[Walt Fricke]

I knew I had my terminology wrong, so I looked it up.

The front bearings are "single row tapered roller bearings," and they need only a very little preload (almost none, in fact).

The rears are double direction angular contact thrust ball bearing. The way these are set up they are basically two ball bearing sets side by side. The axle parts (drive flange with the brake rotor and wheel studs in it surrounds and engages with splines the stub axle, which comes in from the inside and the CVs and so on) are drawn together by the big nut on the outside, which is on the stub axle. This compresses the inner races of both bearings together, so all these parts are clamped together. Any preload needed by the bearings themselves is already designed into them, and I don't think the clamping force affects that much, if at all. The clamping is needed to keep all this stuff together delivering the torque to the rear wheels. Which is why there can be no looseness there (or with that kind of bearing, which is now at the front starting with the 964s).

And if you could remember those terms, you could stump a tech inspector. Maybe you wouldn't have to explain that you adjusted according to the factory manual, and that, in fact, you have it right. You know you are too tight when you can't move that washer, even if you twist a big screwdriver's end a bit against the bearing cage. You've got to try moving from various positions, as some part of the washer will generally be as far as it can go one way, so you are pushing it back to center, or over it.