Bearings, Callipers, Rotars, Brakes....

[Audra]

Started by putting the truck up with the bottle jack and tossing some jack stands under there.

[Audra]

What it looked like once I had just the tire off

[Audra]

First thing I took off was the calliper. There are pins that hold it in place on the top and bottom. once you have the edges pinched in enough to push in, it goes pretty nicely in. I use a hammer.

[Audra]

Once the pin is in there you can use just about any small tool to hammer against to push it through.

[Audra]

Bottom one was a PITA, I used a screwdriver, a pair of vice grips, and a lot of patience to get it to go

[Audra]

Time to pry off the calliper and yes that is the handle for my bottle jack http://www.fourdoorbronco.com/temp/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[Audra]

I tucked the old calliper out of the way for now

[Audra]

Another perspective of where I tucked the calliper, it is heavy and was in the way it is at the top right. If you don't plan on replacing your calliper or brake lines then this is a really good spot for it.

[Audra]

So next is removing the outside piece, called a hub maybe? I don't know, but it is in the way of me getting to my bearings and rotar http://www.fourdoorbronco.com/temp/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif if you guys would put a name to this part it would be appreciated

[Audra]

It just prys right off by running the screwdriver along the edge. once it is off just look at the nasty old grease, and well heck the entire lack of grease is an issue here http://www.fourdoorbronco.com/temp/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif

[Audra]

clean off all of the grease and next remove the key. I re-used this part, so was careful when removing it. Just bend it to be straight and knock it out by gently tapping with a hammer.

[Audra]

key was holding this over the axle nut. just remove and set aside for re-used parts. Do think about cleaning all of the old nasty grease off of these so when you put it together you'll only have clean grease in there.

[Audra]

Next comes off the axle nut? This on a four by four looks a whole lot different and requires a special tool that can usually be loaned from your local auto parts store. Mine is a 2 wheel drive so looks just like this. Now this should be very tight. Unfortunately I was able to hand screw mine off with no effort at all. It was barely on.

[Audra]

The nut and washer just behind it are saved to be re-usedand all old grease should be cleaned off of them. Old grease and dirt can contribute to bearing wear and early failure.

[Audra]

After removing the washer you get the first glimpse at your outer bearing. It is the smaller of the two bearings on this setup. should pop right out but at this point be careful tugging on anything as the entire rotar can come off now that you have removed the nut. If it is on there good take off the bearing now if not then take off the whole heavy assembly in front of you then remove the bearing.

[Audra]

This is what it looks like right now as you are taking off this heavy rotar:

[Audra]

This is what it looks like when the rotar is off. Notice my spindle has damage. My bearings are obviously going to both be bad. Also notice a complete lack of grease, there should be more than this. Parts of the spindle were bone dry.

[Audra]

close up of spindle damage. Don't have the time needed to change out this spindle, so it is going to stay. It is definately burned, and has abrasion, and ribbing, but no pitting. The spots of wear I am looking at are between my finger and thumb on this pic where the outer bearing at some point seized, and instead of rolling was forced around creating friction and heat. I'm guessing lack of grease just by looking at it, it was entirely seized.

[Audra]

Close up of spindle damage from inner bearing; this one looks like some grit got in and was rolled around by the bearing creating ribbing from the abrasion. The inside of the inner bearing supported this by having wear down to the copper in it.

[Audra]

I put the rotar down right in front of me because I am going to put the new rotar on top of it to have it at a comfortable working height.

[Audra]

outer bearing, pitted and completely seized. some of the outside bars roll ok, the inside doesn't spin at all. Worn down to the copper on the inside with some pitting. I didn't wipe grease off of this before taking the pic. Just not that much grease at all on these bearings http://www.fourdoorbronco.com/temp/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif Did wipe the inside circle of the bearing though to figure out its condition.

[Audra]

Another view outer bearing. This is the one that was right there when taking off your rotar

[Audra]

Time to flip over the rotar and remove the hub seal to reach your inner bearing and the race is in there too. On my new rotar comes a race so I am not concerned with it at all. Since I am competely replacing the rotar too, you would not normally bother with opening it, but I want to know the condition of the inner bearing.

[Audra]

The seal can be an inside one or an outside lipped one. I am lucky and this has an outside lip to run a screwdriver along and slowly pry off.

[Audra]

It didn't come out that easy, so I had to flip the rotar over and gently tap in a circle from the other side to pursuade it to come out.

[Audra]

Now I didn't want my bottle jack handle to warm up in my truck and have nasty old grease leak out of the handle so I did take a moment to clean out the gunk before moving on to grab my seal and bearing

[Audra]

The old seal comes out beautifully now LOL. Some people reuse this but I bought a new one. For the 11 bucks I sure wouldn't want to do this again.

[Audra]

Time to reach in and grab that inner bearing. We already know it has damage from the damage it caused to the spindle. Just a little curious about the shape of the part though.

[Audra]

You can see the friction marks on the inside of the bearing

[Audra]

The rollers though all work perfectly fine on this one. There has just been some point where dirt or grit got in and scored up the bearing and the spindle. Time to replace

[Audra]

This won't even fit around the new rotar on it's largest setting, but has a lot of room once on the old one. Yikes!

[Audra]

I stuck the new rotar on top of the old one so I could have the new one at a comfortable height to work with it

[Audra]

Time to get your new bearings out and your high temp blue grease. If you don't like getting dirty then this just is not for you.

[Audra]

naturally this picture sucks because with hands full of blue grease I was not exactly able to take pics.

You get the idea; hand full of grease and then push the bearing down into it trying to force grease inside the entirety of it between those rollers and all of the crevaces. Try to go from one direction so you have no air pockets in it.

[Audra]

I placed a layer of grease in there with the inner bearing and then a 1/4 inch layer of grease in there

[Audra]

look at that greasy mess, but my bearings are not going out earlier than need be because of 2 bucks worth of grease

[Audra]

hmmm oreilleys sold me the inner seal that just kind of sits in there with no outer ledge. This was a MAJOR PITA, in fact I got the dang thing stuck and had to back it out and redo my bearing http://www.fourdoorbronco.com/temp/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif

[Audra]

With the integrity oif the seal in question after having jabbed it multiple times with a screw driver it was time to go buy another one. Again if I wanted to be cheap I could have used the old one....but hell it is probably 16 years old!

[Audra]

ok went by napa and got one of the seals with the outer lip which is easier to put in,now it is buttoned up right and almost ready to be put back on.

[Audra]

Get your 4 re-used parts together and clean and get ready to do some more greasing

[Audra]

greased the entire inside of the cap with no air bubbles or anything. Sure a little bit will squish out but then I got as much grease as possibly vcould be inserted in it.

[Audra]

Placed rotar on the spindle and put the greased outer bearing in there.

[Audra]

Next came the washer and the nut, yes I added more grease where I could fit it!

[Audra]

Next comes the cover and the key which should be bent like you found it once put in so it cannot come off.

and yes more grease packed around nicely

[Audra]

Close up of key

[Audra]

My stoopid camera ran out of battery power at this point and with my greasy blue hands I was in no position to argue with the volunteer pic taker about it.

so basically the cap at the top of this page just gets tapped with a hammer lightly over the assembly shown in the pic above and then the rotar, bearings, etc is done

I will when I get a chance take it back apart and do pics for the replaced callipers and brake pads. If you follow the first pics of this thread for taking it off, well that is exactly how it goes back on. So not too hard to figure out. The brake pads are held on with clips which if you look at before taking it off makes it easy to see how to put the new ones on. With new callipers you will have to bleed your brake lines, which I am going to do tonight.

D.

[BJS]

Quote[/b] (Dobleslady @ Aug. 24 2004,3:47)]So next is removing the outside piece, called a hub maybe? I don't know, but it is in the way of me getting to my bearings and rotar *http://www.fourdoorbronco.com/temp/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif * if you guys would put a name to this part it would be appreciated
since you asked, it's a dust cap

and congrats on your 1st brake/rotor/caliper job.
http://www.fourdoorbronco.com/temp/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/bigok.gif

[Audra]

Still trying to bleed brakes....this thing is the bane of my existence:

[Audra]

Quote[/b] ]clean the rotors of any grease or oil before installing the calipers. That's to avoid contaminating the pads and causing braking issues. ?http://www.fourdoorbronco.com/temp/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/bigok.gif


I don't think I could word that any better.

I didn't do it, because I didn't know to, don't make my mistake ? http://www.fourdoorbronco.com/temp/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/twak.gif

[Traveler]

On a 6,500 pound truck you will not notice any oil or grease on the rotors.

A little sports car maybe.

[Audra]

Good cause I had a little extra grease everywhere! ? http://www.fourdoorbronco.com/temp/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/HistericalSmiley.gif http://www.fourdoorbronco.com/temp/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/HistericalSmiley.gif http://www.fourdoorbronco.com/temp/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/HistericalSmiley.gif

[CurtyNeal]

Quote[/b] ]Now this should be very tight. Unfortunately I was able to hand screw mine off with no effort at all. It was barely on.

I was taught to do the final tightening while spinning the wheel with the tire on. Tightening the nut until the tire starts to slow then back off just enough to align the retainer cap slot to align with the hole in the spindle.

Of course there are probably torque specs for this.

Maybe some of the more experienced (than me) mechanincs could offer some advice.

[4doorbronko]

Quote[/b] (Dobleslady @ Aug. 31 2004,12:25)]Good cause I had a little extra grease everywhere! ? http://www.fourdoorbronco.com/temp/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/HistericalSmiley.gif http://www.fourdoorbronco.com/temp/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/HistericalSmiley.gif http://www.fourdoorbronco.com/temp/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/HistericalSmiley.gif
Hmmm.....

[Audra]

You are so wrong Jeff *http://www.fourdoorbronco.com/temp/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/HistericalSmiley.gif

[Traveler]

I guess I will chime in of the bearing adjustment since it is important to this topic.

There are lots of ways, the way Curtyneal does it, is just as good as mine, but here is mine.

Tighten the bearing as tight as you can.
Spin hub
Tighten some more
spin hub
Tighten again as tight as you can.
Back of 1/4 turn
If the key won't go back in, adjust to the closest position it will fit.
Tighter is always better if you can.

[Traveler]

Actually I want to comment on the grease also.
The whole theory behind packing the wheel bearings is that the grease will stay on the bearing.
In the real world, it does not, it cannot.

Put grease in the palm of you hand and squeeze, what happens?
It pushes out anywhere it can.
Imagine 2,000 pounds of pressure on the wheel end, it pushes all the grease out.
I cannot, but maybe Jeff can create that much pressure with his hands.

Anyway, when grease gets hot it runs, not as fast as oil, but it flows.
With the hub that full of grease, the bearings cannot help but have enough lubrication.

I think they will be the happiest bearings in the world.

[MOFOCO1]

D I got the speed bleeders from Summit in 2 days, it is the ultimate 1 person bleeding system...Mo

[Audra]

I bought a vacuum speed bleeder set from Oreilleys. Not that good with them yet, but I should finish tonight, I swear! ?http://www.fourdoorbronco.com/temp/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/bigok.gif

[Audra]

Quote[/b] ]Imagine 2,000 pounds of pressure on the wheel end, it pushes all the grease out.
I cannot, but maybe Jeff can create that much pressure with his hands.


http://www.fourdoorbronco.com/temp/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/Oo.gif *wow.

[Audra]

I finshed bleeding the brakes, so they are finally done ?http://www.fourdoorbronco.com/temp/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/jump.gif