front wheel bearings

[SHOnuff612]

got the ball joint apart gonna replace them also,but my question is are the axles just suppose to slide in and out mines being pretty stuborn i managed to get one out with a few wacks with a hammer and now when i got the new bearing on it dont just slide through when im tighting the spindle bolt it seems it just dont wana tighten up all the way putting way to much force to it..any help would be great thanks

 

[sdpatt]

The axle should slide through most of the way without much force IF the axle's splines are lined up with those in the hub. The last fraction of an inch of seating will be done by the hub nut.

 

[BamSHO]

Yeah, the splines in the axle will just slide in when lined up. I just did drivers side a month ago. Depends on how the axle looks, might be a good time to replace too, just FYI

 

[Liquid_force]

Last time I had mine apart I found it to take a surprising amount of torque to get the axle back through the bearing. Both were new.

I fitted it as well as I could by hand and still had a 1/2" or so to go, and compared to the 200+ ft-lb final torque, just getting the axle seated didn't take a whole lot less -- 150 maybe. Seemed excessive to me, but I didn't see any other option.

Driven several K since then. All is well.