Abstract
An automotive wheel bearing is one of the most important components to guarantee the service life of a passenger car. The endurance lift of a bearing is affected by many parameters such as material properties, heat treatment, lubrication conditions, temperature, loading conditions, geometry, internal clearance and so on. Under the same geometry and loading conditions, the internal clearance is the most effective parameters on the endurance lift of a bearing. Generally, bearings have the longest lift with a little negative internal clearance. But it is very difficult to measure and modify the internal clearance after a wheel bearing is assembled. In this paper, we analyze the effect of an assembling procedure on the clearance of wheel bearings and suggest a method to determine optimal clearance for automotive wheel bearings by selecting initial bearing clearance.
