Hello Gentleman, I am currently into the rear brakes and consoquently the rear bearings of my 1963 F600. I removed the lock and adjusting nuts in the disassembly process with no issues. I could see that the previous wrencher had used a chisel on them so, what the heck, I did too. Now it's time to reassemble and I'm not to keen on the idea of adjusting the bearings with a chisel and a prayer. I do this stuff when I gotta and do not have a reliable touch to determine when the wheel is tight enough but not too tight and wiggling this to check end play is like moving the Rock of Gibraltar. OK, to the point. I have decided to shell out for the right sized socket for the nuts so I can torque up the bearings all proper like but have hit a snag. As many of you are aware, Ford used what some call a "rounded head nut" for these and I measured across the large flats, 3 1/2", ordered the socket and its the wrong size, too small. The measure across the small flats is 3 3/4" and there are 6 of the flats so I'm thinking a 3 3/4", 6 point socket. Do I have it right this time? I need this thing back on the road and its been one delay after another with special order brake parts and Handy Dandy Andy on the wrench. With the smallish flats will the socket want to slip and turn the nuts into true bunged up rounded head nuts? And as long as I have your collective expertise on the line so to speak, the official Ford shop manual I now own says to torque the bearings up to, I think it said 80 ft. lbs., while rotating the wheel back and forth then back off 3/8 of a turn, does that sound about right to you guys? Any further sage advice you can offer that I can
impart to Dandy Andy will be appreciated.
Good Morning Gentleman, (and Women, sorry for the oversight slight) Please disregard the above missive. I woke up this morning, bumped my head and it came to me, 3 1/2" - 6 point. I'll inform Andy when I get back to it. Hope I caught this before wasting anyones time. I hate it when this happens.

 

They do make special sockets for those nuts. Now, an F250 is going to have a smaller axle and only uses a 2 3/8" nut (Dana 60) - but here's the special socket for those nuts.





It is a 3/4" drive socket, too. So either an adapter to a 1/2" ratchet or a 3/4" ratchet will do the trick.

Following the shop manual is usually a very good idea.

Chad

 

One other thing to keep in mind. Besides the torque spec these dual nutted hubs usually had a tabbed washer to secure the nuts as well. So, a piece like this goes between the nuts and after the nuts are torqued to spec then the tabs on these washers are bent over the nut flats.



If your truck used these as well then they would likely be larger sized as well.

Chad

 

Please ask further questions in the LARGE TRUCK forum. Most members of this forum have pickups.

 

Here's a 3 7/8" socket - so getting pretty close - they have a wide variety of sizes.

https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/SER2457

Chad

 

Will do NumberDummy, It'll probably make finding the information I'm looking for easier. Searched this forum up and down before posting.

 

Thanks for the feedback TA455HO. Useful info.