97 Ranger 4wd Rotors?

[zrange97]

Hey Guys & Gals,

My 97 ranger 4wd w/ manual locking hubs...front rotors are beyond WARPED!

I am under the impression that to replace the rotors you have to take the whole hub apart because of the Manual locking hubs?

If thats the case how hard is it to do?

 

[twigboy3]

i have ato hubs and i have to take it apart a little but its a good thing becaue you get to check your bearings and re pack them while your iin there
first there should be a nut a washer remove those then the front bearing now remove your rotor then your rear bearing is behind the seal in the back of the rotor

 

[racsan]

thats the bad thing about the older 4wd front rotors, but the good news is that you have serviceable bearings. on the 98+ if you have a bad bearing, its a $200+ hub assy vs $30 for a set of bearings in the pre-98 series. and its about $10 for the grease seal. sure the older rotor/hub assy is more costly than the '98 & up "rotor-only" but i just changed mine out last spring and they were the originals, mine were warped bad too, but they had been there since new in '93 and im sure i wont be changing out my replacement ones any time soon. as far as "hard?" no , not really, but it will take a little time, might as well take the spindles off the knuckles and pull out your front axle shafts and check on the condition of your front u-joints. now is the time to make sure those are in good working condition before the snow flies and its in the 20's out instead of the 60's. when i did mine in the spring i spent most of a saterday on it, including pulling the front axleshafts and checking the u-joints. for lubrication of your front hubs, id just pour in a little 80w-90 gear oil into the hubs as they sit on the ground and pour out the excess right before you re-install them. you dont want the lockout hubs packed with grease! i was surprised to find a bad inner bearing when i did mine.

 

[zrange97]

how do i know the bearings are packed well?

how hard is it to replace the lower ball joints?

 

[racsan]

well, its all about having the right tools, i did all 4 ball joints in about 4 hours, without a torch it would have been much longer. and i had prevoisly had the spindles out of the knuckles, so they didnt come out as bad as they did the first time, the first time i had the spindles out, it was alot of hammering with a dead-blow hammer to get them free of the knuckles. when you hand pack wheel bearings, you know your there when you get grease out the other side. there is a neat tool that you put the bearing in and hook up a grease gun to do it with, i dont have one, so it takes about 5 min per bearing to pack. you might as well do the upper ball joints as well while youre there. a press helps get things back together. be sure to get replacement joints with grease fittings. then with proper maintenence, you should never have to change them again. you will probly need a alignment afterwards, mine need one before i even replaced my ball joints, so i didnt wait long before getting one after i repaced the ball joints. was about $100 locally, money well spent considering how it affects handleing and tire wear.