First, about the problem in general -
Sometimes, in order to unscrew a large nut without having a suitable key, it is easier to adapt what is at hand for this than to run around the shops in search of a key. I myself use such a non-tricky device that grabs and unscrews any pipes and large nuts. At the same time, all that is needed for him is a piece of a profile pipe of 30-40 centimeters and a motorcycle chain. Cycling for small sizes is also suitable. The chain, with one end we weld to the pipe, and the second, tightly round the nut, run inside. We make a hall and the "clamp" is tightened, and the pipe acts as a lever. After an adjustable wrench and a gas wrench, this is the first and foremost tool, and it’s cheap - no further.
Well, for a special case -
i can advise the following.
The best all-round tool for such interesting places is the plumbing wrench with a self-locking movable jaw. He crawls well to such places.
You can bend the jaws at a thin wrench (there are some in the spare parts kits of motorcycles, bicycles and chainsaws), following an example as shown in the photo below -
For a specific size of the nut located in hard to reach place, you can make such a "grip" from a metal plate 4-5 mm thick. on the handle and with a crank.
Mainly on the clamping nuts of the mixers, the edges are 32.36 or 38 mm. Car enthusiasts may have a hub wrench of this size and will work well for this purpose too. It looks like the picture below. In the same figure, I highlighted the area of \u200b\u200bthe key, which can be taken as the idea of \u200b\u200ba homemade key - weld two pins on a suitable-sized tube that will rest against the corners of the nut edges, and make a knob from below.
Having correctly defined with how hard to tighten the hub nut and by stopping in time, you can avoid thread stripping and the need to carry out expensive repairs, given today's prices for nuts. Craftsmen perform this work using a special torque wrench. Since the wheel bearing is a rather capricious product and is not always at hand optional equipment, then knowing the answer to this question is very important. Before work, it does not interfere with determining what type of it is installed, for example, it can be tapered or roller.
Features of tightening the hub nut
Nor understanding with how hard to tighten wheel nuts it’s better not to take this job. If they are overtightened, then a breakdown will occur, and if you do not hold out, then scrolling may occur, the seat under the bearing will deteriorate. Anyone who is not sure of their knowledge can use the spring cantor, but more can be done. in a simple way... Ratchet winches are often not able to provide sufficient force, and the tools designed for this are expensive.
In order to prevent breakage and do the job correctly, for broach it is recommended to use a lever with a length of one meter or more. If on the car hub a fine thread pitch can be enough force of 20 Nm, plus it will be necessary to turn the key by another 90 °, in total such efforts will give a very decent tightening torque. Those who remember physics can make a simple calculation. To do this, you need to know your weight and the length of the arm. A value of 20 Nm is equal to a force of two kilograms with a lever length of one meter.
Effort then with what moment to tighten the hub nut, depends on individual characteristics vehicle... Tightening recommendations for even the same bearing often differ. They depend on the quality of the metal of the hubs, the strength of nuts, trunnions, threads. Usually 19-23 kgf / m is sufficient. If the bearing loosens and the clearance reaches 0.06-0.08 millimeters, this will significantly affect the reduction in the resource of the entire mechanism.
Experts who have worked in a car service for many years recommend tightening the hub nuts every 15-20 thousand kilometers. In this case, it will be useful to relax them a little by one or two turns. It is best if the vehicle is jacked up. To carry out this process, many advise using a tubular wrench, ring, because it has thick walls and there is room for the crank, and it is more powerful. Thanks to a special adapter, it is possible to use a pipe.
Modern cars are equipped with crimp nuts that do not need to be counter-locked. They have belts and they themselves will press into the grooves of the trunnion. There is no need to press on the key with all your weight of one hundred kilograms, this is actually twice as strong as necessary. Knowing for sure what is the tightening torque of the hub nut you can avoid losing a wheel on the way, before that there will be a knock when cornering, and the car can fly into a ditch.
In case you notice that front wheel dangles a little - be sure to eliminate the backlash. In many cases, the wheel bearing is the culprit for wheel bump. The problem can be detected when driving onto a curb or other obstacle. At the same time, you will feel a kind of "emptiness in the wheel." Not infrequently, the problem with backlash can be solved by tightening the hub bearing. On cars of the classic Zhiguli family, the work on tightening the bearings is extremely simple. In order to check the play in the bearings, it is necessary to jack up the wheel so that it comes off the ground. Then you should grab the upper and lower edge of the wheel, you should swing it. If the wheel dangles in a vertical plane (up and down, most likely these are bearings). If the wheel dangles along the horizontal axis, pay attention to the ball joints.
So for yourself, you have already decided that the bearings should be tightened. What do you need for this? -The very minimum of the tool: a wrench for 19, for unscrewing the wheel bolts and a head for 27- it is needed to tighten the adjusting nut. You will also need two hammers. One is larger and the second is smaller. A new shim and a straight screwdriver will come in handy. Now about everything in detail and in order! The front hub bearing is adjusted as follows.
1. At the very beginning of work it is necessary to put the car on hand brake and transfer. Place "shoes" under the wheels. This is necessary so that the machine does not jump off the jack when hanging.
2. The second step is to prepare the wheel bolt wrench. On classic Lada models, a 19 key is used for this. It must be with a head, do not try to remove the wheel with a spanner key! With this wrench we loosen the tightening on the wheels - the car is still on the ground with the wheel.
3. After the bolts on the wheels are loosened, the wheel should be jacked up. Pay attention to the surface on which the jack rests. It should be flat and firm. If the ground under the vehicle is soft, a plank can be used to support the jack. When the car wheel is off the ground, a spare wheel should be placed under the lower arm of the front suspension - just in case. Suddenly, the jack will not stand, it is unlikely, but possible.
4. When the wheel is suspended, and there is already a spare wheel under the lower arm, unscrew all four bolts on the wheel and remove the wheel. You will see brake diskas well as the so-called hub cap. The cap must be removed. After all, it is under it that the adjusting nut is hidden. To remove the cap, you need a medium-sized straight screwdriver and a hammer. Use a screwdriver to rest against the cap, and then, not with strong blows, knock it out. The blows should be light, and they should be applied around the entire circumference of the cap.
5. When you have already removed the cap, you can easily see the nut, it is she who controls the tightening of the wheel bearing. Great attention pay attention to the "Trunnion" - the element on which the nut is screwed. The trunnion has two groove channels, they serve to lock the nut. A collar of a new nut is driven into these channels - this is how locking is performed.
6. Unscrew the old nut. In this case, in many cases it is necessary to clean the old trunnion channel from the nut elements. Pieces of the nut could remain in the trunnion after the last locking. You can use a small screwdriver for cleaning.
7. The old nut has been removed. And you start to tighten a new nut. It is at this moment that the front hub bearing is being tightened. Under no circumstances should the nut be tightened with all force! In the process of tightening the nut, the wheel should be wobbled in a vertical plane and rotated. The wheel should not wobble, but it should also spin with ease. If you tighten the adjusting nut too much, the bearings will be clamped and will probably fail very soon in this position. Too loose will result in wheel bump. The tightening torque of the adjusting nut is the most important in the entire operation. It depends on the tightening how long the bearing will last and how well it will perform its function.
8. To determine the tightening torque at which the wheel does not dangle and at the same time rotates with ease, put a wheel disk with a tire on the hub and tighten it with two bolts. When tightening the adjusting nut, the wheel should be bolted and rotated. Determine the moment when the wheel is loose, then tighten the nut a little. Pulling should be stopped as soon as the wheel has stopped loose, you do not need to tighten the nut more. The wheel should rotate easily, but there should be no wheel bump.
9. When you find the optimal position of the nut, it will need to be locked. Despite the rather tight tightening of the nut, it may well loosen or, on the contrary, tighten over time. Therefore, special collar nuts are used for locking. 
The collar is punched with a hammer, through a screwdriver, an ostomy or back side the second hammer and pressed into the groove of the trunnion. It is better to do the locking with the wheel lowered to the ground. A wheel tightened by two bolts should be lowered from the jack. In this case, the blows from the hammer will be transmitted to the bearings less strongly.
10. The nut cap that was previously removed should be cleaned of old grease and hammered into it with a new one.
11. After locking, the machine should be lifted again, remove the disc with the tire and carefully, with a hammer, drive the hub cap into place.
12. Then you can put on the disc again, tighten the bolts, lower the wheel and tighten it.
13. When entering the road after work, pay special attention to the sounds in the car. Not a note should be heard from the bearing! If the bearing hums, loosen the adjusting nut. In this case, you will need another nut to re-lock.
The above work is on the shoulder of the most ordinary car enthusiast. Tightening the front hub bearing is carried out within one hour, you also need a desire to solve the problem yourself.
One of the most important elements of a car's chassis is the wheel bearing, which ensures uniform, smooth and quiet wheel rotation. The hub bearing is classified as rolling element bearing.
Currently, collapsible and non-collapsible hub assemblies are installed in cars. In the first case, the bearing can be replaced. In the second, it is necessary to change the entire hub assembly. According to inaccurate information, non-collapsible ones are safer compared to collapsible ones. However, their market value is several times higher. Our domestic locksmiths manage to cut down the connecting elements with a grinder and replace the bearing in a non-separable hub.
Non-separable rear wheel hub
On vehicles with one-piece, non-separable assemblies, bearing adjustment is not possible.The adjustment process consists in establishing a backlash between the hub and the axle shaft, pressing the inner race against the outer one. Most cars with rear drive, are available with single row roller bearings. A pair of such bearings is installed in the assembly, capable of withstanding large radial and axial loads. Maximum loads are transferred to both the rear and front bearings when driving on uneven roads, which leads to premature technical wear of the part. Also, an important cause of breakdown is a sharp change in temperature. For preventive purposes, front and rear bearing units it is necessary to inspect every twenty to thirty thousand kilometers. If your car is equipped with single-row bearings, they periodically need to be lubricated with special greases lubricants and pay particular attention to the axial distance. If sealed bearings are installed, the seals must be checked. Failure of a wheel bearing is a common problem. Well, if a breakdown is detected on time, it happens that the bearing falls apart on high speed, which leads to blocking the rotation of the wheel. Bearing failure is often associated with incorrect alignment. In cases of detecting extraneous sounds, accompanied by beating, when hitting a bump, a pit, it is necessary to diagnose and identify a malfunction. In many cases, the wheel bearing is the culprit. But not always. For self-diagnosis, jack up the wheel from where the sound is heard. Grasp the upper part with one hand, the lower one with the other and jerk the wheel in a vertical plane. If the wheel is loose, then it is a bearing or a lower ball joint. To check ball joint it is necessary to slightly raise the support with the second jack. Shake the wheel, if the play has not disappeared, then this is a bearing. Otherwise, the problem lies in the ball joint. Before deciding to replace a bearing, you can first adjust it. If it does not help, proceed with the replacement.
You can check the bearing on the "jacked up" wheel
Bearing adjustment can be carried out after replacing it or after the above symptoms occur. If the wheel bearing is overtightened, the wheel will become very hot and the bearing will be destroyed. When excessively large backlash high probability of bearing collapse and seat... Minimum backlash allowed. Facelift wheel bearings does not take much time and is quite easy. Prepare minimal set tools:
- set of wrenches,
- set of screwdrivers,
- lithol,
- a couple of hammers
- adjusting washer
- set of heads,
- a new nut (take from the kit or buy separately),
- wd-40 (gasoline can be used),
- a torque wrench can be used for fine adjustment.
Instructions for self-tightening wheel bearings.
- Drive the car to speed or parking brake... Place something under the wheels, such as anti-rollback devices. This is necessary to prevent the vehicle from flying off the jack.
- Take the balun from the kit in the trunk (if any) and loosen the bolts that secure the wheel. In this case, the car must not be raised.
- Prepare a place to install the jack (from the kit). It should be firm and even. You can put boards under the jack if necessary. Raise the wheel until it stops touching the ground. Place a block under the lever just in case. Suddenly the jack is unreliable.
- Unscrew the bolts completely and remove the wheel.
- The next step is to remove the metal cap from the hub. To do this, use the supplied flat-blade screwdriver and a hammer. Place the screwdriver between the cap and the hub and detach the cap with light blows. Strike from different sides to avoid biting. The nut for adjusting the bearing is located under the cap.
Remove the hub cap
- Remove old grease from cap and nut. You will see a locked nut screwed onto the shaft. It is used to tighten and loosen the bearing.
- Unscrew the old nut. To do this, use a socket of the appropriate size. Clean the trunnion (the part of the shaft where the nut is screwed) with gasoline or wd-40.
Unscrew the old nut
- Replace the old nut with a new one. Replace the wheel. Tighten the nut completely first to stop the wheel turning easily. Then loosen, rotate and swing the wheel vertically until it starts spinning freely. Tighten the nut slowly and carefully so as not to rip it off. The backlash should be minimal, barely perceptible. The tightening process is the most important step. It is he who affects the quality of the work performed and the service life of the wheel bearing.
- Using a hammer, chisel, or screwdriver, lock the nut on both sides where there are grooves in the trunnion. To do this, attach a chisel with a point to the collar of the nut and hammer it into the groove with a hammer blow. This is necessary so that the nut does not change position during operation, which can lead to loosening or tightening of the bearing.
It is necessary to lock the tightened nut
- Fill the cap with new lubricant and refit. Remember that if it is wrong, the toe-in of the wheel changes, as a result of which the car's handling deteriorates, the consumption of fuel and lubricant increases, the tires wear out quickly and unevenly.
* lock nuts / bolts *
The locking of the nut is very important in some cases. So I'll list you a few of the commit methods and show you exactly how they are used. This is not a complete guide, there may be more methods, but these are most of the methods that I am aware of.
*Lock-nut*
The main way to secure a standard nut is to thread the nut onto the bolt and then tighten to the specified torque with a torque wrench, but for this demonstration we'll just hand tighten and you could use a counter nut.
That is, the locknut is designed to fix the nut and stop it from moving. After you tighten the first nut, the second nut or locknut will be placed behind the first and then we will tighten it. This will stop the nut from loosening. In extreme cases, when high vibration, this type of nut can really loose. This is quite common when using two regular nuts, although you can buy a specially designed locknut like this one made specifically for this purpose.
* compound for fixing threads *
You can use a thread locking compound. It is a very fluid anaerobic liquid. Since it displaces the air around it, it is actually used as an adhesive. You simply apply it to the threads where you want to fix it. Then you tighten the nut ... Tighten it, and then wait for it to dry, this will compress the nut and stop it from moving. A thread locking compound is one of the most common methods for securing a nut or bolt. This is very effective method... There are quite a few different brands of compounds out there, so you need to make sure it works for you. Some are so strong that you may need an impact wrench to unscrew them. Loctite is a very common brand. I'm sure most people have seen her. So this is a quick and easy way to fix the nut.
* Spring washers *
There are also spring washers, they are made of spring steel, and they are designed so that when the nut is tightened, a load is constantly applied to it, which can prevent it from loosening. Usually, a spring washer is used in conjunction with a regular washer. The usual one is put first, and then the spring one. They do not always put a regular washer when using a spring washer, it depends on the specific place. After that, we attach the nut and tighten it to the specified torque. This is a very common method for locking threads, but in extreme cases, high vibration can cause the joint to come loose. I've seen this spring washer split into several parts, this meant that the nut could now be unscrewed. But in most cases, such a washer presses on the nut, which makes it difficult to unscrew it. Therefore, once everything is tightened, it is difficult to unscrew it. And it will work, but it is not perfect option with strong vibration, vibration weakens this connection.
* Serrated washers *
Serrated washers can be used to prevent some nuts and bolts from loosening, but they are not ideal either. The problem is that if you tighten them too much, then it can flatten the teeth, and they will end up just turning into regular washers. Once flat they are pretty much useless. But you can use them in certain circumstances, they are very popular in washing machinesbecause they are very cheap. So you just slide on the washer, screw on the nut, and tighten it to the specified torque with a torque wrench. It is important not to overtighten them so as not to flatten the puck, otherwise you end up with something like this. As I said, they are very cheap, which is why they are used in many washing machines and the like. They can prevent nuts and bolts from loosening, but this is a local solution.
* Self-locking nut *
The self-locking nut has a nylon ring at the top that grips the bolt as you tighten it. That is, you can start tightening quite easily, just like a normal nut, but once you reach nylon it becomes difficult to tighten, you need a tool to screw the nut onto the bolt. This can take quite a long time, because the wrench will have to be turned to the end, with a regular nut you can simply screw down quite easily by hand. So self-locking nuts are very useful, they are used in many places, but it takes a long time to turn them. Self-locking nuts are useful, you will find them in all machines, but they are not very suitable for critical mechanisms as they can be loosened by vibration.
* Deformed knot *
Sometimes you can't see a nut with a deformed thread inside, it is actually slightly deformed, so it is quite easy to bait it on initially until you get to the deformed place, and then it grips very tightly. You will then need a wrench or head to be able to tighten the nut. After tightening, everything holds very well, but in extreme conditions, again with high vibration, they can be weakened.
* Nord washers *
They are unique in that they have cams on the face of the washers. They should be put in pairs, like this. That is, you put two pieces together with the cams outward and tighten the bolt on them. You can put the nut on. Tighten to the specified torque. Once the nut is tightened, the two washers grip each other and the connection will be very difficult to unscrew. They are very good at vibration. It is very unlikely that any of these washers, if properly positioned, will loosen from vibration.
* Castellated nut *
They are often used in mission-critical machinery such as aircraft. On board the aircraft, once it is screwed in, a piece of wire will be threaded through it and this will prevent the nut from ever unscrewing. So, to use one of these, you thread it onto a bolt, tighten it to a specified torque, or while pulling. Now I will drill through the bolt with a small drill. But this drill will work better for larger nuts and bolts than this. This is stainless steel, so I will work carefully and slowly. I'll put some more lubricant on the drill, after you've done that, you can insert the pin and go around it and this will prevent the nut from loosening until you pull the pin out.
Hope this demo was helpful to you. I have covered some of the techniques you can use to stop nuts and bolts from loosening spontaneously. There are also washer pads that I don't have, but this is a regular washer and tab that bends and prevents the nut or bolt from loosening.
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