Tatum rear hub too tight / rebuild question

[JesseK]

Does anyone have experience and / or advice on rebuilding outboard hubs? Is it possible to set bearing preload? Anything is greatly appreciated, thanks

I've just rebuilt the tatum rear hubs on my class 12 and they are way too tight. On the bench it takes one guy to hold the assembly and another person with a cheater bar to turn the hub. We used new timken bearings, races, seals. Swepco 101 grease, assembly tightened to 55ft/lb. They were not this tight before we tore them down.

Is there any way to set the bearing pre load? It seems to just be a set it and forget it type of assembly which seems ridiculous for something with tapered bearings. furthermore, all the bearing races required loctite or else they would spin. Is it possible that these hubs are just worn out of shape?

On another note, the car had broke an axle during its last race with the previous owner. Then broke another axle immediately after finishing the Baja 500 (my first race with this car). with all new axles and CV's going into V2R (my second race with the car) It incinerated a CV 350 mi's in. Luckily we replaced it on the course and were able to finish however post race teardown shows that all CV's have significant wear. Could all this be related to the hubs being too tight and causing excessive drive train fatigue or is this just coincidence???

All advice & knowledge is greatly appreciated as we plan to race the 1000 this year and

(obviously) would love to finish without dealing with driveline trouble

 

[burninfuel]

I would freeze the races and install by hand, the'll warm up and lock in.
It all sounds like the retainer bolts are to hold in place and not lock anything and turning the bearings would be free. ??? need more from sombody else

 

[Fourstroker]

Neve had that issue. On mine. We always had issues with getting new cv's into the bearings. A little polishing and they slid right in. Are the bearings free out of the assembly? Check to see if you have any drag on the inner cv retainer to the outer hub. That piece is tapered. If your race surfaces have worn and allowed everything to get smaller that may be your issue. Good luck

 

[Robin Hood]

Bearings can vary and so can the CVs...changing either of these can effect the preload. You can turn the surface of the CV or the plates on either side of the CV to set the preload. I wouldn't use swepco 101 on the bearings if that is what you mean?