2001 DRV 3500 5.9L

My front wheels have been overheating and making an occasional whining noise. At this point all pertinent parts have been replaced- soft lines, calipers, disc pads, rotor/hub assemblys, bearings, races and the master cylinder. Upper control arms also needed replacement.and that's been done. All installations have been double checked by a good mechanic, the same one who put these parts in. No adjustments have cleared the problem including brake pedal height.

Friction, especially at higher speeds, appears to cause both the overheating wheels (both sides) and noise. The brake system has been eliminated as the cause of friction by several means. With the brake lines disconnected from the master cylinder and the front wheels jacked up resistance can be felt when the wheels are turned by hand. The hardest effort to turn the wheel the fastest and letting go results in about 45 degrees of wheel turn (1/8 revolution) of the wheel. This value is the same at varying tight and looseness of the bearing/axle nuts.

Before anything was replaced that used to be about 270 degrees (3/4 revolution).

The occasional whining noice can be heard to coincide or get louder in sync with bumps in the ride over rough roads.

So I'm gonna re-replace the rotors, hubs and bearings. I've been unable to find a unit assembly that has the hub, rotor and bearing. My question is would I stand a better chance to fix this problem putting in a hub/bearing assembly with a separate rotor or a hub/rotor assembly with separate bearings? If it's a toss up I like the first choice for some reason- the hub/bearing assembly with separate rotors.

Thanks in advance

 

Adjust the bearings properly. Take the calipers off..... See how they spin. If that check, install the calipers, do NOT pump up the brakes yet, see how they spin, if that checks, pump up the brakes, see what ya get.....

 

Thanks, Will do.

So I’m checking the spin under 3 conditions and if I understand what you’re saying, getting a wheel that’s still hard to spin means;

1- With calipers off;
it’s the bearings(??)

2- if 1 spins good then-
Calipers back on no pump;
it’s the calipers or rotor(??)

3- if 1 and 2 spin good then-
Same as 2 with pump;
it’s the calipers(??)

One thing I didn’t originally mention was that I had the new soft lines, new disk pads and new calipers for over a month and my original wheel overheating (with no noises but brakes that would really start to drag hard) was completely fixed- the wheels were always no more than slightly warm.

Then, not knowing if the bearings had ever been changed on this used van I bought at 70K miles and now had 107K miles and also not knowing the effects 3 bouts of major wheel overheating with full brake lock up experienced in a year and a half I decided to go the whole way with new hubs, rotors and bearings. They were all replaced at the same time and from day 1 the overheating was back with never any brake drag but the new noise.

Oh- and I never could verify that “high speed grease” was used by the mobile mechanic to pack the new bearings. I never drive this hi-top beast over 60.

Anyway thanks for your forbearance.

 

I would recheck bearings then as well, make sure the races are fully seated in the hub....

 

Makes sense, when I used to do my own work I would do that but using a mechanic now I won't pay that much more to get the cheap "Duralast" stuff out of there and new stuff in. Also I'd always have the concern I was riding on damaged races/bearings even if they were seated correctly. one time that whirring sound turned into a really scary "snap crackle pop"

I have the extra bucks to do this now and will go with new one piece hub/bearing assemblies and new rotors. Any brand name you like?

 

Don't know if you even CAN do that...... I don't know of anyone that has done the change-over.... Bear in mind, that does NOT imply that you *can't*.... I just don't know.

 

You saved my dumb butt again. I see hub/bearing assemblies for sale and rotors for sale that fit my van so I thought you just get them and install them together.

so it's hub/rotor assemblies and separate bearings then. That's what the mechanic I use put in and maybe I can just go with new bearings, races and tone ring whatever that is...

In my original post I was "fishing" a bit with all the history but my only question at the end was which 2 part assembly to use.

 

I would just go for bearings/races.... but, only after seeing if those are actually the problem.

 

Sorry I made this so difficult- that’s what ignorance does.

New bearings and races will be going in ASAP. It would cost me almost as much to have the bearings checked as to just have them replaced. I’ll Reddit a good brand and make sure high speed grease is used.

Really can’t thank you enough. I was about to screw up again. I had the front end rebuilt and started all the work described here months ago to be able to run from S. Fl hurricanes. The first wave is coming of Africa as of today. Thank you Hey You

 

Yeah, your bug-out vehicle DOES need to be reliable.

Stay safe man.... Them thar storms can pack a serious wallop.