What did you do TO your Gladiator today? [ADMIN WARNING: NO POLITICS, NO GUN TALK]

[Hootbro]

I founded the threads on both spindles, and both were the same before disassembly. And they were both at 100 ft lbs before disassembly. I’ve googled the symptom and found Honda and GM examples of the identical red dust on unit bearings, but no conclusions as to the cause.

Yeah, heard it talked about before. Some speculate brake dust, spindle/spline fitment and even leakage from the bearing supposedly getting dry. Usually somewhat powdery and not really a heavy pitting rust.

Did you change your wheel bearings for cause or preventative?

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[WILDHOBO]

Yeah, heard it talked about before. Some speculate brake dust, spindle/spline fitment and even leakage from the bearing supposedly getting dry. Usually somewhat powdery and not really a heavy pitting rust.

Did you change your wheel bearings for cause or preventative?

It’s exactly that. Powdery, but easyish to remove. It didn’t appear like rust at all. I replaced them for cause. Excessive play with wheels on. It’s not surprising at 71k miles, since I’ve had 37’s and decent offset since 12k miles.

 

[Hootbro]

It’s exactly that. Powdery, but easyish to remove. It didn’t appear like rust at all.

Makes me think whatever is generating it is a very high resonance almost ultrasonic type effect that does not allow it to settle and stays that powdery consistency. I am sure it is a very fine oxidized rust particles.

 

[WILDHOBO]

Makes me think whatever is generating it is a very high resonance almost ultrasonic type effect that does not allow it to settle and stays that powdery consistency. I am sure it is a very fine oxidized rust particles.

Interesting. That makes sense. Just thought I’d throw it out there. I like knowing things.

 

[Mojave20]

Replaced both front unit bearings yesterday. Does anyone know what red dust on the hub assembly/bearing means? It was only on the passenger side.

The bearings inside your unit bearing have dried out. That orange is dust from fine bearing material & rust escaping past the seal over the miles. Common on all unit bearings and a good sign they need replaced. Even if you don’t have play in the bearing its a sign to know they will need replaced soon. If you have a press push out the inner splined shaft and front hub face from the outer flange mount and you’ll be able to see whet I’m talking about.

Also can be from very slight wear from axle splines and hub splines due to them being dry fit with a loose tolerance that allows movement. Using an anti fretting grease on the splines when installing will stop that.

 

[WILDHOBO]

The bearings inside your unit bearing have dried out. That orange is dust from fine bearing material & rust escaping past the seal over the miles. Common on all unit bearings and a good sign they need replaced. Even if you don’t have play in the bearing its a sign to know they will need replaced soon. If you have a press push out the inner splined shaft and front hub face from the outer flange mount and you’ll be able to see whet I’m talking about.

Also can be from very slight wear from axle splines and hub splines due to them being dry fit with a loose tolerance that allows movement. Using an anti fretting grease on the splines when installing will stop that.

Awesome. Thanks for the confirmation. Much appreciated.

 

[Rusty PW]

Replaced both front unit bearings yesterday. Does anyone know what red dust on the hub assembly/bearing means? It was only on the passenger side.

The red dust of death. Bearing has gone dry. Normally you see this on u joints just before they fail from the lack of grease.

 

[amadeus303]

Measured some stock Rubicons at the local dealership to get an idea of how much actual lift I have on my hodge podge lift. Came up as about 3-1/2" front and 4-1/8" rear at full weight.

So, today I added an extra 1/2 spacer in the front for a solid 4" front and 4-1/8" rear. Added DBOR 2" fender flare extensions thanks to @amadeus303 . They look a bit silly at the moment but I have 1.5" BORA wheel spacers on the way, and 40s going on in the morning that are a 13.5 wide so that should equal out to the added extension width exactly with just a little sidewall poke. That's on +25 17x8.5 AEV Salta XRs, so in the end I should be sitting at about -13 offset which by my research and measurements should be about right. We'll see.

The way I see it, there are multiple members that I've seen fully flex out 34.5" KO2s to the bump stops on a stock Rubi without rubbing. With my lift setup I've got 3" of RockJock bump stop extension in the front and 2" in the rear plus Falcon progressive bump stops all round that should compress down to about 1". So (40-34.5)/2=2.75" more tire radius. Should keep them out of the flares. The question is how much lock to lock will I have? How much trimming will I need to do? We'll find out.

Also worth pointing out I've been building this Jeep part by part since I bought it in 2022 because there just wasn't enough known about how the diesel handled off road and limited parts availability. That and buying a kit just isn't as fun, I'm having so much more fun swapping piece by piece and seeing what I can get away with. But If this stance and height works out I'll be shopping for some shocks. I'm still running spaced out and over-taxed factory Fox's.

Got a bit off topic there. I've been telling myself I should make build threads for the last 20 years and I never have. Anyway, I also cut off the rollover bracket on the passenger side too. Didn't want to mess with cutting the welds and making it super clean, at least not at the moment, so quick and dirty it is.

Oh man...they look awesome! Looking forward to seeing the evolution as the other goodies go on.

 

[WILDHOBO]

The red dust of death. Bearing has gone dry. Normally you see this on u joints just before they fail from the lack of grease.

Thanks. Glad I replaced them then.

 

[BlueScapegoat]

Got the 40s mounted. They fit better than I expected. Even at +25 offset they clear the control arms, rock rails, bumper, skid plate at ride height and haven't rubbed driving around on the street. Still have the spacers coming and I'm sure trimming will be required to make it all work well off road but so far off to a good start.

::edit:: every once in a while it does rub a bit somewhere at full lock. Which is totally to be expected at this size and offset.

 

[Splenda]

Got the 40s mounted. They fit better than I expected. Even at +25 offset they clear the control arms, rock rails, bumper, skid plate at ride height and haven't rubbed driving around on the street. Still have the spacers coming and I'm sure trimming will be required to make it all work well off road but so far off to a good start.

Looks great! 40x12.5r20s? What gears?

 

[BlueScapegoat]

Looks great! 40x12.5r20s? What gears?

40x13.5r17. 3.73s still. Thinking 4.88s to get some efficiency back this spring but the diesel just pushes them like they're nothing.

 

[Splenda]

40x13.5r17. 3.73s still. Thinking 4.88s to get some efficiency back this spring but the diesel just pushes them like they're nothing.

I'm actually surprised that those 40s weigh less than the 37s I just bought. :-(

 

[BlueScapegoat]

I'm actually surprised that those 40s weigh less than the 37s I just bought. :-(

Whoah what'd you buy? The AEV wheels are pretty heavy too but I was surprised when I was able to chuck the spare up into the bed fairly easily. I really expected it to be a bit of a struggle

 

[Splenda]

Whoah what'd you buy? The AEV wheels are pretty heavy too but I was surprised when I was able to chuck the spare up into the bed fairly easily. I really expected it to be a bit of a struggle

37x13.5r17 Toyo Open Country M/T weigh 94 pounds each.

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