87 1/2 ton wheel bearings

[Bob Gervais]

OK, this is driving me nuttier than I was, which ain't a good thing!

Last summer, my right front wheel bearings started howling, so I replaced everything (inner and outer, cups and cones). I followed the procedure in Chilton's: torque to 70 ft-lbs. while turning the wheel, back of a half turn. Re-torque to 3x(?) lbs. while turning the wheel, and back off 3/8 of a turn. According to Chilton, this is where it should be set, however that felt a little loose. I adjusted it until it had a little more than .01" of movement on the dial indicator. I noticed that the spindle was worn a little, but just barely, and decided to take a chance with it. A couple of months later, the bearings started howling again. I parked the truck for other reasons, and just a couple of weeks ago installed a non-damaged spindle and new bearings. I figured the old spindle's wear caused the other bearings to fail. I reset the bearings according to Chilton's, and didn't use the dial indicator to check freeplay. I figured I may have tightened them too much, and that may also have caused failure.

Two weeks to the day, and the bearings are howling like crazy again. Before I replace them yet again, I need to find a better way to set these things. This has to be something I'm doing wrong, or something out of whack that I'm not seeing.

Any and all suggestions are welcome, anyone run into this problem before? How are the rest of you setting the front wheel bearings on a 4x4?

Thanks in advance!