88 cherokee brake prob.

Heylo. I just got an 88 cherokee and found this website to be really helpful in finding out more about it.

I was changing the rotors and brake pads the other day and noticed that the rotor splash guard is missing from the driver side. When i put the new rotor/pads on and tightened the wheel down it wouldn't budge. Question is, would the missing splash guard throw off the hub and cause the new rotor to press up againts the pad. The old pads and rotors were extremely warn and was thinking that might be the only thing that let the wheel move freely without the splash guard. I tried both rotors/pads on the passenger side to make sure they werent defective and everything worked fine. Anyone have any ideas? thanks

One more thing....it looks to me like someone had pryed with a screwdirver at the joint between the hub/axle where the splashguard is supposed to be....maybe they took it apart and forgot to put it back on?

sounds like you have another prob. the dust shield wont affect it like that.

Can you spin the wheel without the caliper in place? Sounds like somebody was trying to remove the wheel bearing assembly and destroyed the backing plate in the process. you should replace it BTW. Everything should fit together easily, if its stuck something had to be jammed in place like the pads or the rotor rubbing on something or even possibly the wrong rotors.

The wheel spins like normal without the caliper/pads in place. So it's defintity the rubbing against the pads that causes it to jam up. Also it only happens with the rotor is completely tightened down. It spins freely with everytyhing toegether as long as there is no pressure on the rotor

bent wheel bearing hub throwing off rotor/pad alignment? if somebody did have the hub out it might have got bent.

The hub being bent def sounds like a possibility. Going to look into that in the morning. Thanks.

double check that the caliper piston moves in freely as well, if i seized in the caliper it would cause excessive wear on the in board pad and if not fully retracted it would keep the rotor from moving easily. With a piece of wood roughly the width of the royor, try gtently depressing the brake pedal. The piston should move out of the caliper. If it does, put the old pad on it (so you don't booger up the new one) and try running it back in with a "C" clamp. If you feel any binding at all, you've got a bad caliper.

--Shorty

So if the caliper was off and just the rotor was set on the spindle and you stuck a couple lugs on it and snugged down the rotor it wont spin?
If so and you still have one of the rotors Id check the depth of the area that contacts the spindle from the rotor face with the old ones. I think theres 2 different depths used.