Never tighten the front wheel bearing nuts with a torque wrench! You wouldn't be the first to see the torque of the Allen bolt (used on the Volkswagen Beetle, Karmann Ghia, Type 3 and VW Thing in recent years) for a wheel bearing nut. This locking bolt must be fixed with a torque wrench.
Proceed as follows:
1. tighten the nut a little more than manually against the thrust ring and simultaneously turn the brake drum or brake disc to centre the bearings in the bearings
2. Loosen the nut again and tighten until you can still move the thrust ring with a screwdriver
3. lock the nut or nuts
If you work this way, your new bearings can last for years.
In older Volkswagens, the locking is achieved by two nuts twisted together, between which are mounted retaining brackets, which are beaten against the nuts after tightening. Always order these locking plates extra, they are for one time use only (listed on the options tab).
In the younger models, these are clamping nuts which, once tightened, are secured with a cylinder head bolt. In the third generation Volkswagen Bus (VW Vanagon), the nut itself, which is partly oval in shape, creates the lock. These nuts must always be replaced, when they are replaced, the ovalization has largely disappeared and therefore the function of lock nut.
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