Rear wheel doesn't spin freely

[Eureka]

Summary: Rotor/hub/caliper assembly spins fine, but when you put on the wheel and lug it down, it won't spin at all.

Replaced rear brakes for a 2004 camry. Just decided to change out pads/rotors. Rotors were stuck on, had to use the little bolt holes to thread in bolts and push out the rotor. Time to change pads, pads came off fine but when I put on new pads and tried to put it on the rotor, the gap was too small. Seemed like a stuck caliper. Tried to remove the slide bolts, top slide bolt was fine, bottom slide bolt had a lot of resistance and would not come off the slide. Regreased it, re-assembled it and it had a lot of gap to slide over the rotor.

Reassembled everything, tried to spin the rotor by hand and it was fine. Put on wheel, lugged it down and it wouldn't spin at all. Drove it, seemed fine with no pulling but the one rotor was definitely running hotter (163 vs 113) than the other side after a 5 minute drive.

What would cause it to spin freely without the wheel, but not spin when the wheel is lugged down?

 

[Pulsar]

I'm no expert on Camrys, but on cars I've worked on the lugs and rim also hold the rotor on. So it's possible that when you tighten the lugs you may be pushing the rotor against the inside pad.

 

[Raizinman]

From your terminology of auto mechanics, I'm guessing that you are a novice. My guess is that there is a problem with the rotor. Either it is out of spec or you are over tightening (lugging it down) the rotor.

Did you mic the rotor? I believe minimum thickness is 26 mm, but it will be printed on the rotor. (normally on the inside)

Did you torque the lug nuts? I believe the correct torque is 80 foot pounds.

Is it possible that you mixed up the parts from the left side to the right side? I'm speaking specifically of the caliper bracket?

If you don't follow the correct procedures, you will get problems. I would suggest that you disassemble everything again, re-examine all the parts to make sure nothing was jammed or cocked when installed.

 

[tweakmonkey]

Did you press the caliper piston in to make room for the new (bigger) pads? You mentioned the gap was too small. On some cars you have to rotate the piston to compress it, not use a c-clamp etc due to the hand brake.

 

[pcgeek11]

You may have a seized piston in the caliper. It sounds that way to me anyway...

 

[sontakke]

Take the wheel off and then put few of the bolts back on the studs. You might need a thick washer or a wrench between the rotor face and base of the nut. If the rotor no longer turns easy, now you know one of the brake pad is grabbing it. At this stage you could pop out the pads and repeat the exercise. Once you have confirmed that indeed the pad is grabbing it, then you know it is either sticky caliper, stuck pin or the caliper piston needs to be rotated back to make the room for new pads and rotor.

 

[thomsbrain]

Did your rear pistons look like massive philips-head screw tops, with a thick cross molded into each? If so, the needs to be screwed back into the caliper prior to switching brake pads. First release the parking brake. Then you'll need either a adapter for your socket wrench to turn the piston (universal brake piston adapters are only a few bucks and have lots of little knobs to fit into the piston grooves), or if you're lucky a naked 3/8" socket wrench may fit in there well enough to turn it. It will be really hard to turn for the first bit or so, then get easier. You keep turning it until it fits easily over the new pads. Then make sure the final piston rotation position is straight so that it will fit properly over the guide knob on the pad's backing plate (the pad's knob holds the piston in position). Make sure to press the brake pedal a few times before driving to re-seat the pistons firmly over the pads (brake pedal will go low until you take up the slack).

 

[boomerang]

Did your rear pistons look like massive philips-head screw tops, with a thick cross molded into each? If so, the needs to be screwed back into the caliper prior to switching brake pads. First release the parking brake. Then you'll need either a adapter for your socket wrench to turn the piston (universal brake piston adapters are only a few bucks and have lots of little knobs to fit into the piston grooves), or if you're lucky a naked 3/8" socket wrench may fit in there well enough to turn it. It will be really hard to turn for the first bit or so, then get easier. You keep turning it until it fits easily over the new pads. Then make sure the final piston rotation position is straight so that it will fit properly over the guide knob on the pad's backing plate (the pad's knob holds the piston in position). Make sure to press the brake pedal a few times before driving to re-seat the pistons firmly over the pads (brake pedal will go low until you take up the slack).

Based on what I see at Rock Auto, his car has parking brake shoes that work internally in the rotor. Just like drum brakes.

I understand what you're saying but it doesn't appear to apply to his car. Although I had looked when he first posted the thread and IIRC there are three engine choices but I didn't explore them all. But having said that, I doubt there would be more than one parking brake setup.

 

[thomsbrain]

Based on what I see at Rock Auto, his car has parking brake shoes that work internally in the rotor. Just like drum brakes.

I understand what you're saying but it doesn't appear to apply to his car. Although I had looked when he first posted the thread and IIRC there are three engine choices but I didn't explore them all. But having said that, I doubt there would be more than one parking brake setup.

Got it!