Smoking front wheel, this looks bad. Advice please!

[Iceaxe]

This is an old thread, but thought I'd add to it since I'm having the exact same issue- smoking front left wheel, where the wheel itself is very hot to the touch (whereas the other wheels are cool to the touch). Yes, the axle seal is blown, and yes, the axle fluid is constantly leaking onto the rotor. This is causing quite a bit of smoking and bad smell, which was quite a sight on the road.

The solution for the interim was to buy a bunch of bottled waters and pull over periodically to pour water on the rotor and cool it down. Also, avoid braking. I found that highway speeds actually were better because it tended to sling the fluid off the rotor as well as dry and cool it.

 

[cruiser enthuiser]

Wow, forgot about this thread. Funny that I was reluctant to get into a steering knuckle back then. Having been in and out of 80 and 60 knuckles a couple times now I realize i shouldn't have feared the unknown.


I believe my original issue was a bad/sticking caliper that caused the brake rotors to overheat and cause grease to leak out on everything. I ended up replacing wheel bearings, rotors and calipers to get it back on the road.

Good luck with yours.


-Ed