On my 69 Dart stock 9" drums, I noticed my left brake drum wiggled.
Wheel bearing nut was not tight enough. I remembered "70" from the Haynes manual, so I tightened them 70 FOOT lbs. on each side.
Later when I checked the manual again it said 70 INCH lbs.
At least I haven't driven the car yet. Have I scored the spindle, ruined
the bearings???

I would guess scored the bearing races, I would doubt any dammage to the spindle if you haven't driven it yet. Disassemble everything and check out the races to see if they are marked. If not, I would just tighten everything to spec and see if there is any "wobbling". If there is, replace the bearings/races and you should be fine.

How did it get loose in the first place, especially loose enough to notice a wobble? Did the nut retainer or cotter pin break?

Caution; I had this problem on my 69 with 9" drums.

Why was it loose indeed. Could be that it was put on wrong to begin with, or, the outer race is loose in the hub. Mine was like this and when the race is allowed to spin in the hub, it will chew away at the bottoming shoulder and cause the race to settle further inward. You will just keep retightening the nut till you run out of thread, and one day your wheel will come right off the car.

Check this by pulling the drum off the car and feeling for play in the race. The race is a press fit, you should not be able to rotate or wiggle it at all.

A temporary fix is to cut a spiral of shim stock and place it in the groove your race has worn into the hub, then put your race back in. Thatll give you enough life to get over to a scrapyard to find another good hub. But check it now and definitely dont put off a repair if that's what you find is wrong.

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I've been calling it as i see it for my entire life and that's not about to change. Take it or leave it.

Thanks Steponmebottom. I'll definitely check that out. I don't know
why the left drum was loose.

Let us know what you found

_________________
I've been calling it as i see it for my entire life and that's not about to change. Take it or leave it.

Re: inch/Lbs vs. Foot/Lbs.
I make a similar error all the time with valve clearance gapping. I confuse the inch and mm. numbers on the feeler blades.

I'd be kinda surprised if you were able to remove the drum easily. I should think the inner bearing cone might be driven up the taper of the radiused fillet on the spindle and get stuck. If it looks like the spindle has been damaged at all, you should replace it. It would be foolhardy to try and use a damaged spindle.

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'66 Cuda 225/4spd
'66 Dart GT convertible 225/auto
'64 Dart GT 340/4spd

When I was 19 I had a similar experience with a chevy nova. The right front wheel began grinding and making horrible noises. I took a chance and drove home, the next day I took it apart and my hub was chewed and the spindle was gouged beyond repair. Definately take a look at the spindle and bearing races, wheels coming off at speed is not cool

I got a little scared with Steponmebbboom's post which seemed like
that might be what's happening. The car has been sitting (it's a spare
vehicle, so I haven't been driving it) Also, I'm rounding up parts to do a 10" drum conversion which takes a different spindle as most of you know,
so I may circumvent the whole problem.

A tip to not overtighten the front wheel bearings, try to move the washer sideways, as long as you can move it, its not to tight.

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Lasse

Signet -66 225
Holley 600 Offy-5270 Dutra Dual,regrind. cam 272 0,420 110, head shaved 0.100 slight.ported
MSD6A
A904
7 1/4 3.23