wheel bearing grease caps wont stay on

[fgross2006]

I have a weird new problem that was never an issue before.

A few weeks ago I noticed the driver side wheel cover and grease cap had both popped off but both were in the street next to car in front of my house. I smacked the cap back in with a mallet, put the wheel cover back on and drove the car. A day later both were gone again but this time lost in the streets.

I replaced the grease cap with a brand new one. It stayed on so far and its been about 2 weeks. But today I noticed the passenger side cap and wheel cover gone. I stopped at Autozone and grabbed a new grease cap and hammered it in with a mallet and a cup a little bigger than the cap so I could drive it in without smashing the cup.

One short drive and its gone.

I still haven't gone on ebay looking for new wheel covers but I need to resolve this ASAP. I thought of using some silicone or RTV but it probably wont stick to the greasy rotor slot.

Has anybody else had this happen? its weird because I been driving this for 3 years and all of a sudden the grease caps wont stay in? And the ones that flew out this month were put in new with new rotors 2 summers back. they're not old enough to be worn out

[wilsst]

Hi, yes that is weird?! I can only think of 2 reasons (but doesnt make much sense with your explanation) 1. too much grease in the bearing, when it heats up it forces the caps off. 2. wheel bearing is loose/worn. But for the wheel cover to come off as well.... ? hope someone comes up with the answer, good luck

[Walking-Tall]

When were the front wheel bearings cleaned, re-packed, and adjusted last, and by whom?

Heat causes expansion, and smokin' hot rotors from mal-adjusted/lubed bearings could expand the dust cap bore in the rotors enough to not allow the usual-for-the-last-hundred-years snug-enough fit that dust caps are in rotors. I think this issue of yours is a red flag sign of more than just the annoyance of the dust caps coming out.

[homer302]

I believe the cause is more innocent than any of that. Just my guess. I actually had a similar thing happen to my Turbo when I put it back on the road. I believe my center caps were attached more firmly though as the grease caps came off inside the center caps but the center caps never let go. It's the new rotors. They are most likely ALL Chinese sourced at this point and the hole works just fine for what they tested it for, which is just fitting the car. What they DIDN'T test it for is the grease cap. Neither one of mine stay on but my center caps won't fall out. I just leave them off. The center caps keep the heavy debris out.
THAT being said, calm down everyone. My car sits in a garage. It gets driven a total of 1,000 miles a year and not 1 of those is in ANY sort of rain or wet roads and that means obviously, no snow or sleet or ice. It has to be dry and 60 before it even goes anywhere.

[KevinK]

How about wrong grease used? Disc brakes require hi temp grease in the wheel bearings also known as disk brake wheel bearing grease. I could see it heating up and building up pressure but never heard of it.

[erratic50]

In my experience in having this happen the most common culprit is bearings being adjusted too loose and its building heat. But there usually a reason for this and it can be a safety issue if you've ever seen a spindle break.

Worn races and or bearings -the rotors will most likely rattle under hard braking. It will feel like the rotors are cracked or a wheel is out of balance but it's not

You can start by tightening the nut until you can't turn the rotor then back it off just a little bit so it turns freely but has no wiggle to it. If you can't get it to stop turning by hand time to start inspecting stuff because there's a problem.

Get new bearings and races and repeat or in my experience it's faster to get rotors too.

If still no dice on stopping the ability to turn you need to be very detailed about what you do next.

Check tolerance between the inside of the inside of the inner bearing and the spindle. Look at where the inner bearing meets the spindle on the flat part - if there is a gap between the inner bearing inside and the spot it's supposed to hit on the spindle there is a wear issue. It's likely caused by the bearing spinning on the spindle instead of rotor turning on the race. You may also see evidence that the spindle got hot such as blueing. If it's more than just superficial it's time for new spindles.

it it's only lightly blued and there's no chunks of metal gone (looks like a flywheel that got hot but there is no surface deformation or cracking) It's workable - bad but It's not the end of the world.

the ways to extend the life of the spindle are to nural the spindle where it meets the most inside spot on the bearing. If you don't have the tools to do that you can also tighten the tolerances in a way that requires more attention to detail when servicing it. polish the large flat side of the inner bearing with 320 silicon carbide on a piece of glass. You'll get to the point that the bearing makes solid contact with the curve on the spindle. Do what's needed to ensure the bearing cannot spin on the spindle as it can fracture if it gets hot in this configuration. I used a cold chisel to make marks

Once you have your tolerances handled, Start with freshly packing high temp grease into the bearings. If you used the nural or glass tricks pay careful attention not to get grease between the inside of the bearing and the spindle- you DO NOT want it to turn on the spindle under any circulstsnce!.

Tighten the nut until you can't turn the rotor. Back it off until the rotor turns pretty freely with NO play top to bottom on the rotor.

[erratic50]

If you polish the bearing make sure the inside edge of the rotor doesn't run on the spindle as the rotor will move inboard slightly as you sand and sometimes the tolerances are tight to start with.

86 2.0L Range rotors are 5 lug and have a cap that's designed a bit differently tha tends to stay on better but requires 5 lug rims. Crown Vic or 94+ mustang will work be watch backspace so the wheels don't hit the strut. Tribar 17" rims just clear but the wheel weights will hit so a spacer is a good idea.

The very best fix available is a 5 lug conversion using SN95 spindles and X2 balljoints with camber bolts or longer A arms.

[fgross2006]

When were the front wheel bearings cleaned, re-packed, and adjusted last, and by whom?

Heat causes expansion, and smokin' hot rotors from mal-adjusted/lubed bearings could expand the dust cap bore in the rotors enough to not allow the usual-for-the-last-hundred-years snug-enough fit that dust caps are in rotors. I think this issue of yours is a red flag sign of more than just the annoyance of the dust caps coming out.

I changed the bearings first and I replaced the grease caps a few days later. I did inners and outers, bearings and races all replaced with timkens.

I read online the bearings are supposed to be torqued to 18 - 20 lbs so I set mine to 19 lbs.

The driver side old cap popped off first. I replaced it with a brand new cap and so far it has stayed in. the a week later the passenger side popped out. I replaced it and an hour later the new cap was gone.

I have a new one and Im gonna try to clean out the grove and fill it with red locktite and tap in the new cap

[Haystack]

$10 says the wheel bearings were not seated fully when you torqued them. If the bearings arent 100% square and tight, the wont sit flush. Personally, I spin the rotor while I tighten it down until it barely spins, like 1/4 turn or so. Once you add the weight of the tires/rims it will spin about one full turn with moderate effort.

The tapered wheel bearings need load to remove all play. If it moves at all, you will be eating wheel bearings, and in extreame cases, bend/break a caliper.

I had a car I bolts bought, the previous owned swapped the brakes but didnt fully tighten them down. Got a few hundred miles and my wheel bearing shattered from a pot hole at freeway speeds.

[erratic50]

I agree with turning the rotor as you tighten. If you don't pull it down far enough it might be bound up somewhere. If you don't turn it it can get suctioned to something with fresh grease.

Thats why I say always pull them down all the way so they dont turn by hand anymore then back it off.

Agreed - 18-20 is about exactly where you end up every time once you have the feel for it. Honestly after doing it so many times it's pretty much automatic. I forgot about there being actual torque specs - lol.

I burned up several full sets of brakes - rotors, pads, drums plus lots of misc caliper and line parts one summer driving way too fast. Hard on the pocketbook for many reasons but after a while you do get good at brake and bearing jobs on foxes.

Also what pads and rotors work and which ones suck.

PADS - Performance friction all the way.

Rotors - I ditched my thick 86GT rotors in favor of 87-93 LX 4cyl that summer because the 86GT specific parts kept retaining too much heat and cracking all the time. The big box parts stores don't even have real 86 rotors anymore- they all sub the 87-93 LX 4cyl. Of course they also try to sell you inner bearings and seals for the newer larger inners found on the 93-8? LX sport and GT cars too. I've told them 50+ times and they still do the same crap and the parts computer is still wrong to this day. Drives me nuts.

[Walking-Tall]

I changed the bearings first and I replaced the grease caps a few days later. I did inners and outers, bearings and races all replaced with timkens.

I read online the bearings are supposed to be torqued to 18 - 20 lbs so I set mine to 19 lbs.

The driver side old cap popped off first. I replaced it with a brand new cap and so far it has stayed in. the a week later the passenger side popped out. I replaced it and an hour later the new cap was gone.

I have a new one and Im gonna try to clean out the grove and fill it with red locktite and tap in the new cap

Online ... 18-20 lbs, 19 lbs?... even if that's INCH pounds, that's too tight, and not the proper way to set front wheel bearings.

This is important to do right for safety for you and everyone else on the road, more-so than the dust cap retention symptom, and this is the procedure:

1. Rotate the rotor in a forward direction and torque the nut to 17-25 ft-lbs. This is JUST to fully seat the bearings.
2. Back the nut off 1/2-turn.
3. Torque the nut to 10-15 in-lbs, if you've got such a wrench, or just finger tight. If anything, a wee bit of bearing clearance slack is preferable, and a far better situation than them having preload or crush, creating massive heat, and potentially self-destructing going down the road.

[erratic50]

I will say again that following instructions given then check by feel is the best way.

Your crown nut can only go on so many ways. Pull it tight like I mentioned then slowly back it off spot by spot until you find one where the rotor rotates with a lot less effort than the previous spot but has minimal or no play you can feel. It's going to be about 1/3 or 1/2 turn but varies by car. Rarely will by hand give a tight enough bearing unless the threads are still perfect - few are.

If in doubt on play put the rim and tire back on and feel for play and rotating effort.

Pull out on the wheel and check for play on the inner bearing. If there is more than just the tinyest of unmeasurable amounts more when pulling out than when pushing in it's too loose, try the next tighter setting.

Don't run with too much or too little play as it can ruin spindles and bearings! Monitor for excessive heat after initially servicing. Sometimes you have to repeat the tighten and back off sequence to get the best result.

I'm proud to say this bearing repack and adjustment process is something my dad taught me how to do at a young age - around 6. Luckily his methods were proven by both his high speed blast habits as a young man as well as mine.

If you truly don't know, find someone you trust to mentor you on it. The life you save could be your or it could be mine or any one of a number of people here or those they love and care about.

Internet isn't always the best source!

Oh - and read! here are a few more articles
https://www.stangnet.com/mustang-for...ng-nut.828935/
http://www.allfordmustangs.com/forum...ge=1&_k=frc8jt

[dynodon64]

Drive the car for30 minutes stop and go. Get out and feel how hot the rotor is around the dust cap. It shouldn't be more than warm to the touch. If it's hot, their too tight.

[KevinK]

Never had a cap pop off but I did have some wheel bearings that would loosen up. Tightened several times and I only put 2-3 k miles on per year. Turns out the wheel bearing nut started to strip out. My cars are not abused and it still happened. Don't recall if it was the 85 or 89. A new nut kit fixed the problem.

[Haystack]

Ive done rotors and bearings using the method I described many times. Last one I did, I put over 80k miles on it and didnt have to adjust it once.

Everytime ive lost a dustcap, it was because the wheel bearing was either way too loose or the wheel bearing was bad.

[Walking-Tall]

Ive done rotors and bearings using the method I described many times. Last one I did, I put over 80k miles on it and didnt have to adjust it once.

Everytime ive lost a dustcap, it was because the wheel bearing was either way too loose or the wheel bearing was bad.

Let us know where they sell front disc brake pads that last over 80,000 miles, please. Cleaning the roller bearings, repacking them with grease, and ADJUSTING them properly is necessary/wise/usual/normal (if bearings and rotors and spindles are to last any sane amount of time, that is) at each brake pad/rotor replacement.

I haven't ever lost a dust cap, with hundreds of thousands of miles and multiple vehicles, or ever have to readjust front wheel bearings besides at brake change time... and front wheel bearings only ever needed replacement due to PO disconnected neglect as mentioned.

[Haystack]

Any sane driver, brake pads should easily last 50k miles or more. My dad bought his 2010 mazda with 30k miles and just did his brakes for the first time at 150k miles. Same with his 2011 fiesta.

[erratic50]

The powerful foxes have aggressive 0-60 times and pathetic brakes. And forget 60-0 pulls, lets throw in 80-0 since many freeways are speed limit 75 or - heck - been to Dallas lately - Flow of traffic is often 95+. And raise your hand if you volunteer to get passed by the idiot in a Prius on your bumper - didn't think so.

Then for me there are the late nights on abandoned back roads. Here it's more like 140-0 pulls. On a lucky (because hey I got stopped) but bad night I've smoked out a full set of stock brakes with Napa pads in one night.

Dont get me wrong, the brakes on my MarkLT lasted until 87K miles. Big difference between semi metallic and ceramic pads and brakes sized properly on a truck driven like a man vs too small on a car driven hard.

I highly doubt I'll get more than 20K out of my new 4 wheel disc setup mainly because I punish them repeatedly while going around the track and the street alike.

[mcfairmont]

I tow my 24 foot enclosed race car trailer with a 1999 F350 dually 2wd, with a V10 and 5 speed. The truck now has 128,000 miles on it, and is still wearing its factory issued brake pads, calipers, and rotors, F&R. The last time I checked them, they were still almost 1/2 left. Not bad for a truck that combined with the trailer and race car weighs over 15,000 lbs. I must admit many of these miles were put on during long freeway trips, so the brakes only were only used to slow down to exit the freeway to gas up the truck. Of course, most Mustang 5.0s get driven a little more aggressively than my truck!

[Haystack]

Yeah, I drive like an old man now. I actually live in a pretty rural area now, only freeway near me is an 80mph speed limit in either direction. I get up to the speed limit and set the cruise control. Stay in the right lane unless I am passing. I also do a ton of city driving though, I drive pizza delivery, it really doesnt get much more urban on and off the brakes then that.

With a stick shift I hardly ever touched the brakes except parking lots and to park.

[erratic50]

Warning - completely unrelated to the original question but on topic for the conversation that has followed...

128K on factory brakes is impressive. Ford did a great job on the larger F series trucks. Plenty of power and towing capacity coupled with lots of room and excellent ride height. My good friend has a 98 F350 with an upgraded turbo and a bully dog tune. It is a lot quicker than a truck should be and I think it could just about pull his 32' Pachinga with dual big blocks down the road sideways at 85. Lord knows it barely noticed when we loaded up his 5000 lb trailer with a broken 8700 lb 97 Dodge Ram 3500. Was worth a picture of shame, lol.

For a 1/2 ton truck I cant complain about my LT. It had 35K of in small town driving only on it when I got it. Brakes were worn to 1/2 when I got it. It was own by a retired farmer who was the deacon at a church and used it to haul stuff from the church to local events and back - that's it. The truck hadn't so much as evidence it had ever killed a bug yet by looking at the nose and AC coils. I've done a mix of highway and in city. Many miles pulling a 4500 lb boat on a single axle boat trailer that doesn't have its own brakes too. I had Lincoln redo the brakes with all factory parts and expect to see quite a few miles from this set. Plus since it's a Lincoln it has their sound deadening - it's nearly silent inside while going down the road at 80-85 which is perfect for a me being in sales - works great with the Microsoft Sync setup I retrofitted it with. Might be the only 2008 LT or 150 with sync around as it's not offered and there was a lot of wiring involved and none of it is documented anywhere.

In contrast it's nearly impossible to hear on a phone in my mustang - period.

Back on topic - with 94-95 spindles on a fox you can get better brakes and don't have to worry about the old design bearings anymore. Only bad news if there is any is I've yet to see anyone offer a 4 lug kit designed to retrofit this newer technology ...... or factory style 10 hole or turbine or pony rims drilled to hide 5 lugs. It pretty well forces you to change rim style unless your car had steel wheels and hub caps to begin with. Hard to make a sleeper when the parts are a dead giveaway.

[gr79]

Had to do another detail explanation story in case this happens to someone else.
Loud clunking from front end. Intermittent. Related to brakes.
Diagnosis- Right outer wheel bearing total failure. Inner not far behind.

Friday 2/28/20 2p 15 miles from home, freeway center lane 65 mph headed to destination.
Suddenly experienced several noticeable 'pulls' like strong crosswise gusts from wind or large semi.
But no truck nearby, not a gusty wind day.

Then loud clunking. Sudden, loud. Like a sheared brake pad. Hear similar noise before.
Immediately got off the next exit and headed directly home slow. Something was amiss.
Did a quick parking lot safety check. No visible anything out of the ordinary to abort the drive back home.
First guess was a broken brake pad anti rattle clip on drivers side and loose or destroyed inner shoe.
Happened before on my Ranger when a front brake pad sheared off its backing metal.
But the Mustang's brakes worked fine with no noise applying them. Made it home fine.
Rack, tie rods 20k ago. No shimmy, vibrations felt.

Next day, brake pedal was low needed one pump to get the pads to recontact the rotor.
Visioning the rotor wobble was so bad was pushing the caliper piston and pads off it?
Then pumping the pedal adjusted the pads to regrab the rotor. Cycle repeats.

Positively diagnosed problem Sunday 3/1/20
Took the suspect DS wheel and caliper off.
DS brake pads like new. Clip is fine.
After going over the ds caliper (slide grease, cleaning), it passed my inspection.

Maybe the noise was a loose rear brake shoe?
Nope.

Decided to pull off pass front wheel just for the heck of it while the jack was in position.
Noted couple strange little oil streaks from between the turbine wheel spokes to the rim.
Was not brake fluid. Looked like brown oil. From where? Never seen that before. Animal pee?
Then going to take the wheel off, it wiggled like the lugs were not on very far.
Nope, lugs were tight. Took off wheel and tire. Then....

Oh oh.

The turbine rim streak trails were of wheel bearing grease.
Rotor dust cover was off, found inside wheels center cap. Rotor was bad loose.
Took cotter and nut off. Looked like bits of metal in the dirty grease. Washer was ground thin and damaged.

Pass side outer bearing was no longer bearing.
Nothing left but a dry empty cage seized on the spindle.
The bearings and most of the cage were in the middle spindle part of the rotor.
Took rotor off. The mildly seized outer bearing race was temp stopping removal of inner and seal.
Inner bearing was greased but not good. Was ready to also bite the dust.

Had to cut the bearing shell off the spindle. Nicked the spindle. Buffed a couple galled bearing metal bits off the spindle.
Temp installed a new bearing and flat washer to hold the rotor to put the wheel back on. 5 hours work.
Absolutely no driving, but can move car if needed. Spindle ok but will replace soon.
Pass side pads, clip, are like new, both calipers are old but removed easily.

Nothing gave away the severity and seriousness of hidden damage up to this point.
At a loss how this happened. My Lisle handy packer greases them well.
Possibly did not do the final bearing adjustment torque to 20 inch # and the bearing was too loose.
Guilty of delaying inspecting or repacking bearings per maintenance schedule. Rotor replacement was long overdue.
Drivers side bearings were fine. Rotors (EIS brand 1/87) have around 150k on them.

Was planning to upgrade to 79 V8 10" rotors from the car's current stock early 79 turbo 9.3".
Or so i thought. 10" rotor wont clear the caliper mounts on the spindles.
So its new stock C-Tek 9.3" rotors and bearings only. The Raybestos semi-metallic pads are like new.
So its new 4x National bearings, seals, cotter pins. Calipers and hoses next month or so.

NAPA for new washer kit. O'Reallys for calipers, nearby NPD for the balance of parts.
Others did not have the parts in stock for inspection, parts matching, or best prices for purchase.

[erratic50]

gr79 - I have four pairs of 79-86 V8 / 87-93 4cyl spindles around.

One set off my 85 Saleen clone build in Austin locked up in Trey's shop. Around 13K miles, but racing.
One set off a good friend's 86GT sitting in storage on the floor so I can trip over them repeatedly Around 90K street miles
One set in storage still installed on a completely loaded 85GT K member. Around 80K miles
One set in a pile of donor metal I got for my 86GT Around 13K miles of street use ..... damn things still have stock 86 pads on them.....

I actually had my 1/2 million mile pair of spindles with a 5 lug ranger setup on them until I sold them to str8six fan for his low fairmont project a while ago.... Met Grant in KC and got them gone.

As I re-read all that -- yikes ... Where were all of these replacement parts when I was rolling 140 and setting the cruise all the time 2 1/2 decades ago.

Oh- I forgot. My son also has the exact same parts on his daily driver 86GT convertible.

Given my habit of upgrading to either SVO spindles when I want to stay 4-lug or 94-95 spindles if 5 lug is OK I am pretty sure I will never use all of these.

If I were to part with any of them, it would be the ones that are in storage here locally and already taken off. PM me an offer and pay for the ride and they are yours.


You will want to use National or Timken bearings.

I will give you my educated guess as to what happened. It is the exact same thing that happens to most of this bearing type eventually. They weren't quite right and they didn't get enough tension on them once the grease was squeezed down after a liberal grease packing.

The fact that your bearing caps were popping off is about all the proof I need based upon all the years of working on these darn things.

You have to get the bearings tightened to the point the wheel spins freely but you also MUST ensure you cannot feel any significant amount of movement if you put the rim/tire back on and tighten down the lug nuts then put your hands top and bottom and push/pull on the wheel.

I don't care what any service manual says as far as torque specs, etc. That is nonsense -- this has to be set by trial and error and feel once there are worn components involved.

The other thing I'll guess is that your inside bearing isn't fitting quite right on the spindle. There has to be some solid contact to ensure it doesn't have a good way to spin on the spindle rather than using the bearing's rollers. The way you can tell if this bearing spinning on the spindle problem exists is if you put things together and you can't tighten the king pin nut down enough to cause you to be unable to turn the rotor. An overtightened king pin nut should stop the wheel dead and if it doesn't the bearing carrier is spinning on the kingpin.

I'd look at what type of grease you're using. Grease made boat trailers is both high temp and moisture resistant. It seems to hold up a bit better than normal disc brake grease if you have a lead food like I do.

My procedures for rebuilding these after a brake job (and I've done LOTS of those) is:
1 - clean everything up good
2 - test fit the bearings on the spindle dry making sure they fit properly and don't flop around. They should just fit but not have any noticable amount of slack/tolerance.
3 - pack the bearings with grease
4 - install the seal and clean the misc grease off the inside of the bearings. you don't want them turning on the spindle and the small amount that consequently gets there as things are ran is plenty to keep the bearings from causing spindle wear but helps resist bearing spinning on the spindle
5 - install the rotor on the spindle, put on the washer and the kingpin nut
6 - tighten the kingpin nut while turning the rotor making sure you reach a point where you've tightened to the point that the rotor is stopped
7 - back it off a little bit until it "feels" good to turn without a crap-ton of resistance, but also no play
8 - install the brake pads and caliper and pins. (be sure to clean and grease the pins - often overlooked)
9 - install the rim/tire and tighten up the lug nuts
10 - with on hand up top and one hand towards the bottom, check the bearings for play
11 - if everything checks out, put the pin in, and cap it... put it on the ground and road test it.
12 - check temps after a few miles of driving and also make sure the caps stayed on.

If bearings aren't fitting properly on the spindle or you can't tighten the nut tight enough to stop you from turning the rotor by hand there is a bigger problem.



I'll share this with you ... don't try it if you don't understand what I'm talking about ....... when my 400K+ mile spindles were insanely worn and really really needed to be replaced I was flat broke and needed my car later that day. Here's what I did and made it all work just fine.

Necessity is the mother of invention. I found a way to tighten that up. I used some hardened tools to actually nurral the metal where the bearing comes into contact with the spindle at the outer bearing. No more slop of the outer on the bottom of the kingpin anymore. (yes, I know -- scary to think about ... but that part is insanely strong as long as you don't end up with bearing temperatures absolutely sky high -- that's what causes them to fail)

For the inner I put a piece of 220 grit silicon carbide sand paper on a piece of glass and polished down the back side of the bearing where it goes up to the inner most part of the spindle. This brought the bearing in further and forced good contact across a greater area.

What I mean by that is if you look closely at the spindles they are not cut to look like L -- The corner is actually rounded off some where it transitions from the kingpin to the rest of the spindle. The spot I polished down allowed me to re-establish good contact of the inner bearing with the entire are that's supposed to make contact. But the flat part of the spindle is supposed to make that contact you say .... why yes it is. No next I did some nurraling on the area where the inner bearing rests up against to ensure it would hit solid and touch evenly and always touch first.

Worked for me, and lord knows those bearing were way beyond tested. A few times more-so than the last time. But the last time they were what was under the car the GPS said 177 and it was climbing when I backed out of it. Bad idea, you bet!

I have zero doubt it would do the exact same nonsense only more-so with all the SN95 parts under it and a few more go fast parts on it now.

Take care of yourself - be sure to study things carefully so you don't lose a wheel during flight or something bad like that.

[gr79]

Thanks E5 for taking the time to post like that.
Ha flight. Those days are over. And i avoid the 'D' city limits if at all possible.

Many here on the forum have done major brake mods and i highly value all info.
Rereading this thread is very informing. Found it on Google.

Yes did steps 1-12, without overthinking bearing torque.
The rotors stopped like you said. Good to know that's good. Do not want to wreak bearings.
The fine line.
Getting the nut hand tight, like some old timers do, was real close to the 20 inch pound mark if not at.
Some say only use a beam torque wrench to do this. Now where is my old one from the 60's?
I used a very light touch on inch pound wrench and did multiple times to cop a feel.
The mounted tire moved tiny bit, peeking at the rotor and tie rod ends to see what was moving.
Rotors stopped before 25# preloading torque to seat but read cautions about overdoing that.
Backed off 1/2 turn per manual.
79 manual does not say any final torque. 85 and 93 did. So i final torqued them.
Did the Ranger last year this way and all is well.
Not sure if i ever final torqued the car this way and left it 1/2 turn out. Past mistakes.
Have air gun, so taking tire on/off is no big deal to get this right.
Plus being retired, more short term memory and time to spend on details.

Did note the knurling mod. Never did it but know what it is. Dial micrometer grips for one.
Made custom tools out of white pvc drain pipe to install the dust cap and seals quick and flat.

Pins were wire brushed on bench grinder and lubed, along with caliper sliding surfaces.
Wrap short bungee cord thru loose caliper to hold it out of the way and safely.
Used Genuine Ford special caliper brown grease in blue/white tube from dealer.
C-clamp and piece of 1x2 wood to seat piston for pad/caliper reinstall.

When working at auto dealers, watched mechanics use the grease the palm technique.
Have used grease gun and needle tip to do them before the packer tool.
Pre greased all bearings standing on the lisle packer rather than using a vice to force the grease in.
Then took time to go over them by hand, stuffing and smoothing up the excess grease no bare spots.
Seal inside rubber part and rotor cups get a wipe of grease. All seals i ever removed later looked good.
I use Valvoline Ford blue moly formula grease per Ford spec in manuals. Tub and tube.
Did have grease on the inner part of bearing races, but will remove next time in there.
No spinning, bluing of spindle knuckle was seen, even under the failed bearing.

In years of doing rotors, never had a dust cap come off nor a spun bearing.
And after seeing small trailers on the side of freeway. Boat or utility trailer, wheel off, axle on ground. Reminders.
We have lots of boating and boaters here. Known fact to repack boat trailer bearings several times a season.
Did have a rear wheel bearing rumble and squawk on my VW once. Had it replaced pronto

For quite a while, noted faint rumbling on certain freeway curves since mid 2000's.
Always assumed it was the LT front. Now i know do a '180' check too. Big mistake overlooking that.
Will know soon next time driving those stretches.

Temp check good reminder. Have a ir thermo gun. Will monitor, but think all is now well.
If anything, can take it somewhere i trust for free or even paid inspection.

Local yard in Dearborn, one mile from where DAP was, has a RF 1981 Mustang 4cyl spindle.
Will keep offer in mind. Wish list is later spindles that clear 10" rotors someday.
Means changing out both for the newer version. Not going to happen this year if ever.
Have body work, outside house work to do weather permitting. And car shows, cruises, holiday bbq's.
If i had a garage here, things would be different. Car stays outside, has to be movable.
My brothers have well equipped garages, but they are there and i am here.
Had the spindles off once before when installing the good version lower control arms and struts.
And Ranger's knuckles for ball joints. No stranger to heavy repairs but now may prefer to outsource that kind of stuff.

[erratic50]

Good reply gr79.

You have all of the factory correct supplies to do the job as well as it was ever done by Ford originally. I have always used the very best heat and moisture resistant grease I can find ..... these days its the blue synthetic that's often used with bearing buddies on boats.

It sounds like you have some suspects on the failure but no real source pinpointed.

I still insist that these bearing have to be tightened down harshly after a repack while turning the rotor until the rotor stops. I've needed to put a good 30 ft-lbs on before I liked how well the assembly stopped me from turning the rotor depending upon the car. Then you back off only what's necessary to allow it to turn with some but not a lot of resistance. Often around 1/3 of a turn backed off is about all. Or 1/2 maybe. Again its hard to explain - I do it by feel and I've done it a ton over the years due to miles. I got good at it one summer when I burned up 7 full sets of brakes simply driving too damn fast and stomping on the brakes too hard.

I've slowed down a TON too. And soon that will be forced as the 8.8 build I have cooking right now has 3.90 gears. Out with the 2.73's in with the 3.90's ..... its time. My clutch and brakes will thank me.

Perhaps you found that 1 in 1000 that was just a bad bearing to begin with. Lottery system, you lost perhaps.


If your're going through the work of swapping spindles, you might want to consider the 11"-ish 87-93 V8 spindles as an option as well. I picked SVO on my 85 Saleen clone because I saw the benefit of correcting Ackerman and I'm pretty sure noone had ever tried it before. Trey figured out the install without a lot of drama - I must have done something right reading the engineering specs because it held few surprises. We used Maximum Motorsports SN95 to SVO balljoint adapters and SN95 low friction balljoints in that build. A few others have tried that setup since the time we documented it and report excellent results, albeit we haven't put a single mile on the 85 and its still a roller right now.

You can't run the larger (87-93 V8 and/or SVO size) rotors if you have less than a 15" wheel. SSP 15's do not clear, but 10 holes do. Original metric TRX wheels clear, so do the LMR repops.

Yea - a lot of guys have really stepped up their game on brake setups. I am happy that I'm one of them because if I had not listened to very good friend of mine who talked me into going gangbusters on brakes on my 86 I would not be here. The upgrades not only avoided a wreck, they saved me from what would have been certain death.

It is a LOT of fun doing 60-0 pulls when you have kick-butt pads with braided hoses and high end brake fluid. I can probably stop from 100 shorter than I could stop from 60 when my car was stock. NO complaints, and it was not that expensive to do. The parts list is easy to acquire and mostly SN95 parts. I have 4x more money tied up in a solid 4 lug setup on my 85 build than I have in a kick-butt 5 lug setup on 86.

That being said, I do miss my 10 holes on the 86. Cleaned up and polished up they look good IMO. And that is what I always ran on it for the vast majority of the time I've owned it. Now the 10 holes are the winter set for my son's 86GT DD. We have accumulated about 20 of those rims with tires and finish in various stages of nice or disrepair. I guess we won't run out of rolling stock for the 4 lug cars any time soon.