2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission Front hub bearings

[CumminsPower98]

Its just cast iron so its real easy to drill and the hole comes out between the two bearings.

 

[Dieselnut59]

Its just cast iron so its real easy to drill and the hole comes out between the two bearings.

I would even like to drill and tap it and put about a 6" whip hose on it with a "remote" grease fitting. As I mentioned before, I already have the greasable universal joints on my 1996 truck. I will now plan on doing the ball joints and hub bearings, as well as the universals when I have to replace them on the '03. Thanks for the tips. I will check back to this thread when I get ready to do it.

 

[1tuffram]

I use Amsoil grease in all my front end parts and have had no liquefaction or other problems.





Which Amsoil grease do you use?

 

[CumminsPower98]

I have been using the Synthetic Heavy-Duty Grease and is red in color with a blue label (GHDCR). I'm looking at their site now and the red label one looks like the wheel bearing grease rather then what I have been using but its worked so I don't know. It looks like I chose the wrong one back when I did that.

 

[MarkMiller]

Is there any way to fabricate a greasable system to lubricate the ball joints also? My 1996 has 222,000 miles and no trouble but i hear the horror stories of the 3rd gens and ball joint failures. Any ideas for greasing the upper and lower ball joints?

Thanks, John

A ball joint press kit from OTC runs about 150 bucks with the adapters you'll need. A Snap On (the kit I bought) BJP kit runs around 350-400 depending on how well you know the rep(it also has all the bits to change any U-joint). If you are taking the time to do the tear down of the front end yourself buy the right tools to do the job. It will keep you sane and safe. If i get both outer C's in my hand I can change all 4 balljoints in less than 15 minutes. In my opinion Ball joints are really only dependable for 100K or so. After that, you are on borrowed time. And your safety as well as the safety of those around you depends on those little ball and sockets. And since I changed them, the new Napa units come with grease fittings. So when I do my wheel bearings, see below, I install the grease fittings and grease the balljoints with green grease.



If you only see street use, run stock tires and don't abuse your truck your BJ's may make it longer. How safe do you feel guessing when they might fall apart though?



I also solved the wheel bearing problem with a free spin kit from EMS Offroad. Now I can service my bearings annually with a parts washer and some fresh grease. Takes about 2 hours and costs probably 20 bucks for two new inner seals and the grease. I like peace of mind. It lets the other voices in my head be heard better. Oo.



BTW, a friend of mine was changing his factory wheel bearings about two years ago. Heavy equipment mechanic by trade. He had a 3 jaw puller and a torch on one. Wouldn't budge, left it under tension for about an hour and ate lunch, walked up and smacked it with a hammer. It exploded, a fragment bounced off the concrete and sliced his neck from collar bone to jaw. Just missed the artery and his dad was there to drive him to the hospital. A bunch of stitches and a fresh set of drawers was all he needed. But just keep it in mind when messing with those lifetime wheel bearings, who's lifetime are they talking about?

 

[jelag]

OK, I've got 4 trucks and have had these apart, cleaned re-greased and re-installed with no problems expect for how hard it was to get the darn thing off the truck.....

After reading one of the old threads - here is what we did... .

We used an arbor press to take it apart, washed it in the parts washer and repacked it with the same synthetic grease we use on our clutch bearings... This grease has a melting point of 500*F where the average bearing grease is closer to 300-325*F.

Once you have rotor off and the ABS sensor off you can install a needle grease tube into the bearing and grease it with say 8-10 pumps from the grease gun... .

We actually greased one by hand and than took it apart to see if this works... and yes the grease gets to both bearings... .

Upon installation on the truck we coated all the parts with anti-seize and re-installed. .

We have high mileage trucks and wanted a method of greasing these bearings every year or so... . we used a full synthetic grease as these are close to the brakes and heavy breaking will allow some of the heat generated to migrate to the bearings...

We looked at trying to install grease fittings... and found no portion suitable for this... its either where the bearings are, covered by the other parts of the truck upon installation, or hard to get to... etc... we just decided that we'd pull the caliper, and rotor and the ABS sensor off and grease it...

On one of the trucks, I guess we have 100k miles on a new hub on one side and a re-packed hub on the other side...

I'm happy with the results but have found a vendor for these parts. . and will have them on the shelf in 45-60 days...

Since I wrote this I went back and looked at the photos by CumminsPower98... . and think he's on to something... I didn't think about this location and the next time I have one apart I'll look at it... thanks for the idea. .