SOLVED! Bad Wheel Bearings

l008com

Original poster
Member
Feb 19, 2016
886
Massachusetts
Ok back on topic, I installed the two hubs today. Some potentially interesting notes:

Actually uninstalling the old hubs and installing the new hubs was very easy and very quick. The most time consuming part by far for me was removing all of the plastic clips from the old ABS sensors and installing the new ones. That was a legit pain in the ass.

The old bearings on the passenger side were SO bad. I was expecting them to be dry, maybe a little rough. These were hard to turn by hand! They were really bad. The drivers side had a little bit of roughness once in a while but were probably fine. But I replaced them both with the "heavy duty" ones off rockauto.

I borrowed a torque wrench from autozone. I dialed it up to 103 ft-lb to put the big 35mm bolts back on. It clicked very easily. Granted the tool has a very huge arm but it was surprisingly easy to hit the 103 mark and get it to click. Does that sound right?

I did have one problem. I snapped one of the smaller caliper bolts while reassembling. I guess I wasn't supposed to toque those ones down super tight? It snapped fairly easily. Are those bolts a standard size? Can I get them anywhere? How tight are you supposed to tighten those?
I'm hoping that enough of the bolt is sticking out once I take the caliper back off, that I can use vice grips to unscrew it. Hopefully this is an easy fix. I have ZERO luck using snapped bolt removal tools.
What is the torque number for these bolts? I definitely way over-tightened them. The good thing is I only over-tightened them on one side because on the other side, I left the whole assembly together and took it all off at once (the caliper and the pad mount bracket).

Aside from the brake issue, the test drive home felt great. Nice and smooth and quiet. Driving with 3 caliper bolts is not ideal I know but I didn't have much choice. It was late at night so I just took it real easy on the braking.
 
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Matt

Member
Dec 2, 2011
4,019
Found this at the other place
138992729-gif.7956


110 ft lbs seems way too much to me. IIRC I just did it to German spec...gud an tight.

ETA: Just found this as well: https://gmtnation.com/forums/threads/brake-specs.184/
 
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JerryIrons

Member
Dec 20, 2011
434
The 110 lbs refers to the bracket bolt, not the caliper bolt. You should have used 31 lbs. And the literature should say caliper guide pin bolt, not "caliper guide pin"

Also it's not hard to hit 103 ft lbs with a big wrench.
 
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JerryIrons

Member
Dec 20, 2011
434
I wonder if that nut on the back side can be used to loosen it?

btw it's an easy mistake to make, I've almost done it myself...
 

Mooseman

Moderator
Dec 4, 2011
25,257
Ottawa, ON
Probably worth it to just get a caliper pin kit and replace them and the bolts. Then you won't have to deal with the broken bolt.


And if you want just the bolt:

Sorry, that was for the rear. Can't find for the front.
 
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l008com

Original poster
Member
Feb 19, 2016
886
Massachusetts
I am having trouble finding those slides in stock anywhere local. Which leads to the question: how safe if my truck to drive with one of the caliper bolts missing on the drivers side? If I have to order online, ill be driving for a week or more the way it is. I'll have to wait to get the part, THEN I'll have to wait for a day when it's at least above freezing.
 

Mooseman

Moderator
Dec 4, 2011
25,257
Ottawa, ON
Not safe at all. The caliper could flip up or down depending on which one is missing (that's actually how you can replace just the pads), the pistons will pop out, all your fluid will leave your master cylinder removing all ability to brake. That's one thing you don't screw around with, the brakes.

You could take the other bolt off, try to get the broken bolt out of the slider and take the good bolt to match it at a fastener supply house. As long as it's a graded bolt, it should work.
 

flyboy2610

Member
Aug 24, 2021
460
Lincoln, Ne.
It's probably not something I would recommend! The bolt itself is 10-1.5 x 30, I saved what I had on the TB's when I re-did the brakes. A hardware store or home center should be able to supply that.
 
Dec 5, 2011
574
Central Pennsylvania
I am having trouble finding those slides in stock anywhere local. Which leads to the question: how safe if my truck to drive with one of the caliper bolts missing on the drivers side? If I have to order online, ill be driving for a week or more the way it is. I'll have to wait to get the part, THEN I'll have to wait for a day when it's at least above freezing.
I'll check my parts pile, there's a chance I have four old front slide pins. I'll update when I check in a little bit.... but someone needs to confirm that i6 and v8 front slide pins are the same.... you can have them.... I'll ship them on your dime.
 

Mooseman

Moderator
Dec 4, 2011
25,257
Ottawa, ON
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Dec 5, 2011
574
Central Pennsylvania
I directly viewed 2 slide pins, as well as brackets, and bracket bolts (and didn't dig any further) and believe I have a full set of everything. OP - they're yours if you want them (or just individual pieces, whatevs). They'll need a good cleaning but will work in a pinch (boots are "meh" but intact). DM me and we'll work out shipping details if you're interested. Kudos if you managed to get what you need already.
 

l008com

Original poster
Member
Feb 19, 2016
886
Massachusetts
I was able to find them in stock at the local napa. So I replaced the full pins and bolts and everything is good now, woohoo! Only ended up costing me an extra $12. Still a bargain for two new heavy duty wheel bearings.

I did have to use marine grease on the slide which is not ideal. But I'm thinking when I change my oil in the spring, maybe ill get some brake grease and clean and re-grease the slides on all the calipers. They probably all need it.

So for now, everything is golden.
 

JerryIrons

Member
Dec 20, 2011
434
There's an old saying, any grease is better than no grease!

For those slide pins, I use a silicon based grease, something like:
(sil-glyde in case the link fubars in the future)

I have caliper grease which I used on the backs of the pads and "ears" of the pads, but the silicon seems to last longer and stay "looser" for the pins. Just my 2 cents, I'm in western ny rust belt and I see you are in massachusetts.
 

Mektek

Member
May 2, 2017
656
FL
And don't have too much confidence in SKF. Printed on the product box "Contains quality products manufactured or purchased by SKF"

In this case it was made in Taiwan, so it was purchased and then boxed by SKF.
 

l008com

Original poster
Member
Feb 19, 2016
886
Massachusetts
Update: Yesterday was oil change/rotate tires/regrease brake pins day.

Those pins that I greased with marine grease were pretty sticky. The rest of them were kinda sticky also. I did my best to clean the pins (easy) and clean the holes (not so easy), regreased with real, actual marine grease, and re-assemble.

I don't know if its placebo effect or what but it seems to brake easier, like with less pedal pressure, the brakes come on easier. If they come on easier, they should come off easier too, meaning rub less, meaning I should burn less of this oh so expensive gasoline.

Sadly my ~3 year old rotors, uncoated, are getting awfully rusty. I went with uncoated rotors because I wasn't going to keep the truck for too much longer. I did not predict years of global pandemic and new and used car shortages. Oh well.

Still all in all, everything is working great for now. I mean the oil filter is directly above a cross support so of course oil gets everywhere like it always does. But not much you can do about that. I did about 5 ounces of seafoam in my oil and the other 10ish oz in my gas tank last week so the inside of my engine should be sparkling clean now. Other than plenty of valve noise, it runs very well for almost 150k. Hopefully it keeps on going strong until the car shortage passes and GM comes out with their colorado-based SUV (LOL JK) or until I find a nice grand Cherokee to slide into.

One thing I did notice though. I did my brakes a few years ago and I had lots of rubbing problems I had been fighting for years before that. I hacked up the front shields to make sure there was no more rubbing. But I still get some light metal rubbing sounds now, particularly after heavy breaking (or all braking when I'm towing). I took a look while I had everything apart yesterday and it appears that the clips that hold the rear pads in place are TOUCHING the edge of the rotors! What is up with that?? Picture attached. I don't recall them rubbing when I installed them. You can't tell from that one picture but they don't look deformed or shifted at all. They look nice and snug as normal, but just in contact with the rotors edge. Easy enough fix I guess, just pop them out, modify them slightly with a dremel, then pop them back in. But still, have you seen this before? It seems so odd to me.
 

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c good

Member
Dec 8, 2011
526
The outer diameter of the rotor looks pretty crusty. Maybe cleaning with a wire wheel would help stop the noise..and/or Dremel the clip.
 

l008com

Original poster
Member
Feb 19, 2016
886
Massachusetts
New Question:

I'm putting it here just because it was part of this whole proceedure. When I had the back up on jacks, both back wheels had a little bit of in out play. By in out, I mean left to right relative to the direction of the truck. It was very slight, maybe 1/16 of an inch, maybe 1/8th at most.

Is this normal? If not, what part would wear and cause this?
 

TollKeeper

Supporting Donor
Member
Dec 3, 2011
8,045
Brighton, CO
That's pretty normal. Should be very minimal thou.
 

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