Front hub greese melted!

Post by **winger300** » Wed Mar 16, 2005 3:50 pm

After an hour long run this morning, I parked up and noticed oil running out from under the hubcap!

Removing the dust cab on the front hub revealed that all the greese in there had melted! I've cleaned it all out and replaced with new greese, but why should this happen? The other side is fine.

I had used Castrol lithium greese last year when refitting the hubs after replacing the brake back plates, the tin was really old though, maybe 30 years or more!

Post by **rayofleamington** » Wed Mar 16, 2005 3:59 pm

One possibility is that the brakes were binding - it would be worth to check that both pistons move freely. Also check if the wheel gets hot near the centre during a similar drive as this is a sign of a problems (on normal town driving the wheels will get luke warm due to heat from the brakes). You'll want to pop the hubcap off to check how warm it is but be careful in case it is red hot ;-)
It may have just got hot due to a bit of surface corrosion on the drum, but I would have thought it would have freed up more quickly than that.

I had one car where the brakes were fine until after about an hour of driving - then one front brake would play up and the car would pull to one side. My best guess was a bit of brake binding causing one side to overheat and fade.

Post by **Chris Morley** » Wed Mar 16, 2005 8:11 pm

I would agree with Ray as I got liquid grease stains flung out from the dust cap when I suffered from binding brakes last year. It's hard to see any other reason for the wheel to get so hot unless your drive included a steep mountain road.... I assume the lithium grease you used was the Castrol type suitable for high temperatures?

Post by **les** » Wed Mar 16, 2005 9:57 pm

I have the same happening right now, have bought new wheel cylinders and springs, as I can see,on inspection one cylinder not fully closing. Will be trying to get it done for Brooklands.

Post by **Kevin** » Thu Mar 17, 2005 3:21 pm

Just one thing you did leave a gap to allow for a bit of expansion as the dust caps are not supposed to be full to the brim.

Post by **bmcecosse** » Thu Mar 17, 2005 7:13 pm

Simple test for binding brakes - can you easily push the car along a flat surface - with just one hand ? But also - test for heat. If they have been that hot - then the linings will now be ruined - they will have different characteristics to one sthat have NOT been hot - the bearings may be ruined too.