I installed new front rotors with the hub and bearings already pressed in and before installation I sanded everything so it’s super smooth and then cleaned it with brake cleaner and after installing the rotor, I looked for clearance and it’s not making contact with anything. But after I get to about 100 pounds of torque the rotor won’t spin anymore. And it’s hard for me to tell because there’s not an easy way to test it, but it almost looks like the front of the bearing is almost flush with the little lip The nut is supposed to make contact with, almost making me think the bearing is not pressed in far enough so when I torque it down, the nut is contacting the bearing. Anybody have any ideas?

 

Usually when you get replacement rotors, they might have the outer bearing races installed. Bearings are usually a matched set and if there was no problem with the old bearings, we drive out the old outer race and install it in the new rotor to maintain the matched set. New outer races in the new rotors should have new bearing cones to go with the new races.
Not being there to see exactly what you have,, it is difficult to offer what could be useful info.
Is it possible to send a photo of what you have ?

 

[img alt="RAYBESTOS 680178FZN This is the new rotors in the last two photos. The ones that are all rusty are the ones that came off the truck.
"]https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fordforum.com-vbulletin/2000x1504/img_8696_8e3ed91925bf1ac1dadd513ebf858e2edc21e03e. jpeg[/img]
RAYBESTOS 680178FZN This is the new rotors in the last two photos. The ones that are all rusty are the ones that came off the truck.

 

When you say spin, are you expecting it to rotate as easily as the old rotor ?

Don't forget that new seal needs to be lubricated where it rides on the spindle.. The surface where the seal rides should also be polished a little with some fine emery cloth and be as clean as possible.

 

I did sand the spindle with a really fine sandpaper, and then cleaned it before putting some lubricant on it, and I know it’s not gonna spin it really as the old one, but after 100 pounds of torque I can’t really spin the rotors without using Max effort to get them to budge a little bit. But it seems like if I’m getting that much resistance, it would put early excessive wear on it with that much drag. Or will the this drag be wore down/off quickly after I begin to drive. When I did torque it to 296. I wasn’t able to turn the rotor at all and I hadn’t even installed the calipers and pads yet.

 

Can we ask, where did you purchase those rotors ?

Another gent had the same problem and stated there was a manufacture problem and had to use a different brand.

 

I got them from RockAuto but they are RAYBESTOS rotors and I gave the model # in a previous post

 

There is a problem with these rotors.

See if you can get a different brand or you may not get the problem solved.

For all the time and trouble so far , you might have been better off with Ford rotors.

 

How can you say for sure there’s a problem with the rotors? Do you see something visually? Or is it just because they don’t spin when torque down?

 

I also was just told that the front rotors are different depending if you have disc brakes in the rear or drum brakes and they never ask that question when I was purchasing them, I didn’t think that would matter at all. Can anybody confirm if that is true or not?