I recently installed new rear breaks hubs and bearings in my 1995 Geo Metro. I even went so far as to pick up new spindle nuts and washers.
Every service manual and online resource I have encountered states that the spindle nuts are to be torqued to 129 ft lbs. This seems to be a bit much, but all the manuals agree this is the torque spec for stake nuts. Everything seems to go together properly until I torque the spindle nut. At 129 ft lbs the wheel will not spin.
Is the spacer in place? There is supposed to be a spacer that fits between the two bearings. If it’s not there it won’t work.
Q
There is a ridge on the spindle that acts as a spacer to keep the bearing from rubbing against the backplate. I inspected both bearing and backplate for signs of rubbing.
There is a spacer inside the hub between the inner and outter bearings. There is a lip on the inside of this spacer. According to the service manual, this spacer is designed to be installed with the lip toward the wheel studs. Installing it the other way keeps the hub from sliding all the way onto the spindle.
A thought just occurred to me. I wonder if the lip on the inside of the spacer is worn down too much. This car does have almost 300,000 miles on it.