Help! brake overheated & made a mess

[Cuztom Racing]

Need some help guys, My 86 K5 set up for 3 weeks while i was away at work. While stopping at the first stop sign headed to town the front right brake started to lock up. So i turned around and started heading back home and i could tell it was getting worse and I could smell it. When i got home the brakes were smoking hot. Axle grease was leaking from the back side of the spindle. I went to autozone and got a new brake caliper. While i was taking the auto hub apart, small ball bearings fell out (see pics below). That being said, I have several questions.

First, since i have already tore into it, im going to put Warn manual locking hubs on it but what is the busted bearing? Will the Warn kit come with a new one or is it something I'll need to get from the parts house?

Second, from the pic below how do I get the rest of the hub apart so i can pull the rotor off and see where the grease is coming from cuz its obvious i fried a seal somewhere..

 

[4X4HIGH]

Look at your 1st pic, that cutout on the perimeter of the auto hub you will see the ends of a round wire retaining ring. You need to squeeze the ends together and at the same time pull the auto hub from the hub/rotor assembly. Once that is out then you'll see the large locknuts that need to be removed with the proper wheel nut socket.

As far as the little bearings, that should be a part of the auto hubs and will get thrown away and the manual hubs will take care of the rest.

 

[gotblazers]

i installed manual warn locking hubs on my 76 k5 a few weeks ago however i already had manual hubs so we may be on a different page but ill share my experiences with you and others with more knowledge can chime in. There should be lock/snap (forget the name) rings in there embedded outside the spindles. As far as the ball bearings i would think you possible overstressed the hub outer bearing (think thats the name) and blew out a ball if thats possible lol never heard of it happening. Just my .02. Good luck fixin er up.

EDIT: forget the hub outer bearing comment i didnt know auto locking hubs had ball bearings in em. Never worked on em :/

 

[colbystephens]

since you're already going to the trouble of pulling the rotor off, you should make sure to check your ball joints for wear and replace them as needed. To check your ball joints, grab the top of the knuckle with one hand and the bottom of the knuckle with the other. Lift and pull towards yourself with the bottom hand and push away from yourself with your top hand - thereby rocking the knuckle top and bottom. If you feel any play, it's time to replace the ball joints. If you do need to replace them, do it with Moog brand joints so you won't have to do it again in the near future.

edit: if you haven't already removed the rotor/backing plate, it will be easier to check the ball joints before you do remove those things. That way you can have more leverage. On the other side, you can get ahold of the bottom and top of the tire. Again, more leverage makes it easier to feel if there's any play in the joints.

 

[Cuztom Racing]

Great info guys. I was looking at that little clip you are talking about and was wondering if that was the key to getting it all apart..

I will dang sure look at the U joints whil i have it down this far, thanks for the reminder!

Any idea what seal is no good and causing grease to leak out? Its not coming from the axle side of the U joint is coming from the rotor side.

 

[colbystephens]

Well, I don't know a whole lot about this stuff, but I'm suspecting that the leaking grease is more a result of how hot and thin it got rather than a toasted seal. That's not to say that your seals aren't toast, but there's not much in the way of seals in there. I just had my hubs apart today and I don't recall really any seals along mating surfaces - just the ones on the hub bearing. I'm guessing the extreme heat melted the grease down too thin and the seals couldn't contain it. That grease is normally THICK stuff, not prone to running/leaking/etc.

 

[Cuztom Racing]

Well i had thought about that and hoped it was the case, that the crease just got to thin for the seal but im never that lucky! lol and not to meantion while i was in there to go ahead and replace any seals I could weather good or bad.

 

[4X4HIGH]

There are actually 3 different seals outboard of the axle joint. There is a grease seal in the hub/rotor assembly, then there is one in the back side of the spindle and another on the stub axle slinger. The one in the spindle and on the slinger come as a kit along with the spindle bearing as an SBK1 kit and retails for around $12.00. Along with that kit is also a thrust washer that goes over the end of the stub shaft and keeps the axle properly spaced away from the rear side of the spindle.

 

[Cuztom Racing]

sweet. thanks ill finish taking it all apart tomorrow and see excatly whats all bad, didnt have a chance today my lil girl had surgery

 

[4X4HIGH]

Keep us posted.

I hope you little girls surgery wasn't anything major and she'll be fine.

 

[Cuztom Racing]

Thanks man, she got her tonsels cut out. She is doing alot better.

I have a 86 1/2 ton with stock 10 bolts and Im looking at ordering the manual hubs on the warn web site, Its saying part #20990 is what i need. I dont need the (Transfer Case Conversion Kit) or the (Corresponding Spindle Nut Conversion Kit) right???