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| 95 suzuki sidekick ljx; Hub is leaking... | |
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| Topic Started: Jan 13 2012, 05:55 PM (523 Views) | |
| Cobb | Jan 13 2012, 05:55 PM Post #1 |
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I sold my metro and bought this suv although the title says sedan. Nothing like a 4wd sedan with a 5 speed.  Anyway its been under serviced and I have been busy with everything. Ive done the usual tune up thing, checking everything, changed all fluids and am cutting springs to lower her. I also removed the roof rack, spare tire, tire carrier, blocking both grills, removed fog lamps and so on. I am in contact with 3tech for any mods for performance, ecohomy or both.Well, while I had a front wheel off I notice inside the plastic cap that it had what looked like gear oil. I looked at the hub and see it had leaked out where the cap meets the hub. Can anyone offer me any advice, suggestion, ease my nervess if this is something I should worry about, is it easy to fix, etc. I see its held on with 16 or so hex bolts and many of those are rusted and appears they ahve never been removed. Looking online I saw where one guy say he had to make a gasket for where the two pieces meet and its just full of wheel bearing grease. Another guy said its lube less and uses sealed bearings. He switched from auto to manual locking hubs for 100 bucks. Says got more MPG. I checked with advance auto and they say it takes 2 seals and the seals look like they are for a shaft for the tradational cone wheel bearings. I cant post a photo here, but I put one on the Geo facebook page. Yeah, PC is down so looking at the work through the 3 inch screen of my ipod touch. At least its synch to my MS keyboard.
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| t3ragtop | Jan 13 2012, 06:05 PM Post #2 |
Turbo3 Tweak
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break out your tube of sealant, disassemble the hubs, clean and seal everything up and put new oil in the hubs. the wheel bearings run in oil, not grease, like a semi tractor's hubs. that's the way to go. the bearings will outlast the body of the vehicle. |
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| Johnny Mullet | Jan 13 2012, 09:12 PM Post #3 |
Hi-Tech Redneck
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| Cobb | Jan 13 2012, 09:58 PM Post #4 |
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Thanks, now why couldnt Johnny of told me that on the face book forum? I got my car up on stands for 3 days because of this issue and almost had aaa tow it to a dealer to service them or have them replace with manual lockin hubs. Yeah, it looks like gear oil is leaking out of one. I dont see a fill hole unless one of the bolt holes is used. I dont mean to sound stupid, I just dont know and the chilton book is worthless as it just shows the very basics like locking the door, rolling down the window and emptying the ash tray. So, going out tomorrow to get some liquid gasket material, rtv. Then a socket for the hex bolt size and some mo gear lube. Man, I must of spent 100 bucks in gear lube between the 2 axles, transfer case and tranny. Of course I put synchromesh in there. It looked like mud and the magnet was full of crap. The transfer case was a dark brown with chips in it. FOund out the previous owner drove it in 4wd for 6 months.  After the tune up it runs smooth, quiet and removal of the spare tire, carrier, roof rack, fog lamps, bug deflector it looks better. |
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| Scoobs | Jan 13 2012, 10:25 PM Post #5 |
Decal Vendor
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Very nice, didnt i suggest pulling the caps off to you and seeing for a gasket or rtv on facebook? 
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| Cobb | Jan 14 2012, 09:14 AM Post #6 |
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You didnt say it had to be filled with oil. Thats very important for your own equipment, for someones likely not. Yeah, just use rtv on the oil pan and bolt it back together, Naw, dont bother filling it with oil, you already used assembly lube, right?
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| Scoobs | Jan 14 2012, 11:45 AM Post #7 |
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Decal Vendor
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lol true, but i didi suggest looking at it the same way :p just didnt know if it was grease or oil, as i dont know, so i wouldnt reccomend doing anything that i did not know :p
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| vr4 | Jan 14 2012, 02:52 PM Post #8 |
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ummmm..... front hubs on a sidekick use GREASE. i own one. the hubs are sealed with an o-ring IIRC. id have to pull mine apart to verify. if you can find some get a set of manual locking front hubs. you will pick up a couple MPGs. i might have a set in my garage id sell. if you want to lower it, please, for the love of god, get a 2WD. |
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| Cobb | Jan 14 2012, 07:48 PM Post #9 |
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Its been lowered 1 1/2 coils all around. Still you wouldnt know it if you hadnt seen it before. The only use of 4wd will be for snow and ice, NO OFFROADING. I like it, wished it had 75 more HP to drift with. Why the concern? Seems the front axle doesnt rotate unless its shifted to 4wd. How much for the hubs to 23832? I understand to get into or out of 4wd I have to stop, back up 6 ft either way. I rather just stop, walk around and flick the switch at both wheels and get back in and drive it. THis vehicle will double as my show and pleasure car. Got some 2.5vlt window tint and putting the subs and speakers from the Honda. THe Honda has been gutter and is just my commuter car. Ive even removed the back seat. |
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| Cobb | Jun 25 2012, 08:32 PM Post #10 |
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I finally got around to doing this. I got an allen socket and broke all the bolts loose. The hub slide off an axle shaft and had a small o ring. The o ring I could not find at any hardware store. NAPA said its 10 bucks a piece.  The hub was rather dry looking and had a lump in the bottom. I soaked and washed both out. The fluid was black with stuff floating in it. I got a tub of red high temp grease from walmart and started packing. I crammed the center part full, then went to install it so the axle shaft forced the grease into the other areas of the hub. Once it got to making a bigger mess with grease shooting everywhere I used some black sealant to make a new o ring and bolted it up. I almost feel I should of made a hole in the end near the logo to install a grease fitting to fll em up.  I think I may drive it a thousand miles and redo. The whole wheel assembly looked dry and the drivers side hubkept locking as I fooled with it by hand. The passenger side didnt. Wonder which one may need replacing? 
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| Cobb | Nov 14 2012, 01:10 PM Post #11 |
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Well, I can slip in and out of 4wd as I want. Its kind of a neat system, but I guess if you go down a steep drive in 4wd I can see that the hubs may slip a foot as they relock and vice versa going back up a steep hill. Previously I had to back up 12 feet to get it out of 4wd, now its instant and I can go in and out while driving like I did my tacoma. With the no name grey shocks and red sport lowing springs this has really turned out to be a nicer riding vehicle. Got some yokohoma turing tires to install, a single din dvd head unit, new speakers and got to repair the wiring to the right speakers in this car. Interesting that suzuki didnt have the insight to insulate the wires in the dash with a loom or secure them to anything vs just leaving them laying around across braces and such. 
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