Tightening of front wheel bearing

I have a bit of ”washboard” feeling when driving this 140mon less than perfect roads. With the front, right wheel in the air, I sense a bit of play. Not with the hands in the normal 6 o´ clock position, but in the ten to four position.
I removed the locking pin, but when I began to tighten, it was quite stiff.not easy to get to the next flat of the nut. I know that they are not to be overtightened. Normally it is easy to tighten a bit past the next slot, and the release until the pin fits.
Not sure what to do now…
Where else would the ”washing board” feeling come from? Top and bottom ball joints are new and tight. Everything is new!!
Peder

Flat spot on the tyres possibly.

Thanks, but no. Tried another set the other day.

Tie rod ends or rack mountings.

Tires and/or wheel out of balance or out of round (curbed?), anti-roll bar bushings, hub bearing, loose ball joints (shimmed correctly?), wishbone control arm bushings, tie rods, idlers, worn shocks, grabbing brakes, loose rack, loose spring/torsion fitting. Good luck, post results please.

Loose lining on brake shoe?

I have to be honest here. When I say washboard, it is a severe exaggeration, but it is that feeling, although most people wouldn’t notice it. The car passed MOT in England and a major Jaguar workshop failed to sort it out, if they ever tried.
But I don’t have it on the other XKs. It was not the wheel bearing!

Try a front to back change of wheels and tyres. See if there is any difference.

I have changed to a new set of wheels and tyres. Not that simple😰

Have you tried putting that (new) set of wheels and tyres onto another XK?

It’s not a wheel/tyre problem!!

Inner tie rod or rack mounting in my view.

Have you put them on another car to prove that hypothesis?

(Swapping the wheels would be easier than the rack/tie rods.)

1 Like

I would be careful of overtightening the wheel bearing. I heard of someone who did that. The bearing overheated, seized and snapped the stub axle off… while driving it. Can the front wheel bearings be turning on the stub or in the hub?

Hi Ed,
I once noticed the inner race of the inner wheel bearing on my Suburban front wheel had been spinning on the stub axle, leaving visible score marks on the stub axle.
I subsequently replaced both stub axles in a suspension upgrade, but since then I have always wondered whether adjusting the hub retaining nut too tight, or too loose, had caused the inner race to spin on the stub axle.

Does anyone know whether having the nut too loose, or too tight, would cause the race to spin on the stubaxle?

From the Service Manual:
image
The tapered roller bearings are a slide fit on the stub axle, but pressed into the hub.
The nut pushes the tapers together, but it should not be so tight that they can’t roll freely, nor so loose that they have room to wiggle. That’s what they mean by end float.
Race turning on the axle would be caused by lack of grease, the rollers not rolling, seized up, and possibly aided by a loose nut.

There are different set ups. I have no knowledge of what a Subaru has. But MGs for example did have the nut set the end float but had an accurate length spacer between the two bearings