Hub/wheel are hot to the touch!

[sibanez]

A few days ago I noticed an odd smell from my driver-side front wheel . . having just taken the truck to the off-road park, I figured I must have smoke the rotor. Also, the wheel had more than normal brake dust on it so I stopped driving it and ordered two new rotors. I did notice that the entire wheel was hot, including the lug nuts, hub and the base of the axle. In addition, there was an odd smell coming from that side of the car.

Well, I installed new rotors today in the front and took her for a test drive. After three miles at roughly 45 mph, I stopped and felt the wheel. The hub on the driver-side front was warm, while the passenger side wasn’t. After another 20 minutes of driving at 60mph, I stopped and noticed the driver-side hub was now very warm and the entire wheel was again warm to the touch. The passenger-side hub was warm, but nowhere near as warm as the driver side.

I’m thinking now that it’s a wheel bearing, but it seems way early for that. I have a 2.5 inch lift up front (Downey coilover) with 265/75/17 Nitto Terragrapplers, which have been on the truck for a little under 10k miles. The truck has 88k miles on it, majority of that being highway. Any ideas? It’s a 2003 V8 4x4 4Runner.

[bulldog]

With 88k miles it is most probably your wheel bearings, especially given the symptoms you describe. Have you checked for any play or roughness when jacking up the front and whiggling the front wheel and spinning it in the air?

You might just have been unlucky and something could have compromised the seal of the bearing. Better to have it replaced ot checked out in detail before it messes up the whole spindle and ABS sensor.

88k miles is not too bad for a wheelbearing in the bigger scheme of things though, especially if it has seen some mud, dust, water, etc.

A good shop should be able to fix it for not too expensive.

[expat]

Brakes dragging on one side?

[AlexJet]

With 88k miles it is most probably your wheel bearings, especially given the symptoms you describe. Have you checked for any play or roughness when jacking up the front and whiggling the front wheel and spinning it in the air?
...
88k miles is not too bad for a wheelbearing in the bigger scheme of things though, especially if it has seen some mud, dust, water, etc.
...

Andries,
Sorry for asking this, but what is the "usual" lifetime of the bearings and how much we shortening them by adding the lift, 10, 25, 50%? I know it’s all depending on the lift itself, driving habits and how much actual wheeling the person goes, but "IN GENERAL"...? I asked couple friends from my local 4x4 shop and they told me that wheeling in mud, sand, and water shortening ~ 33% (1/3) the life of transmission and suspension parts.

[bulldog]

Andries,
Sorry for asking this, but what is the "usual" lifetime of the bearings and how much we shortening them by adding the lift, 10, 25, 50%? I know it’s all depending on the lift itself, driving habits and how much actual wheeling the person goes, but "IN GENERAL"...? I asked couple friends from my local 4x4 shop and they told me that wheeling in mud, sand, and water shortening ~ 33% (1/3) the life of transmission and suspension parts.

ALex,
There are no hard and fast rules as to how long bearings should last. However going into mud, water, dust, sand definitely reduces the odds of bearings lasting a long time. Especially given that the units on the front are sealed and not serviced. IMHO 120k miles is a lot for a sealed bearing unit that sees some offroad action. The rear bearings is better of as they are lubed by the diff oil which gets changes from time to time, but the fronts are sealed on the 4R, etc which will reduce their overall lifetime. However I will be happy if I only have to replace them at 120k miles given the offroad miles mine has spend. You are going into mud a lot which will definitely reduce the lifespan.

Back to topic

Any feedback as to the possible cause, sb?

I think Mark might also be onto something with dragging pads, given the new rotors and I assume pads.

[sibanez]

I have almost no play in the driver-side wheel, so I'm guessing it's not the bearing. On closer inspection, I noticed that the bottom, outer piston is not moving as freely as the others and I'm guessing this caused the issue. I have the caliper off now and am cleaning it down as much as possible and will try one more run before having to rebuild/replace it. Thanks for all the help, I'll post more once I figure it all out.

[bulldog]

OK good to know. Are you in the snow/rust belt? Might be the issue with sticking calipers.

[sibanez]

OK good to know. Are you in the snow/rust belt? Might be the issue with sticking calipers.

I live in Harrisburg, PA and make frequent trips to New Jersey, which must be the salt hell of the world. It looks like there was some rust around the pistons and it just seized the outer bottom one. I'm going to order a rebuild kit tomorrow and see what it looks like.