jeffer949 Posted August 30, 2009 Share Posted August 30, 2009 Hey i have a weird issue. My drivers side front wheel has a little play in it. My rims which are 17x9 -13 offset rota RB's are very close to the spring perch and when i go in reverse and turn my wheel it actually rubs. Its nothing major but obviously i need to fix it. I first thought it was my wheel bearings so I took them out and replaced them with new timken ones. Torqued the nut to 25ft lbs while turning the wheel then loosened and repeated to 25ftlbs and ten loosened 60deg and then put the retainer and cotter pin on. But that didnt fix the problem. I can feel it wobble up and down a little bit when i move it by hand but i cant find where its wobbling is coming from. as in i cant find anything moving. Does anybody have any idea whats going on or what could of come loose? The only thing i can think of is that the casting around the lower strut tube came lose but i cant feel or see anything moving when i wobble it. Well thanks for your input. Maybe one of you have gone through this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Six_Shooter Posted August 30, 2009 Share Posted August 30, 2009 Try tightening the wheel bearings again, this time without loosening them off 60 degrees. I've never heard of anyone doing that before, honestly. I always tighten my wheel bearings by feel, just before the point they start to drag from over tightening. I also never loosen off the bearing to line up the castle nut with a cotter pin hole, if need be I'll tighten slightly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
z240 Posted August 30, 2009 Share Posted August 30, 2009 I would also closely inspect the spindle itself. It may be worn. No bearing adjustment is going to solve that. Ever had the bearing sieze on that side? There are many other potential points for play than the wheel bearing, wiggle the wheel 12/6 AND 3/9 and see if there is a difference in how the play feels. Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savage42 Posted August 30, 2009 Share Posted August 30, 2009 Did you replace the races in the hub? I've had good races but were not snug in the hub. Just my 2 cents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffer949 Posted August 31, 2009 Author Share Posted August 31, 2009 Yes i put new races in. I also seated them correctly. Ill try tightening them again. This is the side of the car that got damaged the most when i wrecked the car but i didnt think I actually hit the rim. I looked over the spindle when i had it apart and it looked fine. Ill mic it out when i take it apart again. Thanks for the ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeeboost Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 Are you sure it's the wheel bearings causing the movement, and not something like a damaged/worn ball joint? I've seen that before (not on a datsun). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 Try tightening the wheel bearings again, this time without loosening them off 60 degrees. DO NOT run your wheel bearings torqued to 25 ft lbs. Follow the factory procedure. I would follow the advice to check the ball joints. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffer949 Posted August 31, 2009 Author Share Posted August 31, 2009 A worn ball joint would not allow for the wheel to move closer to the spring perch as the ball joint is below the strut housing and doesnt effect the wheel relationship to the strut housing. well im going to go tear it apart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeleriousZ Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 Are your lugs tight? Sometimes it's the most simple answer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffer949 Posted August 31, 2009 Author Share Posted August 31, 2009 Are your lugs tight? Sometimes it's the most simple answer Yeah i almost put that in my first post lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeeboost Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 A worn ball joint would not allow for the wheel to move closer to the spring perch as the ball joint is below the strut housing and doesnt effect the wheel relationship to the strut housing. well im going to go tear it apart. No, ball joints can be worn where they allow movement closer or further from the spring perch. Again, I haven't seen it on a Datsun, but on pickups especially, I see it all the time, even worse with older I-beam setups. Most likely, though, your ball joint, if it was worn, would only allow the up and down movement/play that you're referring to. When you mentioned it was in a wreck, that's what prompted me to question the integrity of the ball joint. I've been doing body shop alignments and front-end repair for a few years now, and lots of crazy things happen with thousands of pounds of metal slamming into each other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffer949 Posted August 31, 2009 Author Share Posted August 31, 2009 On a Z a worn ball-joint can not affect the wheels relationship to the strut housing. it is below the strut housing and only effects the relationship of the lower a-arm to the strut housing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Six_Shooter Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 DO NOT run your wheel bearings torqued to 25 ft lbs. Follow the factory procedure. I would follow the advice to check the ball joints. Read my entire post... I don't use a torque wrench on my wheel bearings, ever. As Jeffer has said a worn ball joint could not allow the wheel/rim to move in relation to the strut or spring perch, since the spindle is atached solidly to strut. The strut tube that is pressed (and welded IIRC) into the cast spindle would have to be broken/loose, etc, which may not be a bad idea to check that, especially now that you have said that side of the car was heavily damaged at one point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WizardBlack Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 I had the same issue. I also replace with new Timken units and followed the Haynes spec with 25 ft. lbs. and then back off 60*, etc. I ended up tightening them a bit to stop them from wobbling just as you described. I don't have a ton of miles on the car since then, however, to prove it doesn't wear the bearings. They still do spin, just not like they're without any resistance. I really felt like the wobble was about half a degree or so. Maybe less, but it was still a certain amount and more than I was willing to allow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffer949 Posted September 1, 2009 Author Share Posted September 1, 2009 I took it half way apart last night and tried torquing the nut down to 25ft lbs and then put the wheel back on and torqued it down and the wobble was still there so im almost positive the wobble isnt in the wheel bearings. Im buying a whole front suspension off of a guy tomorrow that im going to rebuild with arizonazcar coilovers. Im just going to put a spacer i have in there for now till then. obvoiusly ill keep checking it every now and again till then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fastzcars Posted September 2, 2009 Share Posted September 2, 2009 I had something similar to what you had. I thought it was the wheel bearing, it turned out to be a loose Gland nut holding the strut insert! Feels the same as a loose wheel bearing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhp123166 Posted September 2, 2009 Share Posted September 2, 2009 I had that happen to me on my front passenger wheel and it turned out to be the inner tie rod... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted September 2, 2009 Share Posted September 2, 2009 I had something similar to what you had. I thought it was the wheel bearing, it turned out to be a loose Gland nut holding the strut insert! Feels the same as a loose wheel bearing! I think this is a good possibility. It would allow the angle to change between tire and strut housing regardless of what is going on down below. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WizardBlack Posted September 3, 2009 Share Posted September 3, 2009 I think this is a good possibility. It would allow the angle to change between tire and strut housing regardless of what is going on down below. Hmm, guess I will have to get back in there and check that. I have some AZC front control arms to install anyways. When I took a fender off (to replace it), I realized that the full polyurethane bushing kit install messed up the effective length of my TC rods, which shoved my wheels forward, caused intereference between the group buy Rota wheels and the xenon front bumper, excessive toe out, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heavy85 Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 I've had same issue with new Timken wheel bearings being loose when installed to factory specs. I had to tighten about 1/2 cotter pin hole to tighten it up. So back off maybe 45 deg instead of 60. Cameron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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