Hey everyone,

Should I be able to tighten the nut so that the rotor cannot move?

Back in the day a friend of mine told me he used to tighten the nut so the rotor would not move then back off a 1/4 turn.

I've got a dial indicator on order so I can set it properly but I was just curious about the original comment.

I tried to tighten down the nut on the passenger side but was unable to get it tight enough to stop the rotor from moving. No matter what I could still rotate the assembly fairly easy.

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I personally could never get it so tight that it would lock the hub, I take my largest adjustable wrench and reef on it - the idea is to seat the bearings square on the race and squeeze out any grease between the rollers and the races.

Once done - loosen it and adjust as required.

I have set mine once by hand and they worked perfectly well too, I used medium sized flat a screwdriver in the pinch nut slot to tighten it by hand force - it would move quite less than the super tight range.

Make sure you smack the spindle to loosen the bearing before you adjust the play. Use the dial gauge and magnet stand to finely adjust as required.

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2012 BMW X5 (Beef + Granite suspension model)

1995 E300D - The original humming machine (consumed by Flood 2017)
2000 E320 - The evolution (consumed by flood 2017)

Would not move as in rotate or not move as in wobble? ( I'm thinking he was looking at wobble. )

Even with a heavy preload the rotor will still rotate. Tighten it too much during install and the bearing races will be dented.

I use channel locks to tighten the nut while rotating the rotor until I feel drag on the rotor / torque on the channel locks. The seats the bearings. ( I've never measured it but figure 20 to 25 FT lb torque ) Then back off just until maybe 75% of the torque comes off the nut. A slight wobble of the rotor is OK if you have a cotter pin style nut as there are not many choices. With a clamp nut you can adjust a bit tighter than that.

Adjustment is a by feel thing though there is probably a factory procedure somewhere. If too loose, the steering might be a bit loose , brakes get knocked back leading to a slight low peddle, if slightly too tight bearing life will be shorter.

Tapered roller bearings are preloaded in other applications so why not in a wheel bearing app? Brake heat is transferred to the hub causing it to expand at a greater rate than the spindle, if the bearings are preloaded when cold, they will be too tight when hot. Also, wheel loads tend to cause dynamic preload so a bit loose is OK.

Well ,why do we preload taper roller bearings in other apps then? Preload keeps the rollers rolling rather than skidding across the surface.

Tighten with a wrench "moderately " tight, tight as you can with one hand not stand on the wrench with all your weight tight. Loosen until you can move the nut with your fingers, then take a thumb and forefinger (same hand) and snug it as tight as you can. You're done, lock it. With a gauge is more work and doesn't work any better than the finger method. I did one side of my 300sd one way and other side the other way years ago. No difference. Never used the gauge again. Lot of shops use the finger method on MBs and all cars and don't have any return complaints.

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