Front Wheel Bearing Play

[newshirt]

I wanted to perform the test below, as described in the Service Bulletins, page 203. But now I have a question: Where should the cold chisel be placed? Does the photo show it in the right place?

Checking Front Wheels for Side Play (Service Bulletins, page 203)
The front wheels should be jacked up periodically and tested for smoothness of running and side play. To determine if there is excessive side play, grasp the sides of the tire and shake the wheel. Do not mistake loose spindle bushings for loose bearings. Insert a cold chisel between spindle and axle when making this test to take up any spindle bushing play.

[Joe K]

Photo shows it in the right place. You might do better to drive a wooden wedge in the same spot so as not to bang up the paint so much.

Also. Doing it according to the pix and the service bulletin above presupposes that one will grab the top and bottom of the jacked up tire to do the test. It might be just as advantageous to grab each side of the wheel (at the 90 and 180 position) and do a "side to side" test. For this you might not need a wedge.

For either way done, minus the hub cab you should be able to see any relative motion between the wheel hub and the spindle. I usually tighten until it is somewhat dragging on the tightness and then back off a half to 3/4 turn until looseness returns somewhat.

Joe K

[tbirdtbird]

seriously? people can't tell the diff between worn kingpins and loose wheel bearings without using a cold chisel like this?

[Tom Wesenberg]

Originally Posted by tbirdtbird

seriously? people can't tell the diff between worn kingpins and loose wheel bearings without using a cold chisel like this?

That was my thought also. I just jack the axle up and grab the wheel at 9 and 3, then push and pull evenly with both hands. If the wheel bearings are loose you will feel it. I did this on a Model A that was hard to drive and found the left wheel bearing needed 2 1/2 turns and the right bearing needed 1 1/2 turns to remove the freeplay. It steered nice after that.

[newshirt]

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Originally Posted by tbirdtbird

seriously? people can't tell the diff between worn kingpins and loose wheel bearings without using a cold chisel like this?

Sorry to disappoint. I was just trying to follow the service bulletin test. But yeah... there are probably a few who need a little help like this... me included.

Turns out, there's no noticeable play with or without the chisel.