Rorie said:

Setting up the top pin on my swivel. I am down to a point where is it loose and will swing back and forth, or I add the thinnest shin and it then feels a little too tight.
Input a baggage weight scale thing on and initially it says 2.2kg but then backs off as it starts moving.
obviously 2.2kg is above the recommended, so I took the thinnest shim back out, but then it was really loose, wound that even register the load on the scales!

What am I missing? Is it better to have it loose rather than too right?
Once the seal was on it tightened things up further as expected.

Click to expand...

eprothe said:

Hello,

I've just spent the weekend doing exactly this - where have you read that 2.2kg is over the recommended preload?

The Haynes for my 110 Td5 says (Section 9.6 - para 24) "If the bearing preload is correct, a weight (force) of approximately 3.6 to 4.5kg (36 to 45N) will be required to turn the housing".

I've set mine up at about 4~5kg, as measuring it with a baggage-scale gives vary readings, as you've found. I'm of the opinion that the preload will slacken off a bit as the new bearings bed in, so I think slightly high is better than slightly low. I set my pre-load up with the swivel-housing back on the vehicle, the swivel-seal fitted, the stub-axle back on and the half-shaft fitted through it - I don't know if that makes any difference to the pre-load reading, but I thought I was better off testing it in-situ rather than on the workbench.

I've been told in the past that insufficient pre-load leads to wear in the rest of the steering system, prematurely wearing out track-rod ends amongst other things. As I'd gone through three D/S track-rod ends in one year before adjusting the pre-load and found it to be basically 0kg before I set it up, I'm inclined to believe this.

Fun job this, isn't it?

Click to expand...