Front Wheel Spin Drag

[AUSMHLY]

Hello all. My BJ8 is up on jack stands. I noticed when I spun the front left tire it has more drag than the right tire. I can hear and feel the resistance more.

What is causing that? Is there an adjustment I can make?

 

[roscoe]

There is a spacer, referred to as a distance piece, that slides onto the axle stub and contacts the inner races of both the inner and outer wheel bearings. It is fitted with shims of different thicknesses to result in the proper preload on the two bearings. It may be that there are too few shims on one side. That is assuming there is no other issue such as pitted or somehow damaged bearings on that side. The procedure is outlined in the workshop manual but I'm sure if you do a search here you'll find a thread on the process. The distance piece is sometimes not installed, whether out of ignorance or believing it isn't needed. Austensibly it makes the axle stub more resistant to stress but the presence or absence of the parts can't be known unless you disassemble the hub. I drove my late model BN2 without them for a while before I bought the parts and set it up properly.

 

[red57]

Do you think the drag is from wheel bearings or brake pads? Jon may be correct with the bearing being improperly preloaded but its' also possible the brake calipers have a little residual pressure and/or something on the pads that is causing slight drag. Try pulling the pads out and spinning the wheels to see if the problem still exists. Yours is a later car with a booster and I don't know if they have a 2psi residual pressure valve or not (it's common on lots of more modern cars) to combat 'pad knock back' to keep the pedal travel short. If your car has one, it may be malfunctioning.

 

[BobHaskell]

Do you think the drag is from wheel bearings or brake pads? Jon may be correct with the bearing being improperly preloaded but its' also possible the brake calipers have a little residual pressure and/or something on the pads that is causing slight drag. Try pulling the pads out and spinning the wheels to see if the problem still exists. Yours is a later car with a booster and I don't know if they have a 2psi residual pressure valve or not (it's common on lots of more modern cars) to combat 'pad knock back' to keep the pedal travel short. If your car has one, it may be malfunctioning.

And how old are the rubber brake lines? They can fail internally. You can force brake fluid through them when you press the brake pedal. But when you release the pedal, the line is too restricted to allow the fluid to return.

 

[AUSMHLY]

With pads removed, spins freely. I sprayed the disc and pads with brake clean and installed.
New stainless hose. All brakes bleed fine, no air in the lines.
Spin is not equal to the passenger side. It just take a little more effort and wanted to look into it.

Thanks guys for joining in.

 

[Dandare]

Sometimes just seal drag can change the feel when moving by hand? Usually though when new ones are installed and in this case having the pads removed seems to negate this.

Danny

 

[John Turney]

With pads removed, spins freely. I sprayed the disc and pads with brake clean and installed.
New stainless hose. All brakes bleed fine, no air in the lines.
Spin is not equal to the passenger side. It just take a little more effort and wanted to look into it.

Thanks guys for joining in.

If there is no difference with the pads removed, it's fine.