Wheel Bearing Issue?

[YOTAFAN]

I noticed my '96 LC has started to vibrate a little when I hit the brakes hard. So pulled of the front wheels and my front pads are shot. The rotors appear to be in very good shape. Looks like the previous owner had recently replaced them. I also checked to see if there was any play in the wheel. With the wheel up in the air, there is no noticable play when I push at the 3 and 9 o'clock position. There is very slight play when I push back and forth at the 12 and 6 o'clock position. It almost knocks a little when I push it. All 4 of my wheels do this. I figured if it was a wheel bearing issue, then it would also have some play at the 3 and 9 o'clock position (i.e. in all directions) or am I way off? Could the vibration just be my worn out pads?

 

[DuManchu]

Could be a number of things. Check all the fasteners on the knuckle itself, then do a birf job anyway if you haven't done it already. Particularly check the four studs on the bottom of each knuckle where the steering arms connect, they have been known to come loose.

I'll also throw the dunce card out there, were your lugs loose when you did the "wiggle" test?

The vibration probably has to do with warped rotors or deposits of brake pad material on the rotor(s).

Someone else will probably chime in with more helpful info.

 

[landtank]

I'd guess it's loose wheel bearings. It's pretty hard to feel bearing play at 3-9 as the weight of the wheel gets in the way.

This has been discussed many many times. Quite a few of us have no luck with setting preload with the fish scale and getting sustainable results as far as the wheel loosening.

Having loose bearings will give you the jitters when braking and going over rutted road.

I personally torque the inner nut to 10ftlbs, spin the wheel a few times back and forth and then re torque to 10ftlbs and repeat until I maintain 10ft lbs after the spinning.

Others do this bearing setting by feel.

However you do it it would seem you need to tear into those bearings.

 

[YOTAFAN]

One other bit of info. The front pads that are worn out on my rig are generic brand and don't have any of the factory shims. If I replace with OEM 80 pads (I'll save the 100 pad mod for later when I have more time and $) and OEM shims, may this resolve my shakes?

 

[Texus]

my take...

If if shimmies when braking, most likely the rotors are warped...they will look fine, but under rotation...they'll shimmy...and if the pads are shot, they easily can heat up under such friction & warp... also, the back & forth play...from my understanding on how you described is just the points @ which the axles shafts engage with said manual movement... you are saying that this happens when you rotate back & forth correct?? if so, that this is normal...hence, it occurs @ all four wheels... if I didn't use correct terms... I'm sure it will be corrected below...