M35A2 Spindle Nut Tightness

jake20 · Oct 30, 2018

Hi All,

This is my first time posting, been looking through the forums for several months however. I recently replaced a wheel cylinder in my deuce. Obviously the hub had to come off, and I'm looking for an opinion on the spindle nut tightness. I did a good amount of reading before doing all the work, and the most common answer I found was that the wheel should make a slight "tick/thump" sound when moved after the inner spindle nut is tightened.

I don't have a torque wrench, but I tightened the inner nut pretty tightly whilst spinning the wheel to let the bearings seat. I then backed off on the nut until I could give the wheel a good spin and it'd spin for ~20 seconds. If I remember, I backed off about 1/4 of a turn. I took a video of the sound that "I think" the other threads were referring to (the slight tick/thud when moving the wheel back and forth). After a few drives, the hub only seems to get lukewarm, quite a bit cooler than some of my other hubs that are due for a re-pack (I think I did a good job?). I've owned the truck for about 5 months now, learning a lot and I'm glad that there is so much information on these forums. I've linked said video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs7uAbcz6wk

Thank you all!

Wildchild467 · Oct 31, 2018

Id go tighter than on the loose side. After I have packed bearings on my deuce and then took it for a drive, the bearings always seem to seat themselves after a drive and loosen up. Every time. So I would make them on the snug side because if they are loose, I have had wheel seals leak because of it. That is just my opinion.

Welder1 · Oct 31, 2018

I usually torque inner nut to 50 ftlbs while turning then back off 1/8 of a turn. I then torque the outer nut to 120 ftlbs. The bearings will seat some after some run time. This has worked for me over the years.

Eddie

porkysplace · Oct 31, 2018

Have you downloaded the TM's yet ?
[h=1]TM's for the Deuce[/h]

jake20 · Oct 31, 2018

I looked through the TMs prior to doing everything and found the attached procedure. Was just wondering if slight wobble shown in the video is what everyone else and this TM page were referring to.

russojap · Oct 31, 2018

Does anybody else besides me find the TM's extremely hard to understand? The procedure in the one above is pretty straight forward, but the illustration looks worthless to me. I wish Haynes or somebody would make a manual for the deuce like a Haynes manual for cars, it would be so much better.

On a side note, when I did mine I tightened the hub nut down with only one wheel on. Was that wrong?

jake20 · Oct 31, 2018

Yea they can be a bit vague at times. On top of that I sometimes find conflicting information as well. I think it's still a good idea to read through them and then do some research on top of what's found in the TMs. There's a channel on YouTube called Tactical Repair, he's extremely helpful and goes into good detail. I'm a network engineer and I'm restoring my deuce as a hobby, looks like a lot of this is best learned from others' experiences.

Sent from my E6820TM using Tapatalk

jake20 · Oct 31, 2018

And I don't see an issue with doing it with one wheel on, seems like you're only feeling for if the wheel binds and then loosening the nut a bit. I say this because it's a similar procedure for the front wheels, and there's only one wheel there obviously. Although anyone more experienced might have more to say about that.

Sent from my E6820TM using Tapatalk

rustystud · Oct 31, 2018

jake20 said:
And I don't see an issue with doing it with one wheel on, seems like you're only feeling for if the wheel binds and then loosening the nut a bit. I say this because it's a similar procedure for the front wheels, and there's only one wheel there obviously. Although anyone more experienced might have more to say about that.

Sent from my E6820TM using Tapatalk

No, your correct.

porkysplace · Oct 31, 2018

russojap said:
Does anybody else besides me find the TM's extremely hard to understand? The procedure in the one above is pretty straight forward, but the illustration looks worthless to me. I wish Haynes or somebody would make a manual for the deuce like a Haynes manual for cars, it would be so much better.

On a side note, when I did mine I tightened the hub nut down with only one wheel on. Was that wrong?

It helps a lot of times to also look up the parts in the parts TM (-P ) it has better illustrations in it.

M35A2-AZ · Nov 1, 2018

Welder1 said:
I usually torque inner nut to 50 ftlbs while turning then back off 1/8 of a turn. I then torque the outer nut to 120 ftlbs. The bearings will seat some after some run time. This has worked for me over the years. Eddie

This is what I do. If you get it to loose you will leak gear oil into the bearings and wash them out, and that adds to more problems.

jake20 · Nov 1, 2018

It seems like the outer axle seal was still pretty snug up against the bearing after backing off the nut. I'll probably disassemble this hub again to check it out in a few months, won't hurt to see how things are holding up after my first time doing it.

Sent from my E6820TM using Tapatalk

russojap · Nov 1, 2018

It sounds like nobody follows the procedure in the TM...to crank the nut down until the wheel stops. Out of curiosity how many lbs. are needed to stop the wheel from moving. When I had to replace the seals and races in one hub the nut didn't go back down on the shaft as far as it was in originally. If I recall correctly the outer nut is not even all the way on the threads. I will have to look at it again and report back, but something definitely is not right. I was intimidated by it back then,but not so much now.

jake20 · Nov 1, 2018

Ah yes, I can report a similar experience. When I did the final tightening on the outer nut, it wasn't as far on as it originally was. I noticed that the inner/outer nut were only finger tight when I first took them off, yet they were further on the threads compared to when I re-assembled everything. This might be what a few others have been saying, go on the tighter side and the bearings will seat themselves after a while. I'll know once I inspect the hub in a few months, I hate to overthink things but experience is still the best teacher.

Katahdin · Nov 1, 2018

russojap said:
On a side note, when I did mine I tightened the hub nut down with only one wheel on. Was that wrong?

I'm going to say Yes, because you missed a step to adjust your brake shoes. The wheel gets in the way of adjusting the brake shoes and you don't want to adjust the brake shoes with loose spindle nuts. So, do not install any wheels before tightening the spindle nuts. Once your brake shoes are adjusted properly, then install the axle and wheels.

Floridianson · Nov 1, 2018

jake20 said:
And I don't see an issue with doing it with one wheel on, seems like you're only feeling for if the wheel binds and then loosening the nut a bit. I say this because it's a similar procedure for the front wheels, and there's only one wheel there obviously. Although anyone more experienced might have more to say about that.

When I use my wheel dolly on the rears I am installing both wheels /tires and hub at the same time. No problem setting up the bearings. It's done everyday in truck repair shops. Yes it is easer to do the brake adjustment on an MV when it is just the hub no wheel dolly. I rather use the wheel dolly to save time / work and work around the tires to do the brake adjustment.
Also when doing the brakes don't forget to remove the jam nut on the lower adjusters and use never-seize on the threads and replace jam nut. This will help in future adjustments.

77 AMG · Nov 2, 2018

replace jam nut. So, I need to replace the jam nut every time that I adjust the brakes or, just the first time, as a base line item?

Floridianson · Nov 2, 2018

No I just remove it to get the never-seize coated on the adjuster threads the first time.

frank8003 · Nov 3, 2018

hot hubs
https://cse.google.com/cse?cx=partn...steelsoldiers.com/search.php?searchid=6448465

In there is this
https://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?31749-Hot-Hub

hot cold explained and lots more
anyhow worth reading
I went with never cooked an expensive bearing set if it was on the loose side but costs big bucks on the too tight side.

I never used anti-seize, couldn't find that in the TM and being a little weird I guess, I always de-burred and stoned the hub nuts flat. There was lots of dings and cuts and burrs and crap that didn't belong there.

Then there is the whole study on the problems with the seals.
One may want to read this.
https://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?89082-Axle-Seal-Hub-Thoughts

Search is my friend.

Also I wasn't happy until I could drive it around a lot and have all the hubs at about the same temperature, found poorly adjusted brakes that way too. My little heat gun was my friend too.
One of the dragging brakes was just a shoe where there was heavy burrs and paint and crap about .010" in the holes where the shoe floats, took out with little grinder so it worked right. After that I tested them all as I went along.
View attachment brakes RR tandem fixed.MOV

M35A2 Spindle Nut Tightness

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