1999 Suburban. The kids treated me with 2 new brake rotors for Father's Day. About 5 years ago, one of the kids, on his way bac to college, went from 80mph to 0 in 40 feet of distance and still ran into the back end of a car. No injuries. Since that time, every time you step decently hard on the brakes, there is a bad shimmy from the front end. No doubt, he warped the rotors. So, the other kid decides "Hey dad, let's get these new rotors installed. It will only take 30 minutes!" Right! So, we take everything apart, re-pack the bearings, put on new rotors, re-install the brake callipers, but we didn't replace the brake pads, which we probably will now. Before starting the job, the wheel and rotors spin freely when front end is off of the ground except when the rotor and pad rubs together in the warped area. So, when we put it all back together, the wheel/rotor is really stiff and doesn't spin more than 1/4 of a revolution. Even without the callipers installed, the rotor doesn't spin freely as it should. So, what might be the solution? We are thining that maybe the hub retaining nut may have been torqued down too tight. How tight do we need to tighten it down? We did bleed the break lines as well.

When I took it for a test drive, pedal would be soft to no brake at all. Then it sounded as if the pads had worn down to the brads and were digging into the rotors. Limped home slowly while listening to the grinding underneath (about four blocks). Too everything down to the removing of the callipers again, and still not free spin on the rotors. Could the pads be warped? What is prohibiting the free spin of the rotors? Thanks for your help and advice.

Apologize for the length, but I figure the more info you have, the better.

 

you say you repacked bearings?? to what?? the hub assembly wheel bearings? the rotor/wheels spin on those bearings. that's more than likely where something went wrong. i would say to get some new wheel hubs and replace the ones you have. should spin freely.

 

I am pretty sure the 99's still had bearing and spindle no hub...but as trainwreck91 suggest I would revisit the bearings, if the spindle nut is too tight it will limit rotation...