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Wheel Bearings, how tight should the wheel nut be?

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Wheel Bearings, how tight should the wheel nut be. Mine need to be real tight to get the cotter pin to align with the hole in the shaft. I had always though hand tight and back to first hole position was the rule. Second when I tighten the nose axle bolt the wheel gets difficult to spin, I was under the impression the 1 1/4 aluminum shaft needed to be tight to stop it from spinning on the bolt. Any advise, just replace all bearing and don?t want to wipe the out prematurely.

Thanks
 
1 Turn

In all of the annuals that I have done I have tightened the nut so that you could only get one revolution if you hand spin it firmly. If you do not have alignment you have to use your best judgement on more or less tight but I always loosened to avoid excess stress on the gear during tire runway contact.

I am not an A & P but I have logged many hours with several of them and this is the method that they taught me.
 
Normally, wheel bearings are initially "seated" with a maintenance manual specified torque while spinning the wheel (15-20 ft-lbs for my 6" Cleveland Debonair mains), then loosened to 0 torque and then lightly tightened (hand tight for my Deb) and then tighter only to align for the cotter pin.

You might want to seek out a factory aircraft main. manual for the same size/type wheel that you are installing to get the torque values. Small Cessnas of later years use Cleveland wheels.
 
I agree with the other posters but want to pass on what I read awhile back on this subject. you need to tighten the nut really good to seat the bearings! That squeezes the new grease so you are not just tightening the nut against the new grease. Then back off and tighten the way you were taught!
I was very surprised to hear this and wondered how many times I'd sent wheel assemblies out too loose after the first landing!
Good luck,
Bob Martin RV-6
 
Cotter pin alignment vs torque

Relative to torque (ie clamping force) on the bearings and the ability to get the cotterpin to appropriately align with the bolt hole, USE WASHERS/SHIMS!!

:)

My two cents! (and that of AC43.13-1B, chapter 7 section 5 para 7-86)

-mike
 
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