Metric GM spindle nut torque?

I am looking for the torque in foot pounds. Brand new rotors and bearings. I dont want to ruin these by over/under tightening.

 

I go with having the bearings all packed, assemble the whole deal, spin the rotor, tighten it up with my water pump pliers as it spins. Back it off, spin it again and tighten it with "the weight of the wrench". Better to be a hair too loose than a hair too tight. When in doubt, back it off to get the cotter pin in rather than going tighter.

Bob

 

yes it's a procedure feel thing, than a torqure vavle.

 

I have always used the "feel" method, but I somehow remember hearing that there was a torque specification. With all new parts I only want to do this once...

 

good luck with the.."I only wanna do it once" thing

as the proceedure stated above is how i have been doing it for years, so far so good.

 

Seems that all of us "old guys" use a similar method...
Way back ( too far to remember the exact #) I read the spec. "12 in lbs" .
Great in theory, not so good in practice. Here is my method, developed over 40 years...
Tighten the nut tight ( i use a 12" crescent ) , back it off and then let the weight of the wrench tighten the nut. As bobss says above, better a little loose than a little tight. If you need to adjust to get the cotter pin in place , favor the loose.
FYI, Tapered bearings actually have a "spec" for endplay when cold. Very difficult to measure accurately and it dissapears when they heat up in service. Thats why the need for "slightly loose" advice.
Good luck
Dave

 

GM at least used to publish a apec, and I think it was that 12 in lb one (68 car manual) but it was NOT a running spec...they just used that as the proper degree of tightness to actually force bearings into place and grease out of the gap...don't remember their procedure for getting from there to actual spec to use while driving, but zero endplay backed off to the barest trace of endplay you can detect is the desired result, as noted above. A nice aid is the sort of nut that has a separate cap for the cotter pin so that you have far more stopping points for the nut than possible with the usual hardware.

 

Chevy had a torque spec for wheel bearings...but it included backing off the nut a certain amount after torquing it. Ball bearings stayed pretty tight, tapered roller bearings were looser.

What it boils down to is that if you can measure the torque on the nut in foot pounds, then it's too tight!

 

As Bobss said, don't forget to rotated the hub while the nut is being tightened for taper bearings. If you don't do this the taper rollers will not seat correctly and will end up too loose.

 

Looks like I am using the old tried and true method! Thanks guys.