It's never easy...

[lukasmcdukas]

hey yall, looking for a little knowledge on the 4WD side of the house.
i tore into my 97 nissan d21 this morning with the plan of changing out the rusty brake rotors, calipers, and pads for all new parts. cake, right? not when im on the job!
the wheel hub needs to come off to get at the rotor... no big deal... however, two of the bolts that hold the wheel hub to the rotor won't back out all the way. they're loose and spinning, but too rusted to come all the way out. so, im looking at replacing the hubs and hardware too.

here's my question: what the hell do i need to grease these things properly when i install them? i'm a nuts and bolts kinda guy, never had to pack grease. this truck has manual locking hubs that need to come apart and then all the collars, snap rings, and i think even the bearings need to come out to get the rotor off.
the haynes manual leaves too much to the imagination for my liking, and my mechanic buddy's best input was: "usually they just leave the rotors on and turn them down while they're on the truck" super friggin helpful so i'd like to get as much input as possible.

lastly: the driver side rotor is completely warped (stuck piston) and the truck has a nasty wobble at 45... i THINK the wobble is from the rotor, but could it be the wheel bearings? should i swap the wheel bearings while i'm in there?

im a total NUB in this area of expertise. thanks!

 

[Zembonez]

 

[Zembonez]

Are these the hub bolts you are talking about?

 

[Zembonez]

Manual locking hubs are grease filled but are independent of the actual wheel bearings in the knuckle. Once you get the hub off, the rest is pretty straightforward.

 

[lukasmcdukas]

the pic you posted Zem, no thats not the hub im talking about. i do have a similar one, but the two stuck bolts are in the hub that the wheel & tire actually bolt to...

there's what looks like a grease fitting on the back side of the hub... is it as easy as just connecting a grease gun and pumping the sucker full? i thought when you disassemble this stuff you were supposed to grease each component individually before putting it back together? im pretty much just speculating and going on rumors...

 

[lukasmcdukas]

in the first pic, the exploded view... the hub im talking about would be the one with the wheel lugs sticking out. my brake rotor is bolted to the back side of that hub. my hub is basically just a plate with splined bolts (lugs) sticking out to attach the wheel to, and thru-bolts going the opposite way to bolt to the brake rotor. i'll take some photos and show you what i mean next time i'm at the house.

 

[lukasmcdukas]

aha, i do have 1 pic... this is the only pic i have at the moment. i havent disassembled the manual hubs yet. one of the bolts im talking about is the one with the ratchet on it.

 

[vansdonk]

If the bearing are bad, it's going to cause a wobble, if you have a stuck piston on a brake, it's going to cause the warping you are talking about. It will also cause the bearings to be in a 'binding' state and can cause them to get hot, in turn heating up the grease, grease leaks out, bearings are dry, bearings get hot, bearings go bad by binding.
I have never heard of rotors being turned while still on the truck. ??? If they are warped too badly and cannot be turned (machined) you will have to replace. 45mph is a perfect speed for a failing u-joint on a drive shaft to show up. Also an alignment problem or wheel balancing.
As for hand greasing bearings, it's kinda simple. Place a glob of bearing grease in the palm of your hand. Hold bearing in by one edge in other hand. Take unheld edge and press into grease, rotate, press, rotate, press. Continue until grease is slightly starting to come out of the top of the bearing. It's best to wear a latex glove when doing this, greasing from you hands can brake down grease.
If you are reusing bearings, inspect. If you see fretting on the actual bearings or rases change them.

 

[vansdonk]

To remove spinning bolts/screws, make sure there isn't a nut on the back first. Then take a flat head screw driver and apply an upward/outward force while turning.

 

[vansdonk]

IMHO, that rotor looks shot. The pic is blurry so I can't really tell.

Please keep in mind that I work on aircraft more than trucks, my ideas may be completely different than someone elses.