1996 Aerostar with front brake & bearing issues.

We got a 1996 Ford Aerostar Van in December of last year. We did put new breaks bearings calibers and so forth to make it safe with 3 kids but march 21st we had to do the breaks and bearings again along with a spindle on the passenger side when the breaks on the passenger side caught on fire the bearings welding them selves to the spindle. Today we had to replace the breaks and bearings yet again this time it was the driver side but luckily nothing welded to the spindle. My mother in law was the one that found this van for us for 750. and I need help to figure out why is this is happening and how to prevent it happening again in another 3 to 5 months. (I did call the previous owner as well today and he said that was why he was selling it in the first place the breaks and bearings keeps catching on fire or the breaks would crack really bad he was replacing every 3 to 5 months) and having a 5 year old who is autistic and a 18 month old and a 2 month old this does get very expensive after a while.

Welcome to this forum! The title of this thread was renamed to clarify the issue we're trying to fix. Do you have E-4WD or RWD? Which brand do you use for your brake parts & bearings?

are the bearings being correctly packed with the proper grease?

I suspect that the bearings might be too tight.

BrooklynBay said:

I suspect that the bearings might be too tight.

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I agree, not properly torqued and de-torqued.

96 aerostar

yes they have been we have taken the van to the ford dealership in december and march we took it to Fatback tire and auto shop. this time we did it our selves

Back to the original questions from post # 2:

BrooklynBay said:

Do you have E-4WD or RWD? Which brand do you use for your brake parts & bearings?

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it is rwd and we get duralast

Duralast should have a good replacement warranty. For pads I prefer the Wagner SX series semi-metallic pads or Performance Friction carbon metallic pads. Duralast should be good too. Somebody once asked me to install them in their car, and they never complained. I had a terrible experience with a Bendix rotor on my 1988 van years ago. One rotor separated, and ruined the caliper. I was fortunate not to get into an accident since I still had one rotor, and 2 rear drums working. I wonder if they are better now.

I'm about to do brake work on my '97. I've had the driver side caliper binding and overheating, this can be seen by the "charred" look of the caliper boot. I'll install new bearing when I do the job.

In looking at Autozone on the web, it looks like you can get some very inexpensive brake replacement parts but with cheapness comes unreliability in my experience.

Which parts supplier is best to go for? Again, I need calipers, flex hose, bearings, pads, and perhaps new rotors.

blakjag said:

I'm about to do brake work on my '97. I've had the driver side caliper binding and overheating, this can be seen by the "charred" look of the caliper boot. I'll install new bearing when I do the job.

In looking at Autozone on the web, it looks like you can get some very inexpensive brake replacement parts but with cheapness comes unreliability in my experience.

Which parts supplier is best to go for? Again, I need calipers, flex hose, bearings, pads, and perhaps new rotors.

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way to thread hijack! Haha j/k...being a former tech (not for Ford) I would advise the same as already stated above.
From personal experience, when not going with genuine factory parts, I'd use AutoZone or Advance, and some of you have O'reilly nearby...All these places generally will honor failed parts, especially within the year. You can usually call the main hotline and they will replace past the common 90-day, or 1-year warranty as a "goodwill" to keep you as their customer.

Otherwise, RockAuto has different levels of quality and price for your taste. I've had great experience with them, too.
Last, as per a "mom 'n' pop" auto store I've been using for over 20+ years: all or most of the area stores here are getting their rotors from the same supplier. I trust this place for ANY car, even high-end ones that I've serviced and never had an issue.

***side note: I believe that the Aerostar bearing issue could be, aside from the obvious over-preload of the bearing, a mfg issue with an oversized spindle OR an undersized bearing- THUS, creating an automatic overheat/weld failure after a time. This is something Ford should've corrected in a TSB/recall a long time ago IMO. I'm not for sure though. That would be the logical physics that are occurring here.