lewisd Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 254,000 mile 99 brighton wagon, I just replace the bad front bearing and torqued everything to spec. and took it for test drive last night to the smell of HOT front wheel. I reviewed other posts and took the caliper off and cleaned all the parts and made sure it was all good. nothing seemed to be stuck. took it out again tonight and same thing. rim and all is hot as heck. any ideas? I had auto shop press new bearing in. I didn't have this issue before I addressed the bad wheel bearing. I torqued hub nut to upper range of what book says. maybe go ahead and get replacement caliper? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 It's common for the knuckle to deform when being pressed and stress the new wheel bearing. I'd question the methods used by the shop that installed the bearing. Was it a Subaru shop? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bheinen74 Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 check brake drag. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rverdoold Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 Car technician friend once told me that a minuscule little amount of play is necessary in the wheel bearing to make the disc 'wobble' a bit enough to push the pads back in order to avoid brake dragging. Did you replace brake pads too? Maybe your brake pistons are rusted and stuck in the seal rings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 yes - make sure the brakes aren't dragging. lift the car - turn the wheel. does it spin freely (compare to other side)? pump brakes a bunch of times - does it still spin freely? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the3rsss Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 I had this problem after putting in an axel and new pads. Caliper was hanging up. Lite corrosion UNDER the stainless shims. Cleaned up the caliper with a wire brush on a drill, bought new brake hardware. gone! Do you smell that burning pad smell? Wheel hard to turn off the ground? Oh...btw after i fixed the problem, the brand new pads were toast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 Sounds like a sticking caliper to me. Wheel bearing is obviously a concern since it was just done and this problem is new with that change.....could be a bad press job (deformed bearing pocket), etc. The design of the bearing prevents them from being installed "too tight" as long as they are installed correctly. The axle nut is also impossible to over-torque as long as the wheel bearing has been installed correctly. The last few wheel bearings I've done had bad hubs as well because the inner bearing spun on the hub. l would be taking a close look at everything. If the future I would not rely on a shop to press in a bearing for you unless you KNOW they have done it before and have experience with that type of work. It's a finicky operation and that's why it costs about $300 at most garages (though I do them for $175 parts/labor). GD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewisd Posted September 15, 2011 Author Share Posted September 15, 2011 (edited) Thank you GD. It was Western Auto shop here Stevensville Md. with full service bays and they've done them many times before..so they say I guess. I haven't heard any bad about them and they support local car club to. Anyways, I drove for about 5 miles yesterday and pumped brakes before and after lifted, going forward and reverse. I'll lift both sides and compare after work today. spinning freely?...hard to tell with the limited movement the axle allows. put emergency brake on with blocks and put in neutral and try spinning? won't that cause some torque bind? the bearing moved nice and smooth without axle in place yet...didn't spin freely on it's own but had to constantly move with hand. I cleaned up components as best I could without disassembling caliper piston and such. I cleaned the rubber coated shims behind the brake pads and cleaned the thin metal clamps with brake fluid/wire brush. filed corrosion of pad tabs so they were free/loose in the clamps. relubed the slide pins. the piston pumped out okay. maybe the main piston caliper isn't retracting just enough to allow the play. I did notice what looked like a pin-hole/nick in the bottom rubber boot of the slide pin... but there was no rust or anything on the pins... and I noticed now a small crack developed in the pad. sometimes the simple things can become so complicated. Edited September 16, 2011 by lewisd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewisd Posted September 16, 2011 Author Share Posted September 16, 2011 decided to go ahead and get the rebuild kit for that brake assembly. I saw several decent youtube how-to clips and my slide pins do not kick back out as much or as easily as shown how they should. plus that one slide pin boot had small hole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rverdoold Posted September 16, 2011 Share Posted September 16, 2011 Rusted slide pins are a horror too. I once needed an hour and a teflon hammer (teflon ends) to undo my jammed slide pins. Since then abnormal hot wheels any more. Not sure if you can use copper grease for the slide pins. I used some special brake grease, resisting high temperatures. Some types of grease damage rubber shoes around the slide pins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewisd Posted September 16, 2011 Author Share Posted September 16, 2011 pins aren't rusty. they just don't spring back out when pushed in. I cleaned off old lube and put new stuff on. not much difference. tried to find rebuild kits in stores and no one carries them "anymore". I may just buy hole assembly and be done with it rather than wait more days for rebuild kit to arrive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rverdoold Posted September 17, 2011 Share Posted September 17, 2011 Did you clean the inside where the slide pint goes in. First I cleaned it whit a rag and screwdriver but that did not do what I wanted. The old grease had become very hard. So I used a drill almost matching the size of the hole and turned it carefully by hand, till the old stuff was out. Then added pure ethanol to dissolve things left, one more time with drill. Bit more ethanol and then with the rag again. It was full of rubbish. After that they slide smooth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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