A little slop/movement in front wheels

[RECHRGD]

When checking the front brakes a few days ago, I removed the wheels with the front end jacked up.  After reinstalling the wheels and torquing them to 85 lbs. I noticed a slight movement when pushing on the wheel up or down (north or south).  It was more pronounced on the passenger side, but not by much.  The movement is very slight, maybe 1/32".  Not sure if I should be concerned or not, but if so, am I looking at ball joints or what?

[Sublime/Sixpack]

It could be that the wheel bearings need adjustment.

[Back N Black]

It could be that the wheel bearings need adjustment.

[RECHRGD]

OK, so how does one "adjust wheel bearings"?

[birdsandbees]

Pop dust cap... remove cotter pin.. snug nut WHILE turning the wheel / hub, until it gets almost too tight to turn and then back off ever so slightly. Check the North / South again. If it's gone that was it, if not it's your ball joints.

[redgum78]

I have noticed passenger side almost always wears a little faster than the drivers side on most vehicles. I think it is due to the passenger side spending a lot more time on the rough edge of the road than the drivers side.
If you have owned the car for some time and haven't replaced the bearings it would be a good idea to do it. They are cheap and easy to replace. Once done you can forget about them for many thousand miles.

[RECHRGD]

Thanks guys!  I'll check out the bearings.  They were replaced when I did the SSBC front brake conversion years ago.  Probably 30k miles by now.

[redgum78]

30k on wheel bearing is not much so long as they aren't in severe service or gone under water! A small adjustment should do the trick so long as the grease is still ok. Be careful not to over tighten them. I adjust mine up until the slack has only just gone and no tighter. A tiny amount of movement is even ok as they do pre-load a little due to heat and expansion. 

Talk to 10 mechanics about how to adjust wheel bearings and you will get 11 answers!

[RECHRGD]

30k on wheel bearing is not much so long as they aren't in severe service or gone under water! A small adjustment should do the trick so long as the grease is still ok. Be careful not to over tighten them. I adjust mine up until the slack has only just gone and no tighter. A tiny amount of movement is even ok as they do pre-load a little due to heat and expansion. 

Talk to 10 mechanics about how to adjust wheel bearings and you will get 11 answers!

[Sublime/Sixpack]

One thing you may run into with the SSBC Kit (if it's the same as the one I installed on my '68 Coronet) is that to get the proper adjustment on the wheel bearings you may have to remove the nut and nut lock that came with that kit and reinstall the original nut and nut lock. The ones that came with the SSBC kit I bought (A-156) didn't allow for small enough increments of adjustment. The LF bearing was either a little sloppy or too tight so I went back to the original nut and nut lock (Mopar) and got the adjustment I was after.
Another thing I noticed is that the dust caps that came with the SSBC kit didn't stay in place very well. While driving down my street with the window down I could hear this tinkling noise. It turned out to be the dust caps rattling around in my wheel center pieces. They had come loose. I had to rework them a bit to get them to stay in place.
Just a couple "heads up".

[MoParJW]

Talk to 10 mechanics about how to adjust wheel bearings and you will get 11 answers!

Absolutely, and I found that when adjusted as described in the FSM, you end up with a crazy amount of play.
I usually set them as birdsandbees described.

[RECHRGD]

One thing you may run into with the SSBC Kit (if it's the same as the one I installed on my '68 Coronet) is that to get the proper adjustment on the wheel bearings you may have to remove the nut and nut lock that came with that kit and reinstall the original nut and nut lock. The ones that came with the SSBC kit I bought (A-156) didn't allow for small enough increments of adjustment. The LF bearing was either a little sloppy or too tight so I went back to the original nut and nut lock (Mopar) and got the adjustment I was after.
Another thing I noticed is that the dust caps that came with the SSBC kit didn't stay in place very well. While driving down my street with the window down I could hear this tinkling noise. It turned out to be the dust caps rattling around in my wheel center pieces. They had come loose. I had to rework them a bit to get them to stay in place.
Just a couple "heads up".

Thanks for bringing that up!  I now remember those exact issues with that kit when I was doing the install years ago.