I've got a 1997 2 wheel drive Ford F-150 & what I believe was my front driver side wheel bearing to be going out, I've replaced (with what may or may not be the proper torque specifications). I had read in a forum of a few gentleman stating between 15 & 20 lbs of torque but 25 being to much, so I went with 20. Upon inspecting the previous races I found no signs of damage so I reused them. Truck is still making the same noise from what seems to be coming from my driver side. My questions... What is the proper tightening procedure & torque specifications? Is the reuse of the inner & outer races bad juju? Could it possibly be my passenger side bearings(which I'll be doing next weekend) or something to do with the brakes?

 

Just a reminder if I didn't get the whole picture, If any bearings are to be replaced, always replace the outer race and inner cone TOGETHER. They are a matched set.
If the bearing comes already assembled there is no problem.
Grease for wheel bearings should always be used.
When the bearings are packed and installed, the wheel should be rotated to allow the grease to move out and get a true torque setting.

 

Guy in a YouTube video I watched said if there's no damage to them it would be okay to only change out the bearing. I knew I should have replaced them as a set & not followed those instructions. The thought of them being a matched set never occurred to me. Very good thought. Good news is the Haynes manual I thought was still several days away from being delivered showed up today. You can imagine how excited and relieved I was lol.