Wheel locked-up while driving

[dag77423]

RE: 1992 Wrangler 4WD. My son just had a scary experience. As he was traveling ~35MPH, his right front wheel locked-up and spun the vehicle around the locked wheel, onto the right road shoulder. Fortunately, he was not going faster or he might have flipped. He said the only warning he had was a loud ‘clunk’ just before it locked up. After he collected himself, he tried to move the vehicle and heard the same ‘clunk’ again…he parked it.

What I find suspicious is that the previous owner (vehicle purchased less than 30 days ago), supposedly replaced the front wheel bearings before turning it over to my son.

Any experience and/or knowledge regarding this problem would be appreciated.

[csparks78]

I had a Bronco II lifted w/35's and I was always having problems with the wheel bearings and one day I had my wheel lock up and literally skidded it into a parking spot, I was driving and the front passenger wheel wasn't moving. My problem was too big of tires, I packed them VERY well everytime I replaced them. I don't know what size tires you have or what the clunk was. That probably didn't help you any but that's my experience.

[stangfreak7]

my question was, were there any grease on the rim or brake pads??? if so, the guy could of pinched a seal and let the grease sling loose from the bearing. i have had that happen a couple of times on my cj-7. also if you see no grease but still think that it is the bearing, there are ports for the grease to escape if it is leaking, check to see if they are clogged up. they commonly get packed with mud etc....maybe one you pull it down i could get a better idea of what to help you with...hope this helps some

[Ray H]

Im leading more towards a brake issue instead of the bearing. Wranglers use a sealed bearing. If the bearing gave way what would happen is the wheel would be hanging on only by the disc brake and would be noticably cock eyes and would probably not even support the weight of the Jeep. Theres really nothing short of an internal factory defect that could be wrong with a new unibearing that wouldnt obviously effect the stance of the vehicle. If it was factory defective, it probably wouldve showed up before now. Im betting the front brake caliper is sticking.