1973Mach1 - Pack Front Wheel Bearings, Replace Grease Seal, Install Wheel Bearings

In a recent video I showed how to replace a front end Steering Knuckle/Spindle, Upper Ball Joint, Wheel Bearings & Grease Seal, Brake Rotors, and Brake Pads on a 73 Mach 1 that had a Right Front Outer Wheel Bearing fail. Some of the video clips Lynda had taken were automatically uploaded to her iCloud account, where we were not aware of that automatic behavior. I knew we had taken a lot more vides than I could find on her iPhone, or her iCloud site. At that, the video clip files on the iCloud site had been renamed in a way that hard to determine their chronological order.

After putting together a series of video clips into a single video for posting on YouTube for the Steering Knuckle/Spindle and related parts, knowing I was still missing some video clips, I posted what I could. I then went back into the iCloud site and found some previously overlooked files that covered more of the wheel bearing bearing packing, installing a grease seal, and how to install the Wheel Bearings and properly tighten its Retaining Nut.

After I found the previously missing files I decided to put together a consolidated video of their subject content as I felt it was important enough to warrant producing the information it contained. It turns out the finished result does stand well on its own. The result is this video that shows how to pack front wheel bearings using an "old school" technique (by hand) on a First Generation Mustang Mach 1. Then we show a simple way of installing a front wheel bearing grease seal with just a small ball peen hammer. Finally an installation and adjustment to the retaining nut for the front wheel bearings is shown.

The installation of a front hub with its wheel bearings is the kind of repair that introduces some controversy even among experienced technicians and mechanics. In general on older cars (Specifically years in the 60s - 80s range, and relevant even with newer model years) the general way of installing wheel bearings and adjusting the Wheel Bearing Retaining Nut has been to tighten the nut firmly while slowly turning/ spinning the hub (rotor or drum brakes). After getting the nut firmly tightened the nut it backed off until it is "loose." Then tighten the nut finger tight, and back it off one castle nut cover position, which leaves the nut and bearing ever so slightly loose in order to prevent overtightened bearings when they get warm and tighten up a little bit due to thermal expansion.

I have never had a problem following that old school technique, but for our First Generation Mustangs I prefer to follow the Ford specified way of final tightening the nut "finger tight" and leaving it at that. If the castle nut cover can't be positioned to let the cotter pin to be installed I prefer to loosen, rather than further tighten, the nut until the cotter pin can be installed. I have seen the result of a Wheel Bering Retaining Nut being overtightened. It is not a pretty sight. Also, in some of the pages of the Ford Shop Manual the technique involving back off the Retaining Nut to the "prior castellation position" can be found. So, there is an apparent dilemma even within the Ford manual re: which technique to use. I prefer the "finger tight" final adjustment as usually Timken Tapered Bearings require some but of "pre-load." In this case I believe the reason for minimal pre-load, or even a slight loosening of the retaining nut, is to allow for thermal expansion of the metal used in the bearing assemblies.

I opted to not use an inch pound torque wrench for the final tightening of the Front Wheel Bering, as the Ford documentation itself gives the option of either using an inch pound torque wrench, or merely tightening the Front Wheel Bearing Retaining Nut "finger tight." Likewise, when performing the initial Retaining Nut tightening I did not use a torque wrench to attain the specified 17-25 foot pounds (pound feet) of torque as I know from experience how tight the nut needs to be made while seating the bearings. I also used a simple arc joint pair of pliers as opposed to a socket or box end wrench as not much pressure was being put on the Retaining Nut. Although using the more "correct" selection of tools would have been more in alignment with Ford documentation, I opted to use a more "real life" set of tools to accomplish a repair that was just s effective.

The reason for my choice of tools comes from a lot of years of experience that finds laughable the stoic position that a screwdriver should never be used to pry or dislodge object, and that only a hammer should be used to drive objects. Although there is a lot to be said for using the proper tool for any particular job, in my experience there are times where it is perfectly reasonable and acceptable to use whatever tool may be at hand to perform a repair. That does not mean I am open misusing or abusing a tool in a way where it can lead to an injury or damage a tool or the item being repaired.