Axle rebuild?

[gtrietsc]

Noticed a light bit of smoke front the front left wheel when I got home yesterday. Crawled underneath and snapped these pics. How driveable is this? I am going to have a shop do the work due to time constraints, but none of the shops are super close to my house.

Thanks!

 

[BILT4ME]

What was the smoke from?

You still got all your nuts.

Looks totally driveable from the internet armchair I'm sitting in! (It ran when I parked it!)

Second pic shows grease on the center of the wheel rim.

May have smoked your wheel bearings. If you truly had smoke and there's that much grease.....you have about 5 miles at 15 MPH to make it on those bearings. May just be grease on the rotor from the outer hub. Either way, yes, you need to rebuild.

But whether or not it can be driven there is up to you. Speed = heat. Heat = failure. Drive it at 2 MPH and you may get it there. If it's 30 miles away, that's 15 hours of driving.......

 

[gtrietsc]

Yep, it was a very light smoke - smoked for about 30 seconds after I parked it. Sounds like I need to find a trailer.

 

[ZackR]

Time to make use of AAA and have them tow it to the shop. Normally I'd say as long as there is still grease in there then no worries but the comment about smoke doesn't sound good. The only "acceptable" smoke would be from birf soup somehow getting on a really hot brake rotor but that seems like a stretch since the covers are in place.

 

[IanB]

I've never heard of them smoking, I would expect terrible noises would come well before smoke!

 

[Dirty Koala]

Speaking from experience, get it towed. If you're knuckles are smoking chances are you have already cooked everything inside. Adding a spindle and hub to and already expensive job won't be fun.

 

[gtrietsc]

I know everyone is different. but what kind of ballpark price should I be looking for here?

 

[BILT4ME]

Good Luck!

I know everyone is different. but what kind of ballpark price should I be looking for here?

For towing or for axle rebuild?

Towing: Best guess: $100 + $5/mile.

Front axle rebuild: $500-$2500 depending on parts, level of damage, depth you want them to go. (Add $1500 if you need axles)

You can do it yourself with all new bearings, seals, grease for about $400 and a weekend. Add $1000 if you need axles.

 

[Dirty Koala]

The big ticket items are spindle, hub & inner axle's and birfs. If those aren't damaged you are looking at about $300 or so in parts (seals, wheel & trunion bearings and gear oil). Labor is where it hurts...average shop prices to rebuild both knuckles is about $1000 - $1500 labor.

A hub will run about $600, spindle about $300, birf's about $300 a piece, inner axles about $200 a piece. While you are in there items to expect is a brake job (rotors, pads, calipers, soft lines etc.).

This is an area where the job is not difficult, just time consuming and messy. Unless you need the truck back on the road tomorrow, I would give serious through to doing this yourself...its a right of passage for owning an 80.

 

[Dirty Koala]

The big ticket items are spindle, hub & inner axle's and birfs. If those aren't damaged you are looking at about $300 or so in parts (seals, wheel & trunion bearings and gear oil). Labor is where it hurts...average shop prices to rebuild both knuckles is about $1000 - $1500 labor.

A hub will run about $600, spindle about $300, birf's about $300 a piece, inner axles about $200 a piece. While you are in there items to expect is a brake job (rotors, pads, calipers, soft lines etc.).

This is an area where the job is not difficult, just time consuming and messy. Unless you need the truck back on the road tomorrow, I would give serious through to doing this yourself...its a right of passage for owning an 80.

 

[Tools R Us]

Looks very poorly, or not maintained, low or no grease in the knuckles?

 

[gtrietsc]

Thanks guys. As much as I would like to try to tackle this myself, I do kind of need the truck on the road more quickly than I need to learn how to do this. As a result I am already taking my Shelby out in the poor weather and hauling my kids around in it, a job the LX is supposed to be doing

 

[inkpot]

Thanks guys. As much as I would like to try to tackle this myself, I do kind of need the truck on the road more quickly than I need to learn how to do this. As a result I am already taking my Shelby out in the poor weather and hauling my kids around in it, a job the LX is supposed to be doing

So it’s snowing in Texas?

 

[gtrietsc]

Haha, no! I think I have only had the Stang out in the rain maybe 3 times in the two years I have had it. Its not suited to shuttling kids around either, at least not full time.

 

[Tools R Us]

Thanks guys. As much as I would like to try to tackle this myself, I do kind of need the truck on the road more quickly than I need to learn how to do this. As a result I am already taking my Shelby out in the poor weather and hauling my kids around in it, a job the LX is supposed to be doing

Then take it to the shop and do what they recommend? It's a pretty big job, driven dry long term, would expect part wear/carnage, so not likely to be cheap. Looks like the hub seal is leaking bearing grease onto the rotor, with brake use will smoke, but for a short trip, not likely to burn down?

 

[Michael Hanson]

Hi, Are you sure the brake caliper(s) are not hanging up ? Mike

 

[gtrietsc]

Hi, Are you sure the brake caliper(s) are not hanging up ? Mike

The brakes feel fine - no pulling, warped feeling, anything like that. It could be grease getting on the hot brakes.

 

[gtrietsc]

Then take it to the shop and do what they recommend? It's a pretty big job, driven dry long term, would expect part wear/carnage, so not likely to be cheap. Looks like the hub seal is leaking bearing grease onto the rotor, with brake use will smoke, but for a short trip, not likely to burn down?

Yea, looks like that is the plan. Just trying to decide if its worth the $$$ to tow it 41 miles.

 

[ZackR]

Yea, looks like that is the plan. Just trying to decide if its worth the $$$ to tow it 41 miles.

Jack it up (both front tires) and see how the wheel bearings feel (see if there is movement at the 12 & 6 position, feel for smoothness). It'll be kind of hard to tell with the drive flange in place but you'll at least get an idea.

If it were me and I was taking it to a shop I'd pull the drive flange and get a real feel for the wheel bearings before making the drive. By pulling the drive flange the wheel is able to spin without spinning the axle and you can adjust the preload if needed. Depending on your tools/time/comfort level this might not be something you want to tackle, but its not that difficult to do. The cone washers will be the hardest part.

I had a wheel bearing that was going bad and I nursed it home 300 miles. There was plenty of grease however it was loose and made a "wump wump" mud tire type of sound that would come and go as you went around corners. Once I tore it open the bearing race had obvious pitting but the rest was ok.