July 23, 2000

As part of doing my pre-race inspection, Marc Thomas found that my front passenger side wheel bearing was too loose. We had raised the car and tested each wheel for loose bearings and ball joints.

To adjust the wheel bearings I had to lift the front wheel into the air, then remove the tire. Then using a 3/8 " socket extension about 6" long and a hammer I tapped on the wheel bearing cover from the back at 3 points 120 degrees apart. I gently tapped on one spot then rotated to the next spot, in a circle until the cap came off.

Once the bearing was exposed, I lined up the slot on the wheel with the 6 mm allen head bolt that held the retaining clip. I then loosened the allen head bolt and rotated the clip about 15 degrees clockwise. I tightened the allen bolt, install the tire and checked for play (grab the top and bottom of the tire, and try to rotate the wheel along an axis perpendicular to the axle). The wheel was still loose, so I removed the wheel, and rotated the clip another 15 degrees. I check for play again (also made sure the wheel would still turn without binding). It was better, so I made sure the allen bolt was tight, reinstalled the cap (by tappping it gently with a hammer) and wheel.

The whole process took about 20 minutes.

The Front Wheel Bearing