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By Counterman
The wheel bearings are the backbone of the vehicle suspension. They support the weight of the vehicle, help to keep the wheels in alignment and allow the wheels to rotate with as little friction as possible. But wheel bearings can’t do their job without a strong mounting point, and that’s the knuckle.
What Is the Knuckle?
The knuckle, also known as the spindle, is the suspension component that houses the wheel bearing, and the connection between the wheel and the suspension system. In the past, knuckles typically were made of steel, but today they’re more commonly made of aluminum or another lightweight alloy to save weight.
On the front of the vehicle, the knuckle will pivot on upper and lower pivot points as the driver turns the steering wheel, changing the direction the vehicle is traveling in. In the rear suspension, the knuckle won’t pivot, but instead will travel up and down. Any time you’re removing or replacing a wheel bearing, ball joint, tie-rod end or control arm, you’ll be working on a knuckle.
Since the wheel bearings and the knuckles work together, sometimes it will make more sense to replace them together. This type of assembly is referred to as a “loaded knuckle.” Why would a customer decide to install a loaded knuckle? In most cases, it comes down to one of two reasons: damage or time.
What Can Damage a Knuckle?
They can be damaged during a crash or a collision, or from violently striking a curb or a deep pothole. This type of damage can change the geometry of the suspension, causing a crooked steering wheel, wandering steering feel while travelling straight, or steering bind. If left alone long enough, it even can result in abnormal tire wear down the road.
A knuckle also can be damaged due to a failed CV axle or wheel bearing. In this case, I’m talking about a scenario in which a driver ignores the grinding, metal-on-metal noises from a failing wheel bearing, and continues to drive for a long, long time. I’ve seen this exact scenario in the shop before, and it usually isn’t pretty. Eventually, the wheel-bearing bore becomes deformed thanks to the added stress, and the entire knuckle is only good for scrap.
There’s one more thing that could damage a knuckle: overtightening a ball joint or tie-rod end. Ball joints and tie-rod ends usually feature a tapered seat, which becomes tighter as the fastener is tightened. In older knuckles that were made of steel, that tapered bore would hold up pretty well, even if the fastener was a bit overtightened. But the modern aluminum or alloy knuckles are much softer, and they’re susceptible to damage from over-tightening. If the joint is tightened down but it’s still loose inside the tapered bore, the bore is damaged and the entire knuckle will need to be replaced.
What About Time?
So, we know why a customer might replace a damaged knuckle, but what does time have to do with it? That’s easy: Time is money. This applies to both DIY and DIFM customers. DIY customers are trying to get their vehicle fixed and back on the road as quickly as possible, especially if it’s their one and only vehicle. DIFM customers are trying to maximize their efficiency, and keep the shop running smoothly. In either case, if the customer runs into trouble, the results can be costly.
This is especially prevalent with press-in wheel bearings. This type of bearing is quite labor-intensive to remove and replace. After years of exposure to road debris, grit and salt, they can become stuck in place inside the knuckle. In extreme cases, it could take more time and labor to remove and replace a press-in bearing versus simply replacing the whole thing with a loaded knuckle.
On vehicles with aluminum knuckles, you may find that corrosion will form around a pinch bolt, axle nut or snap ring. This corrosion can make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to remove that fastener. At some point, it makes more sense from a time and money standpoint to simply replace the entire knuckle, rather than get bogged down trying to remove a stubborn fastener.
Advantages of Loaded Knuckles
First and foremost, the nicest thing about a loaded knuckle is that it comes to you pre-pressed, so there’s no need to press out the old bearing, clean everything up and press in the new bearing. There’s no second-guessing if you set the bearing or the hub to the correct depth, or if you inadvertently damaged something by applying too much force with the shop press. That is a huge advantage to the DIY customer who might not have the necessary tools for this type of repair. It’s also helpful to the DIFM customer as it allows them to manage their time much more efficiently.
Customers might think that they can save a little bit of money by only replacing a wheel bearing and reusing the steering knuckle. But those savings can go right out the window if they run into unforeseen troubles during the repair. If they end up damaging other components, or they spend more time than expected simply trying to remove the old bearing, it can spell disaster. DIY customers can end up being without their vehicle for longer than anticipated, and DIFM customers can lose out on other business if the vehicle is stuck on a lift for longer than anticipated.
Replacing the entire knuckle and bearing assembly at the same time reduces the likelihood of a customer comeback, and increases the chances of the repair being completed correctly the first time. Installing a loaded knuckle can reduce installation time by up to 75% depending on the application. Just like a loaded strut, a loaded knuckle can help to take the hassle and guesswork out of a potentially troublesome repair.
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By Sam
I've come across two steering wheels. One is a classic Impala. Can you help nail down the year and model? For the other wheel, I know nothing about. Can you help identify this one?
Thanks a lot!
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By Sam
Below are images of a vintage Chevy steering wheel. Can you help narrow this down to year and model? My guess is Chevy Corvair, but unsure of year. Any help is appreciated.
Thanks!
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By Counterman
Wheel-bearing pre-load and geometry are terms that don’t get used too often in practice. But in reality, every time we remove or install a wheel bearing, we affect both – whether we consciously think about it or not.
Many of us clocked countless hours cleaning and repacking tapered roller bearings, long before the Generation 1 press-in sealed wheel bearings first became popular in the late 1970s on front-wheel-drive cars. Even when we began to see sealed wheel bearings on the front, tapered roller bearings usually still were used in the rear, in the hub of a brake drum or rotor.
When it was time for installation and tightening the wheel-bearing nut, we referred to the process as “adjusting the wheel bearings.” We knew if we didn’t do it right, they would be too loose or too tight. If they were too loose, the excessive end play could cause alignment and braking problems, as well as accelerated wear on the bearings due to an uneven load distribution on the rollers. If they were too tight, the bearings would run hot, and it wouldn’t take long before the excessive heat would cause the metal to break down.
We learned by doing and asking, and we did it all by feel, since there was no internet or proliferation of information to throw around fancy terms. Nonetheless, if you get technical about it, we weren’t actually adjusting the wheel bearings. We were setting the pre-load. We did it by tightening the nut moderately as we rotated the bearing hub, which itself may have been just a hub, or a brake drum or rotor with the hub built in.
The initial moderate tightening made sure the bearings were all properly seated. Then, while still rotating the bearing hub, you backed off the adjustment nut, and then tightened it again until it was just “snug.” The final step was to back off the nut just a few degrees and install the nut retainer and cotter pin. You could just barely feel a slight movement of free play when you were done.
It must have been 20 years before I realized there was a more “official” process for setting pre-load on tapered roller bearings, but in that time, I never had one fail. When I finally read the process, it was identical to what I’d learned – with the exception of torque specifications, which I’d be willing to bet were almost dead-on to what I was doing by hand. Chalk one up for old school.
Tapered roller bearings are almost a thing of the past for everyday repair shops, but bearing pre-load is just as important on the Generation 1, 2 and 3 sealed wheel bearings on today’s vehicles. You could argue it’s more critical than ever. Plus, these bearings make it easier to demonstrate the concept of wheel-bearing geometry.
Almost all of the Gen 1, 2 or 3 bearings utilize balls as opposed to rollers. Roller bearings have the advantage of a much greater contact area between the rollers and races, and therefore can support a heavier load. With use, they can develop a slight amount of play, but due to their contact area and load distribution, it didn’t have much of an effect. As long as they were cleaned, repacked and adjusted … er I mean properly pre-loaded, on a regular basis, they would last a long time.
Ball bearings, on the other hand, have a very small contact patch with the race. When the pre-load on these bearings is correctly set, then the geometrical relationship between the races and the rolling components is set.
The pre-load determines the exact location at which the roller balls will contact the inner and outer races. Modern vehicle suspension and steering no longer can be viewed as separate vehicle systems. They work in unison with ABS, traction and stability control and advanced driver-assistance systems. Not only must bearing pre-load be correct to avoid premature wear, but it’s also critical for handling and braking, as well as providing the correct alignment to ABS sensors that are built in or mounted to the wheel-bearing assembly.
It’s All About the Torque
Setting the pre-load on Gen 1, 2 or 3 wheel bearings is a different process, but simpler, at least from the process standpoint. There’s one step: Torque. Gen 1 bearings press into the steering knuckle, and this style of bearing certainly caused a few headaches to all of us until we became familiar with the requirements for replacing them. Gen 1 bearings have no pre-load when they’re manufactured. Not only must you use the correct procedures for pressing them in to prevent damage, but they also require either a spindle or axle shaft through the center that’s used to set pre-load and just simply hold the whole thing together.
The torque specification on the thru-shaft is generally a very high torque, and the torque must be set before putting the weight of the vehicle on the ground. If weight is put on the bearing prior to torquing it, the races and rolling components will be wedged out of place, preventing the torque from drawing everything into the proper geometrical alignment.
This was a mistake often made, as well as using an impact wrench to tighten the nut or bolt. The most common methods developed to torque Gen 1 bearings properly are one, to wedge a long prybar between the lug studs to hold the hub while torquing (this often requires help of another person). And two, if you have vented brake rotors, to slide a tapered punch into one of the vents and allow it to rest against the brake caliper bracket as you torque the nut.
Most of the time, manufacturers only gave us the torque specification, but no tips for actually attaining it safely, so we had to derive our own methods. I still always look at the specific procedure for any given vehicle, since it’s such a critical setting, and that’s always the best advice. Some thru-shaft bolts are torque-to-yield bolts, and they require an incredible amount of force to reach the specified setting.
In some of these cases, I’ve seen manufacturers specify an initial torque specification to align the bearing geometry, then to set the vehicle on the ground to perform the “stretching” of a torque-to-yield bolt. Even then it required a floor-jack handle on the end of a breaker bar, and the help of another person to reach the specification – all the while cautiously leaning away in hopes the breaker bar doesn’t snap like a toothpick.
It’s this one particular fastener, and only this fastener, that has led to many an auto technician buying a few ¾-inch-drive sockets and breaker bar – tools normally associated with heavy equipment and semi-trucks.
Gen 2 wheel bearings have a flange or hub pre-installed, and Gen 3 wheel bearings are a complete hub/mounting flange unit. These bearings are easier to install (at least in theory … but that’s a whole other story), yet the torque specification is just as critical, and that goes for the mounting flanges as well as a thru-shaft fasteners.
Some of these bearings are manufactured utilizing a process called roll-forming or orbital forming that sets the pre-load, but this is not always the case. If the bearing is for a non-driven application, and there’s no thru-shaft, then you know this is the case. Anything that has a thru-shaft – regardless of the manufacturing and whether a pre-load is set – relies on the proper torque to set or maintain the proper pre-load and bearing geometry. The bottom line is always follow manufacturer instructions to avoid problems. This is the best advice to your customer, because most wheel-bearing warranty issues are probably caused by incorrect installation.
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By Counterman
Plews & Edelmann has expanded to 53 exclusive, new power-steering hard-parts SKUs within its fast-growing Edelmann Elite line.
These parts, which include 41 rack and pinions, 10 power-steering pumps and two power-steering gearboxes, are only available as new parts from Plews & Edelmann and provide added coverage for more than 27 million VIO.
“Even before the addition of these exclusive part numbers, the Edelmann Elite hard-parts line exceeded competitors’ coverage from each competitor supplying new steering parts,” said Evan Bauer, Plews & Edelmann director of business development. “However, we recognized that coverage gaps still existed and set out to fill those gaps with parts only available from Plews & Edelmann regardless of competitor. The SKUs that were identified include remanufactured units that have notoriously high warranty rates across all three categories (pumps, racks and gears). A rack for a 2017 Chevy Traverse is a perfect example with the reman equivalent running an alleged warranty rate around 15%. Our alleged warranty rate of 2.8% is evidence of the need for different thinking in this category. These new parts have truly put more distance between Plews & Edelmann and our competitors in terms of power-steering hard-parts coverage.”
The Edelmann Elite line has grown to 298 SKUs that meet over 80% of customer demand and deliver application coverage for more than 260 million VIO. Every new rack and pinion, power-steering pump and power-steering gearbox is designed, developed and built as a brand-new part by Plews & Edelmann, utilizing key reverse-engineering competencies to overcome design flaws. No used or remanufactured components are employed. All of the parts are 100% tested and backed by a 100-year/1 million-mile warranty.
To learn more about the exclusive hard-parts coverage, visit Plews & Edelmann at
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