1994 Ford Ranger/Mazda B4000 front spindle berring question

[Gwin]

I have a 1994 Mazda B4000 4x4 ext. cab with a manual trans, 100,000 miles. While re-tightening a front wheel berring (one was loose) I wiggled the spindle and noticed what seemed to be a noticeable amount of play. I assumed a bad spindle berrings, although both left and right sides seemed to have about the same amount of play. I took one side apart, but berring was greased well and everything looked clean and good. I then spoke with an a friend who had recently rebuilt a front axle similar to this who stayed even though it doesn't seem right, the spindle berrings in this kind of set up are built to have some play. What is the right answer as to how much play (up, down, side to side) is ok for the end of the output shafts exiting the spindle Web berrings?
Thanks,
Gwin

 

[adsm08]

Well, that got a little difficult to understand at that end, but here goes.

1) It is spelled bearing.

2) The axle shaft coming through your spindle should have a ton of play with the 4x4 hub lock off the vehicle and almost none with the hub on, but you can't really check it once the hub is on.

3) Usually it is possible to get the bearings adjusted so they are not over-tight but also have no play. It does take a lot of practice and a little luck though. Due to the way the bearing tension is locked, something has to line up with the slot in the top of the spindle on either of the two setups, you may find yourself with a little bit of play when everything is as good as it can get. It should not be much, just barely noticeable, and when that happens I will usually come back and try to adjust them again in few hundred to a few thousand miles to see if I can get that play out.

 

[Gwin]

Thanks for your reply. I believe you have answered the question I have not been able to find an answer to, and that is there should be a fair amount of Slack with the axle shaft in disconnected fr the lockers. When you mentioned getting the bearing tension just right I assume you are referring to the wheel bearing tension, correct. I have found moving one notch at a time on the Locking washer until it is just spinning free seems to work for me. At least that made the most sense after attempting hit a couple of different ways suggested in other posts. thank you again, please correct me if I misinterpreted you're reply in anyway.

 

[adsm08]

Nope, you understood what I was saying perfect.

I included both sets of information because some people call the wheel bearings "spindle bearings" which is incorrect, but you seem to be using the terms correctly.

 

[Gwin]

thank you again for the reply. Sorry for the grammatical errors, voice to text and eyes too old to see makes things a little messy on a small tablet!

 

[Denisefwd93]

thank you again for the reply. Sorry for the grammatical errors, voice to text and eyes too old to see makes things a little messy on a small tablet!

Do you still have the automatic hubs? I personally avoided 4 wheel drive setups and always deferred the work to a trusted mechanic till I found I couldn't trust him anymore.

But early on I was perplexed by how the spindle and the axle work when locked or unlocked. When I finally realized how important the Hub is to the whole assembly it finally came together in my mind.

Sent from my LG-M430 using Tapatalk

 

[Gwin]

Nope, mine came with Warn manual locking hubs.

 

[Denisefwd93]

Nope, mine came with Warn manual locking hubs.

This photo helped us allot. Gives names to the parts too!

 

[evanesce69]

The wheel bearings on a D35 are practically back to back. Large tires can put a lot of torque on this setup... They will wear the bearings out quickly can cause the spindle to wear as well. If the bearing is loose on the spindle no amount of adjustment will take the slop out, it's time to replace the spindles or upgrade your axle.