wheel bearing

[mobilaltima]

I work at an oilfield port (Port Fourchon, Louisiana), its 24/7, 365 days a year rain or shine, im a mechanics helper, our facility is only 1.25 miles from the Gulf so you can imagine the hard life our equipment (trucks and forklifts) goes through. Things are constantly breaking down due to constant use and the work environment. I think it would classify as severe service. The truck in question is a 2010 Chevy 2500 Chevy 6.0 Vortec, 263k miles, all crew change highway miles, now its just a yard truck, it mostly idles around all day the most it travels is 3 miles around the port. It had a bad wheel bearing/hub assembly, i had never changed one before, figured it out and went ahead and changed it, torqued the bolts to spec, (hub bolts 133 ft lbs, brake caliper bracket 221 ft lbs) it works fine now but after i changed it i thought that maybe i should have put some blue loctite on the bolts. Should this be any cause for concern of the bolts backing out? The roads this truck travels is fairly rough, but then again it doesnt travel far distances, I would just hate for the bolts to back out and someone get hurt.

 

[hansj3]

from the factory they put blue loctite on the bolts, but in practice I have seen many mechanics not even bother and just run the hub bolts on with an impact gun. I'm not saying it would not ever happen, but the only nut I've ever found on a hub assembly have to be torque sensitive was the axle nut on a four wheel drive truck.
if you're looking for some peace of mind think about it this way if the hub does back itself off the caliper bracket is going to catch the rotor and the hub before it falls off

 

[mobilaltima]

im 23 and I work with alot of older guys in their 50s and 60s, theyre always preaching to me to use air tools on everything, these guys basically dont believe in a torque wrench lol. I use hand tools 99% of the time. I made sure to torque those bolts I mentioned above for peace of mind and to cover my @ss should something fail.

 

[ls1mike]

It will be fine... You go 3 miles.
It is good practice to you use but in this application I just don't see them backing out.

 

[Oldmoparguy1]

Originally Posted By: mobilaltima
im 23 and I work with alot of older guys in their 50s and 60s, theyre always preaching to me to use air tools on everything, these guys basically dont believe in a torque wrench lol. I use hand tools 99% of the time. I made sure to torque those bolts I mentioned above for peace of mind and to cover my @ss should something fail.
Keep doing with what you are doing, over time you will develop a feel for what is the right torque for a fastener. When you get old like me, you will only use the torque wrench on certain things, like head bolts for example, all the other stuff, you will just know what is the correct amount.

Sounds like you are getting good experience on a wide variety of hardware. Carry on...