General front end alignment question

Ok first of all I know this is hard for allot of people to swallow but
the car in question is a front wheel drive 1987 Yugo.

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http://users.chartertn.net/jseabolt/

Yesterday I took the car to the tire store to get new rims and a front
end alignment. But they tell me there is too much play in the front
end and an alignment job would be useless. I was a bit awestruck
considering I went to the trouble of installing new wheel bearings,
control arms and swaybar bushings. I didn't just throw this car
together.

The play is really minimal. It's so minimal I can't even measure it.
I'm having to guess on this one. If I grab the wheel and move it, the
edge of the tire moved about 1/8". The passenger side moves about
1/16".

I personally think the alignment shop is being anal about this. They
are telling me there should be no play whatsoever.

If there was excessive front end play looks to me that it would show
up while driving down the road. At 70 mph, there is no front end shake
whatsoever. The steering wheel doesn't shake at all.

I lifted the front end off the groundm, pulled the wheel and brake
rotor off and tried moving some things. I can't really tell where it's
coming from. But I seem to think it's within the wheel bearings. This
is not the tapered style bearing but a one piece sealled unit. Then
the CV joint goes through it and it secured with an axle nut torqued
to 159 ft lbs. This may be typical but I have never really worked on a
front wheel drive car before so this is new to me.

Just to see how my front end play my Fiat Spider has, I lifted the
front end off the ground and I got just as much if not more play on
it. I installed new wheel bearings about 10,000 miles ago, 2000 miles
ago I installed new tie-rods, center link and the alignment shop said
it was fine, realigned it and it tracks straight.

I had a buddy come over to get his opinion. He couldn't tell where the
play was coming from either. But we came to the conclusion that if we
put a bit more torque on the axle nut it might snug it up some more.

When I originally torqued the axle nuts, I only put 150 ft lbs on it
because that was as high as my torque wrench goes. The shop manual
says 159 ft lbs. He turned the adjustment knob on the wrench an
additional 10 ft lbs. I don't know how accurate doing this is but it
made a difference.

The play now is so minimal, I'm guessing the edge of the tire moves
about 1/16". This is up and down.

With the steering wheel locked, there is more play in the steering
rack. Not that the rack is worn out but the fact that the locking
mechanism in the ignition switch is not preventing the steering from
locking dead tight.

I'm going to check with some mechanics at the plant I work at and see
if they have a torque wrench that goes past 150 ft lbs just to make
absolutely sure I have 159 ft lbs on these axle nuts.

So the question is, how much play is acceptable on a front wheel
drive? Should the hub be so tight that it doesn't move at all?

I'm afraid to overtorque these axle nuts for fear I'm going to damage
something.

Like I said the wheel bearings are not the tapered type like on a RWD
car that come apart. This bearing is a sealed unit that is pressed
into the backside of the hub so I really don't see how even torquing
the nuts further would even make a difference.

Perhaps I did not press the bearings into the hub all the way and the
extra torque applied to the nuts is pulling the bearing toward me
taking up the slack. But I'm almost sure I did.

Once I make absoltuley sure I've got 159 ft lbs on the axle nuts, I'm
going back to the shop and see if they are satisfied and if not I'm
going to take it another shop I trust and see if they are satisified.