harvy

[1tinindian]

Thanks Harvy.

[Pat Conlon]

Leon, to ease installation and make sure that the bearings are fully seated, you know about the trick of freezing the bearings overnight and then warming the bearing seats with a propane torch...?

Makes it easy peesey.  Gotta love this forum....

[1tinindian]

Leon, to ease installation and make sure that the bearings are fully seated, you know about the trick of freezing the bearings overnight and then warming the bearing seats with a propane torch...?

Makes it easy peesey.  Gotta love this forum....

Yes, I know of this trick, but the new bearings went in fine, I just wanted to make sure I haven't installed them to the point where they are going to give me problems down the road. I just seem to recall the spacer was loose in the hub between the old bearings and now it is tight betweeen the inner bearing races. My manual doesn't say anything more than to seat the bearings, with no mention as to how tight the combination of left and right bearings and the spacer are to be.

My concern is that the bearings are too tight in relationship to the spacer.

Leon

[simi_ed]

Leon, I don't believe you can install the bearings too far.  The whole idea with the inner spacer is to have solid assembly from fork leg to bearing to spacer to bearing to fork leg.  If the old bearings were not seated properly, you would have <100% assembly, and it would be weaker than a properly assembled unit, which it sounds like you now have.  I think you're good to go.

[1tinindian]

Thanks Ed. That's reassuring.
Sorry if I'm taking too much time on this subject, but I really don't want to be out, miles from home, and have a problem by installing something incorrectly.

I appreciate each and everyone of you guys that take your time to help me out in times like this...I'm sure there will be more time to come. LOL!

Leon

[Arnie]

Leon,

Realize that if you are questioning if some bit of your work has been done wrong, and post it here, many will jump in immediately to tell you you've fucked up. :-)
Instead, you've had re-assurance in all the replies.
You've done it right.  Now go do the next item on your list :-)

Arnie

[Mark Olson]

install the wheel with out the calipers mounted . If it spins freely after it has been torqued to spec then everything is ok.

[1tinindian]

You guys are the greatest, Thanks again!

Leon

[jvb_ca]

Leon...what Ed said. Think of it as one solid piece after being torqued down. Fork leg to spacer to bearing race to inner spacer to bearing race to spacer/speedo drive to fork leg.

HTH's

Cheers...Jake