What is it? My book keeps throwing me back and forth between chapter 1 and 10. The torque specs area has 4wd bearing hub specs but not 2wd.

 

if your talking about wheel bearings, the 4 x 4 is torqued to about 200 ft pounds to tighten the two bearings back to back aginst each other. the 2 wheel drive does not have a spacer between the two bearings to torque against. what you do is snug the nut untill you feel some drag while turning the tire. then you back off a flat or to so it rolls easy, but no slop in the bearing. the cotter pin then holds the nut so it dont move.--- no torque, just no slop in the bearing.

 

There is a proper way to set the wheel bearing torque on your 2X4. I just replaced the wheel bearings on my 2003 2X4 and used the procedure that is in the 2003 Ford Service Manual that I have. I would think your 1999 would be the same, but you might want to check to make sure.

With the brake disc and hub on the spindle, and the wheel bearing installed and the spindle nut on just hand tight,

1) While rotating the disc, tighten the spindle nut to 30 lb/ft (40 Nm)

2) Loosen the spindle nut two turns, making sure you do not let the disc come off the spindle (I had two lug nuts hand tight to hold it in place)

3) Rotate the disc and tighten the spindle nut to 17-24 lb/ft (23-34 Nm)

4) Loosen the spindle nut, again making sure not to allow the disc to start coming off the spindle

5) Tighten the spindle nut while rotating the disc to 17 lb/in (2 Nm)

6) Install the nut retainer, making sure you align the holes with the holes in the spindle nut, and install the cotter pin. The nut retainer has various hole alignments, allowing you to line them up without having to loosen or tighten the spindle nut.

By using this proceedure, you are pre-loading the wheel bearing to its proper specs with the two steps of torquing, and then getting the final torque of 17-24 lb/in (2 Nm). Note that the last torque is INCH POUNDS, not FOOT POUNDS. You might have to borrow the torque wrench from Auto Zone or elsewhere that loans tools. Not too many "home" mechanics have torque wrenches other than Ft lbs.

 

I torqued them to 40 ft/lbs, spun the rotor and then backed them off and retorqued to 30 ft/lbs. 17-24 inch/lbs sounds like about finger tight. Thanks for the replys.


LS97- In Number 2; how does two lugnuts on the rotor help keep the rotor from coming off the spindle?

 

Very good question, DanK5! Actually, I had done my truck, and then put brakes and rotors on my wife's Buick. It was the Buick which I had to put lug nuts on to keep the rotors from coming off while I installed the calipers.

Sorry about any confusion I may have caused you.

Yes, 24 lbs/in is only 2 lbs/ft, so it really isn't much torque at all for the final result.

 

Actually, The manual instructions state. And this is For 2wd. 4wd trucks are different and have a set torque.

1. Tighten spindle nut to no more than 12 foot pounds
2. Move bearing in a forward motion and at the same time tighten down to 30 Foot Pounds
3. Loosen spindle nut 1/4 turn.
4. Using your hand and socket (ONLY HAND NO RATCHET) tighten as hard as you can with your hand.
5. Install the rest of the nut locking parts. And double check to make sure there isnt any movement horizontally, If there is restart the steps until the bearings set properly.

Yes it sounds odd, but that is what the manual states. Not word per word but you get the idea.