Front Wheel Bearings??

[ACerf]

Need some help with this problem. In looking at maintenance items in my 03' owners manual, it mentions about doing an inspection of the the front wheel bearings. However it doesn't say what this inspection consists of? I took the wheel cover off and did not notice any hub cover for inspecting the wheel bearings. Is this inspection just for checking exessive play in the bearings? (jacking wheel up and grabbing wheel at top and bottom) Are the bearings needing to be repacked or are they sealed? The book calls out doing this at 30K and/or 60K.

Thanks for the help! :--)

 

[EHygema]

My 04 started making a grinding noise at 85,000 miles. I finally found the noise at 99,000 miles by jacking up and checking the right front wheel which moved top and bottom. I was real lucky not to loose that wheel going down the road. I had both hubs replaced for $854 including labor. I cut the failed hub in half hoping to find a way to do normal maintaince, but no such luck. The hubs are pressed together in such a manner as to make them unserviceable. Good luck and hold on tight...

 

[rbattelle]

I can't imagine what sort of inspection you could do other than looking at them and verifying they are installed on the vehicle and the wheel rotates when you turn it. I suppose if they were bad they might make some noise when you rotate the wheel (but they'd have to be REALLY bad for that). Grabbing the wheel and moving it front/back is the procedure for checking ball joints rather than wheel bearings (although bad wheel bearings can move too as EHygema points out). Check out the procedure for determining if you've got a bad bearing on page 3-46:



"Axle shaft bearings produce noise and vibration when worn or damaged. The noise generally changes when the bearings are loaded. Road test the vehicle. Turn the vehicle sharply [imagine a mechanic doing this to your vehicle ] to the left and to the right. This will load the bearings and change the noise level. Where axle bearing damage is slight, the noise is usually not noticeable at speeds above 30 mph"



-Ryan

 

[rbattelle]

On second thought, that procedure is for axle bearings, which are different from the wheel bearings... but I think the same principles apply...

 

[Kirwin]

Wheel bearings

Hygema, are you talking about front or rear? There are wheel bearings in both as I understand it. With full floating axles, the load is supported by the wheel bearings in the hubs on both front and rear for us 4X4 owners right? Or do I not understand it correctly. I've never had to replace one yet on the newer trucks but on the older hub assembly you could drive out the old race and replace it with a new one. I'm not sure what preventive maintenance inspections you could do other that visually seeing grease coming out of the seal or indications of over heating or play in the wheel assembly. Ken Irwin

 

[ACerf]

Front Wheel Bearings

I have to say that there doesn't appear to be anything that can be checked. I have a feeling that this is one of those things that DC has put in the owners manual so that you take it to the dealer for service. Which they do nothing and charge you for it!

 

[BillH]

On my '02 the left front bearing just went out, bought the hub and bearing assembly today from dealer, $270. 00 + tax. The bearing is not greaseable, surprise, surprise.



BillH

 

[rbattelle]

On my '02 the left front bearing just went out, bought the hub and bearing assembly today from dealer, $270. 00 + tax. The bearing is not greaseable, surprise, surprise.



BillH

Can you find a place to drill and install a small grease fitting?

 

[EHygema]

Sorry to say there is no way to lub or replace the front wheel bearings on my 04 2wd. The noise was difficult to find by just driving the truck. I really sounded like a problem in the third member. Just a small amount of grindings on the magnet and the grease looked good so I finally go around to jacking up both front wheels and shaking them. That's when I found the right front wheel would deflect about 1/2". Like I said I'm real lucky not to have lost that wheel. At least now I'll know what to look for next time...

 

[BillH]

Can you find a place to drill and install a small grease fitting?

No, I do not think that is possible.

 

[JHardwick]

Can you find a place to drill and install a small grease fitting?

Tapered wheel bearings need packed, either by hand or with one of them little plastic cup do-dads. No way to just squirt grease in there.



Both of my front hubs have already been replaced. I meant to request the old ones back so I could look into machining it and making it serviceable ... ... ... . I forgot

 

[Kirwin]

Front wheel bearings

I just talked to my trusty Dodge service manager and according to him both the 2WDs and he is not sure but he thinks the 4X4s too have unit bearings in their front ends. This is a huge issue with those of us that in the past serviced our wheel bearings on a regular interval. No more repacking the bearings or adjusting out end-play. Now if the bearing fails for what ever reason we will be replacing the entire hub assembly! I will look into this further and see what year this started and the cost of those 4X4 hubs. Now every 100K or so we will be buying complete hubs to get a $15 bearing! Just like the Durango and Dakota smaller lighter cheaper. Doesn't matter that the wheels fall off a 31K miles. Although I'm sure some bean counter figured out that the upper ball joints on those trucks should last beyond the 3yr/36 warranty. OK I'm down off my soap box. All IMHO. Ken Irwin



PS JHardwick what was your mileage and cost to replace your front hubs?

 

[JHardwick]

Now every 100K or so we will be buying complete hubs to get a $15 bearing!



PS JHardwick what was your mileage and cost to replace your front hubs?

100,000 :-laf



mine were bad at 50,000, replaced under 7/70



that being said, I took it in for the second time in 50,000 miles for the rear drive shaft to have u-joints replaced (1st at 25,000).



I was called with a huge estimate including the rear joints, and axle joint, plus 2 front hubs ... ... ... . I said cool, but that's under 7/70 right? he then said he'd ahave to call me back.



well, he called back and said yup! its covered!



after the work was complete, I picked my truck up after hours, but crawled under it with a mag-lite to make sure that the items i was going to pay for , were still replaced even though they paid for them.



well, they were but now a few thousand miles later, my drivers side axle is making noise. the axle joint was replaced, but i'm figgering it must have knocked out and axle bearing too. back to the dealer



i've got about 10,000 to go on the 7/70, I sure hope some aftermarket parts become available soon!

 

[martion007]

03 front bearing is greaseable

I checked my front wheel bearings at 100,000, I didn't like the way one front wheel turned, you could feel it wasn't a smooth revolution all the way around, but there was no play, So I proceeded to completly take my front wheel apart, remove brake, everything, I didn't have a service manual yet so I wanted to see the front bearing. This took me a couple hours. Once You take the hub out and remove the speed senser probe you can see one of the bearings and I could not see any grease. So I went and got the largest hypodermic needle I could buy removed the needle and injected soft, warmed high grade grease into the bearing untill it was full. I also did the other front wheel. When assembling the wheel back together I put a coating of grease on all mating surfaces so that the next time it would come apart easly. Now I have 251,000 miles and the original front wheel bearings. every 100,000 I take the front wheels apart and repack them with grease. My goal is Million miles or bust and I plan to do it on one set of bearings. (one set of greased bearings)

 

[ACerf]

Called and spoke to parts depart at local Dodge dealer. As you guys have confirmed, they are Sealed Bearings! So what the H. . l are they saying in the Manual to inspect????