The shop said I needed to tighten up my bearings how is this done?

 

take off tire, then pop off dust cover on rotor, then spin the nut, should not be tight just snug if its loose hand tighten it

 

There is a castle nut that holds the rotor onto the spindle. It has a cotter pin through the spindle that prevents the nut from turning.

The nut is NOT supposed to be really tight. If it is, you could bind things up in a major way.

To do a quick check, pop off the grease cap and inspect it. Wiggle the rotor back and forth and see if there is play there. (Not sure if there is an official way to inspect this other than removing the brakes, but I am sure someone will provide that explanation if I am way off base.)

If so, you will probably need to pull the rotor (and hence the caliper) to get the cotter pin out. You may be able to pull the pin with it in place, but IIRC it is set sort of deeply inside the rotor.

If you do have to pull the brakes, buy new bearings and do the complete job as you will be 90% plus of the way there.

 

Must be a 2WD. The 4WD wheel bearing hubs are supposed to be tightened down to 175ft/lbs or something crazy like that.

I know on mine, it took a 4ft cheater pipe to break the castle nuts loose. O_O

 

yeah the early year 2wd trucks have the bearings in the rotor, not in a sealed unit like the 4x4's

 

Yep, mine is a 2WD ('99). Thanks for clarifying that.

So my nuts are looser than yours.

 

Oversharing. Ten yard penalty. No first down.

 

You should remove them completely. Clean, inspect and repack and install new seals.

 

 

i don't think you should remove your nuts.