smoking from rear driver side wheel

[steelynorm]

first i smelled a burning smell. thought it was coming from residual oil from oil change.. a few weeks go by and then i notice a my drivers side rear wheel has a small smoke trail coming off the rear disc.
UH-oh.

Bad axle bearings? bad brakes? Smells like burning grease or oil
does not smell like fried brake pads.

what do you think, I am work will not be able to tear into it until later.

 

[KlausVanWinkle]

73 views and no responses? I'll try to help move the thread along.

What is a smoke trail? Pics?
How many miles on your truck?
If it was the brake pad, I'd guess it'd have caught on fire by now.
Do the 100's axle seals go bad like on the 80s?
Is there more brake dust on that wheel than usual?
What color smoke?
Clogged brake hose/line?

 

[CWR33]

I had a similar problem on my hundred series. We just cleaned the rotor and it went away.

 

[steelynorm]

smokey trail

well I am taking it to a local shop
for them to take a look at it.
the car has 180K
the smoke is a really small wispy trail.
no excessive brake wear or dust.
i had brake inspection not too long ago and they told me rear linings looked fine.

see what happens, i had paying 100 dollars an hour for labor!!!

keep you guys posted.

 

[12guns]

Sorry for the lack of responses, it happens from time to time.
I would put my money on stuck/frozen brake pads. The rear has the parking brake cable running to them which is a combonation mechanical/hydrolic (I think) which leads to a strong possibility of something "locking up". It should be easy to test, just drive a few mile and stop to see if that rear rotor is smoking hot. If it is hot enough to smoke, it's likly burning the pads that are dragging. It will be hotter than the others. Good luck! Post back and let us know.

Sorry, just read your last post. Maybe the brakes are ok. I don't know what else could cause that though?? Let us know, hope it's an easy fix for $100/hour!

 

[AimCOtaco]

On the parking brake:
The rear has 2 brake systems. 1 is the hydraulic disk (that your break guy looked at), the 2nd is the parking brake which is a fully mechanical drum brake using the inside of the rotor hat as the drum.
It could be that while the disk system checks out, the hidden parking break was not inspected and it has failed or been contaminated by axle lube, etc. I bet that is your problem. The hub/rotor/wheel is probably hot if there is smoke but that would not narrow it down too much between the two brake systems.
Any success with the mechanic?

 

[chitown40]

Feel the rear rotor on the hub face. If it is glowing or too hot to touch, you probably have a binding parking brake. Unless you live in the desert, there is a good chance that the parking brake bell cranks have seized or partially seized not allowing the parking brake to fully release.

 

[shogun2fire]

I had smokeness and some bbq smell when I accidentally drove up a hill with my parking brakes on. Maybe it's something to do with that.

 

[12guns]

On the parking brake:
The rear has 2 brake systems. 1 is the hydraulic disk (that your break guy looked at), the 2nd is the parking brake which is a fully mechanical drum brake using the inside of the rotor hat as the drum.
It could be that while the disk system checks out, but the hidden parking break was not inspected and has failed, or been contaminated by axle lube, etc is your problem. The hub/rotor/wheel is probably hot if there is smoke but that would not narrow it down too much between the two brake systems.
Any success with the mechanic?

Bingo. That's where my bet is. Had the parking brake on my old Tacoma lock up once. Drove 90 miles before I realized it! No worries. If that is your problem, you will have to pull the rear rotor/drum off and free up the parking brake, then clean and lube everything and look for any broken parts. Mine cleaned up just fine and worked for years with just a squirt of PB Blaster. Good luck, hope you find an easy fix!

 

[steelynorm]

conclusion

So it ended being a rear axle leak with gear oil leaking on braking system. Had dealership replace both bearings and seals. Believe it cost around $1000 bucks 500 a side. 1 year and half later, it happened again and they just charged me parts for one side.

 

[jgray]

100 Series rear axle bearing are a sealed type bearing that should last a very long time. The are not like front wheel bearings that need to be packed with grease and get normal service during a full brake job. It's hard to believe you would have one go bad a year and half after putting new ones in unless they used some chineese or low quality aftermarket bearings...

I question some of the small shop decisions I read about on here but also understand not everyone wants to pay dealership prices either... I've learned to work on almost everything myself because I know it will be done right when I order my own parts and install everything with more attention to detail than most shops would...

For $1000 initially, you should've been able to get a complete set of premium rotors, pads, wheel bearings, new hardware, etc all installed out the door. Rear axle bearings rarely need to be replaced...

 

[spressomon]

^ different experience here: 4 or 5 rear axle re-builds on mine...I've lost track. There are others that are starting to experience the pain of our SF rear axle & bearing system. On one hand its a system that mostly eliminates maintenance issues for stock/near stock rigs; perfect for who Toyota designed it for.

On the other hand very few back-yard mechanics are going to have the custom press tools to do this job when it is needed. And forget about doing it in the back-country...and probably not going to happen even in Moab. And not that many Toyota dealership's service departments will be equipped with either the press tools and/or the experience to get it done properly.

Decreasing the pressure inside the diff/axle housing has extended my R&R interval but not completely solved it (larger fitting and tube ID for breather). I assume my issues are related to the GVW of my rig and where/how the rig is driven (off-road). After round 4 IIRC, everything was fine until immediately after our Utah '13 trip. The rig saw some pretty good side loading on off-camber trail twisties along with some reasonable compression hits...etc. Grasping at straws...but still somewhat of a ticking time bomb for some.