Hello curious if what I am experiencing is normal or if I need to go back and recheck some steps of my latest project on my truck.

My truck is a 1996 F250 Std Cab Long box 351. It has the Dana 50 in the front and full floater in the rear.

Recently I found a wore out tie rod end a ball joint starting to get play. I went through and changed all of this:

New Brake Pads and Hardware
Rotors
4 Balljoints
All new steering
All new seals (Wheel Seals, and spindle seals)
Spindle Bearings
Axle Shaft U joints
Both inner races
Both outter races
All 4 wheelbearings with timkens
New Spindle nut kit from Napa for each side

I did a pretty good job packing the bearings with Mobile 1 grease, I made sure everything was spotless before going back together and put a good amount of grease in the hub but not filling it.

I researched a lot online of torque steps for the spindle nuts. I came to the understand torque the inner nut to 50 ft/lbs while rotatating the hub the opposite direction. Back off 1/4" turn. From here it became a grey area. Some sad to torque to 30 ft/lbs then back off 1/4 turn or just leave it at a 1/4 turn loose.

Then I put in the new lock ring that fits in the keyway of the spindle just like before and payed extra attention that the peg actually went into one of the holes on the ring. Double verifying this.

Last I torqued the outer lock ring down to 170 ft/lbs.

I doubted myself a few times and performed this for a while until I felt comfortable so I didn't burn up my new bearings. When the nut was a 1/4" loose you could feel a slight amount of slop if you paid attention while trying to wiggle the hub. This next part is what gets me confused I put the lock ring in and made sure the peg was in a hole. I torqued the jam (outer nut) down to the specified torque. After doing this all play was out of the hub, and it had more resistance than before putting the jam nut on. Now I don't see one bit how that would have anything to do with torqueing the inner nut down any more since it is in the keyway of the spindle and the locking peg is in the hole of the lockring, it is simply a jam nut to keep the lockring against the inner nut. It spun fairly easy on each side, not like before but again it is all brand new grease in there and not worn out and thin like before. If you gave it some good force it would freespin for a good 3-4 count.

I put the brake pads on and compressed the calipers all the way in. Once it was all said and done the brake pads did touch the new rotors. The calipers weren't hanging up or locking it all up but you could feel some resistance from the new pads until they break in.

I took it for a 10 mile drive with every 3 miles there was a stop sign at about 55 mph. When I got out I went and felt my hubs. They were both somewhat warm to the touch. Not scalding hot, nothing smelled as if it was burning and the ends weren't warm at all. I felt the rim near the hub and the lug nuts. All of this was the same temperature. I reached inside and felt the vents of the inner rotor shield and it was just as warm. Now I am not going to say it was hot I would of stuck any part of my body to it and not have been burnt, but it was noticeable. It is probably 75 degrees out. I would like to take it further on a few trips to break in the new brakes.

I have a feeling its the brakes rubbing on the rotors. They weren't making any noise and didn't slow the truck down the second you let off the brake they let go as well but I do know they were touching. What is expected of the hub as far as temperatures? Has anyone else ran into the same situation when torqueing them down when the outer nut seems to continue to apply pressure?

Thank-you!

 

Hubs are supposed to get warm. As long as you can spin the wheel freely I wouldn't sweat it. It sounds like you followed the correct procedure. Brakes typically run about 10-15% hotter during the break-in period.

 

Yeah you're good. As long as you tightened them to where there was no play, but not beyond that point, you should be fine. It's normal for them to get warm.

My D44 has a similar procedure: tighten to 70 ft/lbs while rotating hub, back off 1/4 turn, then tighten to 20 ft/lbs before reinstalling lock ring and jam nut.