Steven,

Make sure you have the right front bearings. They changed in late 83.
I think 9/83. Those bearings and races are slightly smaller than the
later ones. You can tighten the nut until you strip the spindle on
those, it will never work if you have the wrong bearings. . If you
have the right bearings you only need to tighten it until the wheel
sits fairly tight. Don't go to town on it. Then back it off until you
can move the washer underneathh the nut with a screwdriver
(slightly). Consult Benntley if you have one. I then usually tighten
the nut another quarter turn. I pack the bearings usually in a zip
lock bag, throw the grease and qbearing (w/o race) in there and start
massaging the grease in.

Matthias
On Aug 11, 2007, at 4:59 PM, Steven Smith wrote:

> Looking for tricks to repacking the front wheel bearings on my '84
> Westy. I have tried everything to make the bearings last longer
> than about 15K mi. but in the last couple of days my drivers side
> wheel started clunking and when I checked, the spindle nut was just
> a little loose. I tightened the nut until the slop in the wheel
> went away and the clunking stopped. Now I wondering if the inner
> bearing is going, or was the nut just a little loose. It has been a
> while since I repacked the bearings so something has recently changed.
>   How tight should the nut be? Bentley says tighten to remove slack
> and back off until washer is movable with a screwdriver. If I do
> this, there is slop in the wheel. This makes me think the inner
> bearing might be either dry or worn. The wheel is very quiet
> though. No rumble, nuthing, just the clunk when properly adjusted.
> A little tighter, no clunk.
>   Anyway, are there known better bearings that I should consider
> purchasing? Better Grease? I'm using a moly type of grease (not the
> wax based stuff)
>
>   I have searched the archive but, found little to nothing.
>   Thanks,
>   Steven
>
>
> ---------------------------------
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