Hey Folks,  Its been a while since I've been here, but now I need a little help.  After I drove 15 miles to work, I noticed a burning smell, but dismissed it to be from somewhere else.  Driving home, I noticed a slight hum and also some unusual vibration.  I thought I may have a seriously low tire.  Not so.  By the time I got home, the burn smell was very strong.  I felt the rear wheels.  Whoa!  Both rear wheels were super hot - I couldn't keep a hand on them more than a second.  I pulled a wheel and didn't notice anything unusual - I think.    What's going on here?  Thanks in advance.

Eric

Drum or disk?  Ebrake dragging?

Edited March 15, 20169 yr by CSM

oops, sorry.  2002 Dodge Ram 2500 2wd 6 speed.

Disks.  Wheel seem to turn ok when I had it on lift.  It was in gear, but there was a little bit of play.

enough oil in the dif?

Just now, Killer223 said:

enough oil in the dif?

Had it serviced 5K ago.  No evidence of leaks. 

then you have a brake that is dragging. be it the disk or the inner drum. one is dragging.

Just now, Killer223 said:

then you have a brake that is dragging. be it the disk or the inner drum. one is dragging.

Would that make both rear wheels hot?

ok, Dif lube also lube the bearings at the and of the axle tubes. no lube to cool things and that ill make things get hot.

the inner Drum E-brake is set and dragging then that will transfer heat to the wheels. assuming that were adjusted correctly, yes both wheels will be hot.

if the rotors are dragging and heating up that will also transfer heat to the wheels.

So. you can get a temp gun. drive around a bit and check the center pumpkin temp, then the outer brake rotors temp. that'll narrow it down real fast.

 Dif, bearings or brakes is about it. 

Ok, thanks guys.  At least I can talk semi-intelligently at the garage tomorrow.  Sounds like this one is too big for me.

not at all.

brakes are easy to check, as is the rear dif fluid.

Edited March 16, 20169 yr by Killer223

I would want to check the diff fluid since you said some one just serviced it. I would want to know if it is low before I took it back to who ever serviced it. Do you know what kind of lube they put in the dif? And if a LS rear did they put the extra lube for the clutches. Not sure the latter would cause the overheating though,

Rear dif fluid is fine.  Fluid flowed out before I completely removed plug.  Take the truck out of gear, release EB, and I can push the truck by hand -  Brakes are free.

Maybe proportion valve If It has one since both wheels get hot, happened on mine before but it was calipers, rebuild both for 20 some bucks no more problems. Weird thing was it would drag but by the time I park and try to roll the truck they would let go but for 20 bucks and some brake fluid in did it anyway.

On 3/16/2016 at 6:15 PM, ESmith said:

Had it serviced 5K ago.  No evidence of leaks. 

Don't assume. I've seen people blow up axles for that same comment. "It was just serviced xx k miles ago". So are you sure it's filled up completely? Did something start to fail anyways? (Any metal glitter in the oil)

On 3/16/2016 at 6:20 PM, ESmith said:

Would that make both rear wheels hot?

What's the brake fluid look like? Is the calipers binding up? The only way to check that you have to pull the calipers off the truck and disassemble them and check the piston clearance without seals in place. The pistons should drop to the bottom of the bores without being pushed.