I keep seeing ...adjust front wheel bearings........how do you adjust them... other than getting them snug ???

 

You almost never just “get them, snug“ and do it correctly. Especially on trucks, where, even a little too much preload might be enough to overheat the bearings.
There might be more leeway on a light, older, passenger car, or sports car, where “snug“ might actually be the factory spec! :-)

Sure, after you’ve gotten a feel for how a particular vehicle’s bearings are set, you can kind of do it by hand so to speak.
There are also modern unit bearings that do not need to be set. Perhaps that’s something you’re familiar with as well.
Those are simply remove the old one and replace with a new one and it’s preset and non-adjustable.

Your truck is 2 Wheel Drive. Correct?
If so it’s a little less involved procedure than a four-wheel-drive. But the end result is still probably the same.
And that’s to come up with no more than .005 to .010 inch of free play, and perhaps just a little bit of preload on the bearings.

Now everything I just said is hearsay until you look at the shop manual and see what it says about your particular truck.

Have you gotten this far (which is quite far actually!) without picking up a shop manual yet?
If not, I will try to find mine and see if it shows 2 Wheel Dr. adjustments. I’m pretty sure it’s four-wheel-drive only, but I’ll check.

 

Yes oneTon , this is where I keep seeing adjust the wheel bearings , in different FORD service manuals , & I did recently see about some pre-load that seemed a very technical way of snugging the bearing & then backing it off a slight bit . I will re-visit said manual
To me that is barely an adjustment , but it may be more clear when I re-read the sections .
Truck is not all wheel drive..........

 

That’s about right. Because too loose is not good, and too tight is baaad.

The official Timken specification for opposing tapered roller bearings, at least of the larger sizes of 4wd trucks and such, is between.001” and .010 inch.
This is true for an F100 or a Freightliner.
The different models might achieve this clearance using different steps, but they end up the same.

A passenger car or light duty 2wd truck might be the same. Or might be different.
Just not sure of that.

 

Did you get them adjusted yet?
For what it's worth, my Chilton manual says, "Tighten the spindle nut until a slight binding is felt. With a torque wrench, tighten the nut to 17-25 ft lbs to seat the bearing. Install the nut lock over the nut so the cotter pin hole in the spindle is aligned with a slot in the nut lock. Back off the adjusting nut and locking nut 2 slots of the nut lock and install the cotter pin."
Hope this helps.

 

What I learned in auto shop (70's) was to tighten it up to seat the bearing then loosen the nut and the hand tighten it back up and install the cotter pin.