Torquing the Front Wheel Bearing Lock Ring

[Carlsbad]

2003 QX4 has 135K miles on it. Previous owner didn't do any maintenance he didn't have to so I assume the front wheel bearings have never been adjusted. A little motion when I wiggle the wheels and when I pulled the wheel off and jiggled the brake rotor I confirmed it is in the wheel bearing. Popped off the hubcap with a scraper and a screwdriver. Removed the lock nut was easy to screw off with a screwdriver in the hole--too easy I think, probably means it needed adjustment.

Reinstallation requires torquing to 58-72 ft-lbs and then loosening, re tightening to inch lbs, etc. So I made the torquing device below out of some scrap aluminum, some threaded rod, and some T-nuts I keep around for bolting things down in the machine shop. I used my milling machine to cut the slot in the aluminum and lathe to turn the tips of the threaded rod down to 1/4" to fit in the holes of the lock nut.

Now that I've got the tool, I'm going to replace the rotors and repack the outer bearings tomorrow. In the future I'll check the preload on the lock nut more frequently since that is easy to do just by taking the wheel off and popping the hubcap off.



--Jerry

[Towncivilian]

Neat, thanks for sharing your homemade tool! I hope it works well for you. It looks very similar to the service tool depicted on page AX-2 of the factory service manual.

[dareno]

Great tool. I am going to build similar one for me. Can you write what is the distance between the two bolts and what is the bolt bottom diameter?

[Carlsbad]

I made mine adjustable so I didn't measure it. Measuring it now in the as-left state it is 2.05" c to c. That is pretty close to 52 mm so that is probably the Infiniti spec. The pins are 3/8" threaded rod turned down to 1/4". 1/4" fits nicely but not too tight. If you're planning to drill rather than slot, make your holes 1/16" oversize and that will give you some adjustment. Pins need to extend about 7/8" below the center nut to clear the axle. My original one out of 1/4" wan't strong enough to handle the 70 fl-lbs of seating preload so I made another one out of 3/8" aluminum:



After you torgque to 70 fl lbs and untorque, then you need to torque to 15 in-lbs. I used my gunsmithing torque driver. Not sure most car mechanics have one of these. Make sure you loctite the center bolt of you won't be able to loosen the ring after you torque to 70 fl-lbs.



After you torque it you need to measure the start force. I used my trigger pull gauge:



--Jerry

[skiski329]

That's an awesome idea, i wish i though of that. instand of hammering mine in with a flathead.