Bearing Hubs, Wheel Studs, and Brake Rotor/Pad replacement advice
 

Just hoping to get some advice on product selection and anything else I might want to replace while I'm at it. Any thoughts on all this?


Wheel studs were overtorqued by previous owner and likely had their threads deformed. Some lug nuts need much higher than recommended torque to not loosen.
Planning on replacing with

Bearing hubs are starting to make a bit of noise, and new ones come with the wheel studs so I figure I'll just replace those as well.
Looking at

Front brake rotors definitely need replacing. Rear are alright, though definitely a bit worn. Either way, want them to match to keep braking balanced, so I'll replace all.
for front
for rear


For brake pads, I figured I'd stick with EBC to pair with the rotors. They recommend either their Greenstuff or Yellowstuff series for the ZJ. Greenstuff has less dust and is a bit less aggressive than Yellowstuff. Figure that's the best bet for now since it will decrease rotor wear, especially during the break-in period. Will switch to yellow if more power is needed.
for front
for rear

I've had 100K Km + on cheap bargain parts Hubs ($65 ea), I've had 400K Km + on both Torrington and SKF Hubs ($225+ ea).
Overall cost/distance nets about the same. But with the cheaper hubs you end up swapping more often.
The internal construction of the Torrington and SKF Hub will not separate when they fail.
Cheaper hubs by construction can separate, sometimes happens when trying to slide hammer pull out of the yoke pocket.
Always anti seize (Permatex Ultra Copper my favourite, any brand is better than none) the OD of the hub and the ID of the yoke when installing, will make future service easier.
Anti seize is the favour you do for yourself, factory and previous owners don't know of its existence.

When doing brakes, I always replace the calipers, new piston seals and sliders are the objective, just tired of fighting with one or two old calipers out of a set, always doubles the time of the job.
Also forces you to add and bleed in fresh fluid. Fresh non water saturated fluid goes a long long way to hard pedal.
Only use proper brake lube in sliders, other lubes will swell the liners and seize the sliders.

Thanks for the info!

On a related note, I found out why my front right brake rotor was messed up. The caliper had lost a bolt! Outside pad was still rather new, but the inside had worn down very quickly and had started to gouge the rotor.

I did a brake system on an 98 XJ replacing pads, drums, rotors and drum brake hardware.

Worked great for quite a while until the brake light started to come on. Ended up needing to replace the master cylinder and hard lines to the rear brakes. Which is the second time the rear hard lines started to leak due to rust. This time I found some stainless hard lines with stainless fittings. The rust was so bad that I needed to drill out the rear cylinder bolts. I guess the sever rust was due from driving on an ocean beach.

I don't know, perhaps at the same time you may want to flush and replace all of the fluid? Inspect the hard lines and fittings. Also inspect the any brake hoses and their fittings for abrasions, wear, etc.

Often when I do brakes I end up replacing the calipers and wheel cylinders with new or re-manufactured. I usually just purchase standard quality rotors and often end up replacing the rotors while replacing the linings.

My ZJ with ABS brakes appear to be currently in good order, but eventually will require at least replacement of the brake linings.

As for the wheel bearings what I usually do for the fronts is a wheel movement test. Jacking up each wheel apply pressure in all directions to determine any movement. I also look for anything brown or burnt and smell the wheel bearings to determine amount of wear. Wheel bearings including the rears when become worn they usually will start to smell burnt.

I also normally replace the bleeder screws with new one when doing brakes. The size for rotor brakes with calipers should be 3/8"-24.

With the front brakes needed refurbishing, a new pin, and there possibly being damage to the right one, I just got a new set. I'll refurbish the rear ones myself some other time. So that fluid flush will happen.

The left bearing had some play after all that I didn't notice when it was on the vehicle.

The right bearing hub was also seized on. Tried pulling it - it split. Used penetrating fluid, fire, a few applications of the BFH, cold chisel, lots of twister-inspired applications of presses and pullers. Finally got it by putting one of the bolts back in, but partially backed out. Put a socket on it to protect the bolt and BFH time again.

Thanks for the speed bleeder recommendation too - actually got those same ones already!

Turns out one of my axle shaft has a u-joint that is seized in one plane.

Money seems to be no object for this little project...Drilled and slotted rotors, seriously? You have the 4.0 is it turbocharged? Are you thinking of running 12's in the quarter mile? $200 per axle? Not only that but they won't brake as good as a solid rotor, I have NAPA rotors the cheap line for the last 5 years still not warped. You want to know what we think, I think that's way overboard, but yes, they will work. I think as you have found out there are many other things in the course of these repairs you will come across that are more important. Like brake spindles with notches worn into them, seized calipers, ...Money better spent on a bottle of anti seize

$42 for cheap ACDelco rotors, $58 for the EBC GD906's. I wouldn't say money is no object, but $16 is a relatively small object in exchange for a higher quality components. Not sure where you are getting the $200 from.

Do you have a good turbo recommendation? :cheers:

Speaking of antiseize, I picked up some of this a while back: Curious how it will work in the long term. Claims a few benefits over metal-based antiseizes.

From your first post
"Front brake rotors definitely need replacing. Rear are alright, though definitely a bit worn. Either way, want them to match to keep braking balanced, so I'll replace all. for front for rear
which pops up as drilled and slotted rotors

Oh, those are the one I bought, but I wouldn't trust Amazon prices. Sometimes they have automated changes based on stock and popularity, sometimes cheaper sellers run out of stock and more expensive ones are the new listed price. I'll agree with you about $200/axle being too much. Even half that is excessive.

Couldn't find any splash shields besides the stock style, so decided to just restore mine a bit. Electrolytic rust removal time! Stupidly forgot to take a before picture, but the fact there there are holes rusted through says enough.

Debating painting vs trying my hand at zinc plating once these are cleaned up...

Might try to fabricate my own next time I've got the bearing hub off. With how these things are mounted, galvanic corrosion is a potential issue, meaning aluminum and galvanized steel are probably going to be the best (metal) material options. I've seen stainless options for other vehicles, but don't think that's the best idea.

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Do you have the notches worn into the steering knuckle where the brake pads sit common for the zj's not sure what you have

I do! They aren't too bad, although they are worse on the side I had all the failures on. Wonder if that was the cause?

I take that back... They are all fairly shallow except for the upper inside notches on both steering knuckles. General consensus (besides a new knuckle or brake upgrade kit) still to weld in some filler and file it down? Haven't seen any caps online.

Also found that the right tone ring was cracked. I don't *think* this was me... I was fairly careful, and if anything I would have damaged it by denting it inward. The inside of the crack is fairly rust free though, so this was recent either way. Some JB Weld and a some time in a vice seems to have given a fairly sturdy fix. Probably only looking at 1500 rpm max. Put a bit of epoxy on the opposite side to balance things a bit anyway.

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i put four new rotors on and had the same wear was going to wait till after winter (no garage) to fill in notches one rotor is wearing a little strange on the inside i would fill them in now

Jeep 4.0L never run as slow as 12's in the quarter, unless the brakes are seized.
No turbo, no charger, no bottle, just throttle!

If you clean that knuckle really really well, spray brake clean, wire brush really well, spray brake clean ( I like to use a stainless wire brush but use what you may have on hand).
No dirt, no lubricants present. Good welds need clean metal surfaces.
Then Mig weld in those notches. Lay a bead just higher that the adjacent surfaces of the pad seats on the yoke.
Take a light hand file and file the pads seats smooth again. Take your time, not a rush.
Notches gone, pads float side to side as intended.
ZJ brakes be happy.