2000-2001 lta500 quadmaster - Help with Hub and new bearings in knuckle

[cfauvel]

So I'm working on my bro-in-law's ATVs and the first order of business was to replace severely worn out wheel bearings.

2000-2001 LTA500 quadmaster

in the knuckle are 2 bearings and in between a spacer.

i pressed in the outer bearing, placed the spacer and pressed in the inner bearing...when I noticed that the spacer is pinched by the inner circle of the bearings and I had to gently massage the spacer to be in the middle...

1 - I thought the spacer would be kind of loose until I fastened the large nut onto the CV shaft (through the knuckle)

2 - the knuckle with the bearings doesn't slide onto the hub's spindle...is that normal? I tried the old bearing and it too doesn't slide onto the hub's spindle. Being so tight I am not sure how to put it on except by hammering from the outside.....but if it is this tight going on, how amy going to get it off in the future.

my bro-in-law says that the hub came off the spindle easily, but for him too, when he tried to put it back on it was too tight.

I am contemplating sanding the inner diameter of the front and back bearings until it slides on the spindle, but will wait for reply from you all.

 

UPDATE: I took one of the old bearing's inner circle and cleaned off the old grease and took 600grit sandpaper and sanded the leading edge of the spindle....the old bearing's inner circle eventually slid pass the leading edge and once farther down seemed to slide easily enough with the most minute of clearance.  For the inner spacer I removed the inner new bearing and used a 7/8" socket to line up the spacer to the outer bearing and pressed the inner bearing in. Once fully seated, as before, the inner circles of the bearings pinched the spacer, but at least it is aligned. 

 

Question still stands should the spacer be pinched when both bearings are fully seated?

[cfauvel]

FIXED - indeed the spacer is pinched between the two bearings. I used a 7/8 deep socket to keep the spacer centered as the second bearing was pressed in.

 

I lightly sanded the hub's outer diameter with 600 grit and used some grease to get the hub back onto the knuckle with some light tapping of a hammer...

I've done 4 knuckles since posting the question.

[davefrombc]

When there  are  two  bearings in an assembly with a spacer  in between them,  the  spacer  will  be  tightly  clamped  between them. A  spacer between the  inner races  keeps the  bearings  from  moving  or  the  inner race  from being pushed out  of the  bearing  when  the  nut mounting the  assembly is tightened.. The  spacer  between the  bearings  makes them  in effect   one  piece transferring the  clamping  power  of the nut through  the  races to the  shoulder  they mount against.