Love these strange cars and their even stranger specs.
Went to do my wheel bearings. Ladeda, done this job a zillion times over
the years, but not on a Spitfire. Decided I'd check to see what the
torque specs were, just to do them factory right. Lo and behold, the
manuals (both Bentley and Haynes) tell me to set them to rattle! Say
what!? Loose wheels track like hell, and your handling suffers
horrificly for this.
I've never seen a wheel torque spec that called for leaving the nut lose
hoping the cotter pin never fails, and having the bearings rattling
around. Cripes, the specs on a Toyota truck call for 5 lbs hanging on a
wheel stud to be barely able to rotate the hub!
The bearings aren't special in any case, I can go get Timkin bearings and
put them in there if I want. (both Spitfire and Toyota truck) But I've
never seen a wheel bearing spec as loose as what is being called for
here. I thought old Ford specs of finger tight were strange, but preset
rattle, shesh!
So, do any of you folk run yours this loose? Or do you do the more
generic tighten them until there is no play, and then tighten to the
nearest pin hole alignment and set the cotter pin in place? That's the
way mine are right now.
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