Alex Healey (Kingaroy, QLD)
Hi Allan, I recently completed a swivel hub rebuild on my solid axle Toyota Hilux. I couldn’t find anything in my manual in regards to torque setting for the two 54mm hub nuts. I ended up doing them up as tightly as possible to seat the wheel bearings and then backing them off about 1/8th of a turn.
I took the truck for a drive for around an hour and when I stopped the hub was too hot to touch! Do you know if this was due to the hub nuts being over tightened? Do you happen to know the correct torque settings or tightening procedure for these nuts?
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Allan
Hi Alex, your hub could well have been overheated from having your wheel bearings done up too tightly. Setting the torque on them is more a process of feel rather than an actual torque reading. I’d tighten the nuts up as you did and give the wheel a spin, and then give it a couple of whacks with a big hammer on the tyre. I always seem to get in to a lot of trouble for this but I reckon it’s always easier to get forgiveness than permission.
If you drive like I do, the moment you head off-road your wheels are going to be hit up against the rocks and ruts so if you don’t seat the bearing fully in the workshop, it will be done for you before long, and the nuts will need readjusting. Doing it in the workshop is probably a much better idea.
After you’ve properly seated the bearing, tighten the nuts up again and spin the wheel a couple of times, then back the nuts off to the point where there’s just a little bit of play at the wheel, then take it to about halfway between those two points. Keep in mind that the narrow adjust nut will be pushed tighter onto the bearing by the action of the locknut. Best of luck with it Alex.
