John,

A little pre-load is actually beneficial in roller bearings.  You apparently had a too much on one wheel.

I re-grease my bearings every year and during installation tighten the nut until I get just under one revolution of spin.  It is a good idea to re-check this after a few hours of use.

Chris Zavatson

N91CZ

360std

www.N91CZ.net

I did discover the real problem, though. When I put the plane up on jacks and spun the wheels, the left main and nose both spun about 1-1/4 turns. The right main would hardly turn at all. The axle nut on the right wheel was one flat too tight. The wheel was dragging and my brand new tire had several flat spots on it. When I loosened the axle nut, the wheel turned freely so it wasn't the brakes per se. I DO need to inspect the brakes on that side as well because things got pretty hot over there.

I'm just glad it's not the oleo strut!

Do we have an end-play specification for tightening the axle nuts?

Thanks for all the suggestions, everybody --