Triumph Repair: Front Wheel Bearing endfloat - Spitfire, wheel bearings, cotter pin

Question
Howard,

  I have a 1977 Spitfire 1500 and noticed some movement within my front wheel bearing.  The Haynes manual says to hand tighten the castle nut until resistance is felt turning the hub, then to back the nut off 1 flat and put in the split pin.  The manual also says the endfloat should be 3 - 5 thou of an inch.  When I try to set this up, it's either too tight, then when I back off one flat, it seems sloppy and I can get the hub to knock back and forth and I can see and feel and hear movement.  I have a dial gauge - where do I measure the 'endfloat' from ?  I've heard it's better to be loose than to be tight, but when I put the wheel on - I can rock it top and bottom and see and hear real movement....

   Thanks,

   Steve.

Answer
Hi Steve,
When they say "Hand Tight" they are referring to just snug it down with a wrench. Then back off one flat. When you do that, you will find it difficult to feel any free play at all.

If you have replaced the wheel bearings you need to first tighten the nut fairly tight with a wrench about 6 to 8 inches long then loosen it and just hand snug the wrench and then back off one flat. The reason you must over tighten at first is because a bearing may not have fully seated when installed so the over tightening is necessary to seat a new bearing race.

Another method of adjusting the free play is to hand spin the hub (with the wheel off and the brake pads out) and note how it coasts when you spin it. Keep hand spinning it as you slowly tighten the nut and as soon as you note that the hub does not coast as far as it had been, back off to the first cotter pin hole (notch). If it is already lined up with a hole then move it to the next hole (notch in the nut) When it is correct, you should be able to hand spin the hub and it should coast well and it should be difficult to feel any free play.
Howard