FJ62 a Few Quick Questions (1 Viewer)

[Fieldtester96]

Just curious, how hot should the front wheel hubs get after a 30 minute drive? right now the locking hubs are just get slightly warm, the break shoes are just normal outside temp. but the hub right behind where the wheel mounts is warm enough where i can hold my finger on it about 5 seconds before it gets too hot. Is this normal? its driving perfectly fine and i don't have any issues but i would like to get a head of things before they break.

Also sorry if i am using the wrong nomenclature, i have learned a lot from this site but i am still a few years from being an expert like some of you.

One other thing, i noticed what i can assume is break dust on the drivers front tire, however i still have amazing breaks and the break shoe is not hot at all. Is this something i should worry about or is this just normal wear down from the breaks?

 

[OSS]

Depending on what type of brake pads you've got installed, they can spew a lot or a little bit of brake dust. Semi-metalic pads create less dust.
If you burn your finger touching the rotor after driving and coasting to a stop (don't use the brakes) then the pads may be dragging a bit. But the hub assembly will get warm after driving a bit even when everything is fine due to friction

 

[Fieldtester96]

Depending on what type of brake pads you've got installed, they can spew a lot or a little bit of brake dust. Semi-metalic pads create less dust.
If you burn your finger touching the rotor after driving and coasting to a stop (don't use the brakes) then the pads may be dragging a bit. But the hub assembly will get warm after driving a bit even when everything is fine due to friction

Thats what i figured, and with the rotors are not even that warm. The odd part is only the driver side wheel is covered in dust, inside and out. Which is making me suspect that the brakes did lock up at some point and then came unlocked.

Since i have black wheels i never noticed the dust until today when i was parked in the sun.

Also OSS you seem to be the best person to ask questions to keep from making rookie mistakes, so if you dont mind me bothering you some more what are the warning sides that you need to do a knuckle rebuild?

 

[OSS]

I'm not the best person, just one of the choir, some of whom know more about the minutiae of some cruiser sub assembly better than I.

But here's my take on when a knuckle rebuild is desired:

1. When there's wet gear oil (not grease) dripping past the knuckle ball seals under the truck.
2. When lifting the front end and turning the wheels past straight on from side to side, if they want to catch or stay in the straight position as if there's a detent ball holding them
3. If they're 30 years old
4. If you're sick of looking at the grime outside the knuckle housing
5. If gear oil keeps finding its way into the wheel bearing hubs
6. If knuckle grease keeps finding its way into the axle housing
7. If they're loose

Over hundreds of thousands of miles mostly driving straight, the knuckle bearings and their races develop a wear pattern in the straight position which causes the knuckle to want to stay in that worn groove. It may not be too noticeable while driving , or maybe it is: cruiser wanting to track on its own.

But the seals are definitely tired after all these years, so just taking it all apart to replace seals and clean out old grease to replace with new is a good thing to do regardless.

But if the knuckles were -never- rebuilt, nothing catastrophic would happen. They'll outlive the cruiser and the person who drives it (if they're kept greased up).

 

[Fieldtester96]

Thats good to know, i always assumed the whole knuckle thing was something that had to be done. Im trying my best to figure out all the detail stuff, but it seems if a problem doesn't come up then i tend to not learn about what i need to do. So im trying to change that.

Of course ive owned my 62 for 5 years now so i feel like i dont have the right to be a newbie, but ive only recently started learning everything i can.