Smoking Wheel

I'll try to be concise!
98 Cherokee Upcountry 4L, part-time 4x4. 116k miles
Took Jeep in for NH annual inspection after having done some welding with the battery disconnected. Passed all, except computer hadn't "relearned"

Drove ~ 15 miles and when braking for a left turn 1 mile from home, the Jeep pulled sharply to the right and continued to do that as I checked the brakes the last mile home.

When I reached home the front Left wheel was smoking so bad I though it would catch fire. Couldn't really see where the smoke originated but I think it was grease from steering linkage and ball joint.

After cool down, checked wheel rotation and it was normal.

Checked caliper for movement and it was OK.

Resumed driving Jeep and was trouble free for some 300 miles, then on a 5 mile drive it got hot again, but not as hot as before. This time braking was normal but steering felt a little uneven....similar to my 70 Bronco when a front axle U-J started binding.

Today I jacked front end up, both sides. Checked U-J for freeplay and none seen.
Checked steering (engine running) with wheel rotated at 90* increments. Seemed OK.
Any Ideas anyone?

Is there a bearing inside the axle tube that could be cooking? For some reason the JEEP Ser. Man doesn't cover frt & rear diffs.

Would a collapsing brake line act intermittent this way?

What do I check for next?

Thanks for any and all thoughts.
bar

Sounds more like calipers binding. I would take them both apart and clean up the contact surfaces with a file or sandpaper. Then I like to put just a little wheel bearing grease on the sliding contact surfaces (not the pads or rotor, LOL) to reduce corrosion. If your pads are starting to get low, I would go ahead and change them to get the piston back into the caliper more.

A collapsing, or more likely internally flaking, caliper hose can cause this. A little of the liner can come loose, and act like a flapper valve. If you can determine that the calipers themselves are not binding, I would consider the hoses a prime suspect.

But you should also check for serious pitting on the sliding surfaces of the knuckle where the brake pads engage. Some pitting is no big deal, but eventually it can get bad enough to hang up a pad. Some people weld them up with success. Some pad kits come with little clips that are supposed to help, but I've never tried putting them in.

If you have a binding u-joint you're likely to feel it pulsing when you turn, and it would not likely cause the wheel to heat up.