neon 97 wheels over heating melting hubs

pmneon · 08-28-2006, 10:30 AM

hi i was wondering if anyone could help me! my 97 neon's wheels are over heating and have melted my hub caps!?! i have had the wheel off and the brakes and calipers and cant see anything wrong with it!?! does anyone have an idea what could be causing this?
oh yeh and those anyone know the correct torque for the wheels bearings please?

thanks
dave

astroracer · 08-28-2006, 11:34 AM

Did you do any work on the bearings? The "torque" is usually very lite (12lbft or so) and is done just to seat the bearings. After torqueing it is usually directed to back the nut off to the first hole in the spindle and put the cotter pin in at that point. You NEVER want to run the nut all the way down and then tighten it. The bearings have to have some room to spin and tightening the spindle nut will clamp the bearings so they can't. If this what you've done you will probably need new bearings and possibly spindles if you have turned them blue and removed the heat treat...
Mark

pmneon · 08-28-2006, 12:15 PM

no i havent touched the bearings yet i was wondering if they could cause the over heating? do you know if they could do that? it kinda scared me when my whell was smoking! umi haven't touched them cause i wanted the torque settings for them so i wouldn't tighten them too much or leave them too loose? the problem is only on the front drivers side wheel!

Wollf · 08-28-2006, 10:08 PM

Usually its from your calipers locking up and not releasing , if you jack up the front end can you spin the tire by hand easily ?? if not its your brakes locking more then likely , if your bearings are going they usually go out with a LOT of noise , grinding , humming that kind of thing. Calipers locked up on my Mazda PU and they were glowing red after about 5 mins of driving on the way back home.

pmneon · 08-29-2006, 01:51 AM

yeah thats what i thought it might be but i dont know how to fix it would i have to take it to a garage to get it fixed or is it easy enough to do myself?
or do i need new calipers or something?

thanks
dave

Wollf · 08-29-2006, 10:01 AM

Calipers arent that hard to do with a little mechanical knowledge your looking at about $55 bucks canadian each , and i would call it a 6 pack job ( you should finish a 6 pack about the same time as you finish )

pmneon · 08-29-2006, 12:41 PM

ok today i decided to have the wheel off and see what i could do! i took the break pads off and tried to push the valve in!(cause normally this can be done right?) on the passenger side went in easy, but the right drivers side which is the one that was getting hot wouldn't go in at all! so took the caliper off and it went in easy? figured this had cured the problem off a stuck valve or what ever it is i dont know!( got my uncle to do this for me) but then went for a drive in the car and came back and the wheel was still smoking!?! as i live in the uk its hard to find people that do parts for my car, and the calipers are going to cost me over £100, i cant afford that so i dont know what im going to do!?!
oh and while im here can anyone tell me what semi-load calipers are and what the difference is??

thanks
dave

Wollf · 08-29-2006, 10:24 PM

your caliper is getting hung up , it can happen , you free it , hit the breaks and it doesnt return , you can get a rebuild kit from most auto shops but it isnt a sure fix, but they are alot cheaper. A semi loaded caliper is one that comes with all necc hardware but no pads, a fully loaded caliper comes with all hardware and pads.

POST REPLY TO THIS THREAD