What could cause a hub to be very hot to the touch after driving? Backing plate is cool? Removed wheel and found out the hub was worn and tore up the new neoprene outer seal. So replaced with traditional outer felt and cap. Put wheel back on and drove it. Still some scoring from hub on housing cup. So I added 2 shims within the hub to give it some clearance as to not rub the outer seal. (was that the right thing to do?) It was still hot. This is on the passenger side of the car. Drivers side has no problem and everything is cool to touch. Seeking pointers.
No grease in the bearing?
How is your parking brake on that side? What does the inside of the drum look like? Do you hear a scraping when driving? Is there a distinctive wear pattern? Usually you will find something scraping. Since the seal was worn, it sounds like the seal either stuck out farther than the standard seal. Sometimes the edge of the brake shoes will wear on the drum especially aftermarket shoes. You might need to grind a little off the wear points of the shoes. The bolt and nut where the shackle perch is fastened can scrape on the drum or the inner bolts and nuts which hold the drum onto the hub can scrape on the seal. So you need to check all these things. Also check the wheel bearing on that side of the car. If you can move the axle up and down or front to back with the bearing in place, it is too worn. A new sleeve might help there or replacement of both the bearing and sleeve. Two shims is not as good as one thicker shim. You can use a tin can or other sheetmetal Steel not aluminum or brass to make a thicker shim. Cut to the same dimensions as the vendor's shim and bend to fit.
Norm
@ Royce - Plenty of Grease
@ Norm - Lots of good points I will check out. The brake shoes are newer and they were adjusted already but still yields a hot hub. I will look closer at the tabs on the shoes to see if they are touching, along with the bolt and nut. Wheel bearing is good.
I will also state that it is the drum that I am touching most often to see if it is hot.
Sounds like you may need to adjust the parking brake rods. I do mine so when the parking brake handle is in the straight up position the brakes are off and the clutch is in neutral, then when it's pulled about four clicks back from there both parking brakes are set. You want to jack up the rear and set on jack stands, both sides, so you can check the function of EACH brake. Don't just try and set both rods the same length, adjust the rods so both sides lock up at about the same point when the handle is pulled back.
Sounds like I problem I had. check to see if the bearings are within spec and if the races are good. if not with the weight of the T on the wheels will cause a rubbing on the axle housing. check for up and down play on the wheel.
Scott, It looks to me that the babbit ring on the driver side in the diff. housing is gone.
Toon