[athikerguy4life]

Alright, so I have a weird problem. My rear passenger side brake drum is making strange noises. Its kind of a knocking/tapping noise. It isn't there all the tiime, but on 3 or 4 occasions in the last few days I've noticed it. Here's the second part of the problem. A couple days ago I had the car jacked up, and when I tried to spin the wheel, it seemed like it was rubbing on something. I could here a rubbing noise as it spun and it actually made the wheel stop after a few rotations. I took the wheel off to see if it was just rubbing on something in the wheel well, but when I spun just the brake drum it continued to do it. I cleaned the brakes with some brake parts cleaner but that didn't help.. any ideas?

I'm probably gonna take it to my local midas in a few days if I don't resolve the problem myself. They do brake inspections for free and they've done good work for me in the past.

 

[RedAlertV]

Does your E-Brake work?

 

[08versailles]

i replaced a rear wheel bearing a few months ago , check for that too.
it would sound different from the brake shoe touching the drum though

 

[athikerguy4life]

the e-brake does work. And I was thinking it might be the wheel bearing, but its not there all the time. It only shows up once in awhile. When I had a bad wheel bearing on my Blazer, it constantly made noise. I let it go for about 4 months before fixing it. whoops! haha.

 

[JVersa]

the e-brake does work. And I was thinking it might be the wheel bearing, but its not there all the time. It only shows up once in awhile. When I had a bad wheel bearing on my Blazer, it constantly made noise. I let it go for about 4 months before fixing it. whoops! haha.

In this economy getting things fixed as soon as posible is easier said then done.

 

[athikerguy4life]

I had the chance to listen to it a little more on the way home just now, and it definitely sounds like a wheel bearing. Great. I can hear it all the time now, its just that after i hit 30 or 35 the road noise overwhelms it. In my Blazer it was waaaaaaay louder, but that was a much bigger car, so I can see why. I'm gonna go get an estimate in the next couple days, but im debating on if i want to do the repair myself.

Figures that as soon as I order the parts for my FPR, something else goes bad.. -_-

 

[athikerguy4life]

Does anybody know how hard it is to replace a hub assembly?

 

[athikerguy4life]

Looks like the hub assembly is gonna cost me $125. Not sure if I need any special tools, but I'm gonna order it later this week after I get an opinion from a professional. All the signs+symptoms point to this being the issue though.

 

[frenchy chan]

Have you checked rockauto.com?

 

[06_warrior]

Also check Car-Part.com--Used Auto Parts Market

 

[athikerguy4life]

I've used car-part before, but I'd rather not buy a used hub assembly, better off getting a brand new one IMO. I looked up the prices on both anyways though.

rock auto-$124+unknown shipping
semi-local dealership-$135 picked up
nissanpartszone-$125+20 shipping
car-part.com-$70+ unknown shiping

I think I'm just gonna go to a nearby dealership for the part. I'd rather get it new, and I want to get it done this weekend so I'll just call up the dealership and pick it up later this week.

 

[Gorp]

Does anybody know how hard it is to replace a hub assembly?

I had mine apart when I did my drop. Four bolts, brake cable/hose and it's free.
Pull the drum and you'll see what I mean.

 

[athikerguy4life]

so you don't have to disassemble the brake shoes and everything? That would be awesome!

 

[V_for_Versetta]

That's a shame for ya bro, best of luck to the repair process.

 

[athikerguy4life]

it happens. Yeah its dissapointing, but worse things could've happened. Now if I can just get my engine to die...

 

[athikerguy4life]

I'm sure glad I decided to take everything apart BEFORE ordering the new hub assembly.. The noise started turning from a "thump thump" into more of a grinding noise/humming. I wanted to tear it apart and check to be sure before I committed to the $135 part. Im glad I did.. Here's the culprit:

And no, its not my phone.. That little wire there was wrapped around one of the studs (in the threads) and was preventing the nut from torqueing down all the way, even if it felt like it was.. This left a gap between the wheel and the drum cover, which is why it was making a knocking/humming/grinding noise. Took it for a little test drive and voila! No more noise!

 

[hemifan87]

nice glad it was an easy fix I wonder though how it got there

 

[JoshG]

Glad you were able to fix the issue. Is that wire supposed to be somewhere in there or is it just dirt from driving?

 

[athikerguy4life]

I have NO IDEA how it got up there.. The last people to remove the wheel though were the tire shop people.. I'll be asking them.

 

[JoshG]

True, as long as it's not any broken parts you're good. Saving money FTW!