Front Wheel Bearings

[LEPage]

All you guys with front bearing problems, are you replacing the bearings & race or the whole hub? I know D/C will say the bearings are not servicable, but then they told me that about my '97 that I replaced the bearings & races in. Bottom line, all bearings & races CAN be replaced, they are just run of the mill parts once you have the numbers on them. If you have serviced these parts, does anyone have the part numbers, I'd like to have the new bearings & races before I start the teardown? Also, is this the same hub that was used on the 2nd gen trucks, or is this a AA part? I'm guessing it's some crap that D/C put on the axle. I don't want to pay $720 for two hubs when all I need is $100 - $150 worth of parts, and a case of Molson Ice! Thanks for the help.

 

[Hercules130]

i agree with you that they should be able to be serviced. But does anyone know if the race is a part of the Hub, or is it pressed in?

 

[JFaughn]

On the 2nd gen. the hole thing [hub] is replaced as a unit , I'm planning ahead my self and looking for an old unit to see what it wood take to mod. it , one of the problums is that the splings for the axial are in the hub , my current issue is seeing if I can mod. to make the rotors removeable for turning.

 

[LEPage]

I believe regardless of what D/C says, the rotors will come off. As I said, they told me my second gen was one piece, but I had the bearings out and repacked them.

 

[steved]

Yes, the bearings can be repacked, but the race is a machined surface of the hub and not a replaceable part. Once the bearing dies, it usually takes the race with it. Greasing these unit bearings will give better life... I repacked mine and my dad's unit bearings (on 99 rams)... I had one go at 169k... the other was still going at 201k... both of his are still going at 225k.



And what I have found in the past few I have replaced is that neither the bearing or race fails... the inner bearing race wears through the hardened portion of the spindle which then causes slop in the unit bearing... when the bearings and races are actually still fine.



The rotor is held on by the studs in some years (99 models come to mind)... simply press the rotors off. The later ones are held on by the wheels.



steved

 

[rbattelle]

I'd be very interested in seeing some pics and part numbers if anyone manages to rebuild a front hub.



-Ryan

 

[steved]

I have the bearing numbers at home, but there again, it is sorta useless if you cannot replace the bearing race. We had the same idea, but you would need to remachine the race, and THEN you would need to have the entire piece heat treated... not many shops have that ability (to do it right).



steved

 

[LEPage]

I found a place in KC that is real good on factory parts. They are sending me two front hub-bearing assemblies for $248. 50 a piece. The best my local dealer would do was $365! And, the shipping to PA is only $22. Check them out at: www.allchryslerparts.com. I found some other places with decent prices, but none compared to this.

 

[rbattelle]

Anyone sourced the front bearings from anywhere but DC yet? I emailed quad4x4.com to see when theirs might be available.



I see new front bearings in my near future and $250 each is highway robbery.



-Ryan

 

[Cattletrkr]

The front driver's side is completely toasted on mine. Gotta haul it home tomorrow. Anybody got any more info on the R+R of this piece?

I have rollers laying by the ball joints. Not a cool way to spend a Monday night.

 

[CarlsonR]

the cheapest I've seen was at EB Atmus at 235. 00 a bearing. I went ahead and spent the 1900 on the dynatrac kit to eliminate the entire problem,after you factor in what it will cost if your bearings fail out on the road away from your tool shed and you have to pay shop labor its really worth the little extra to know you have dependable parts in your axle.

 

[steved]

The problem with the DT kit in this case is two-fold... first, he probably doesn't want to wait on the DT kit to arrive and he has a 3500 DRW... last I knew, DT was working on a DRW kit, but hadn't got it made.

steved

 

[DBohl]

EMS might make a kit that fits 3500 DRW. I have their kit on my 3500 SRW.

Doug

P. S. Steved, thanks for your post on gulf coast filter housings, Mine should arrive this week.

 

[dezeldog]

I lost both front hub/bearings within 5k mi. The first one I got from atmus... . what a pain in the azz to deal with. It took me 5 mos. to get my crredit card figured out. The next one I got from parts plus auto. It is a timken bearing with a LIFETIME warrenty where as atmus/skf is 12 mos.

The one that I got from atmus the first time lasted about 3k mi. and went south. It took for ever for them to decide if they were going to cover under warrenty so I bought a bearing while they were trying to decide. They finally decided to cover it. Now heres where the fun begins. Every time I would call th check on a credit on my card they would debit it instead of credit it. All in all they owed me over $900 in extra charges and many phone calls to get that mess straightened out. Never again!!!



Jim

 

[rbattelle]

Sorry to hear your experience with Atmus was so awful.

I've had nothing but good experience with them.

Ryan

 

[JFaughn]

Since my 1st post , I have been asking when at parts stores , a place had quoted me $169 , so I bought one as a spare , the main reason I bring it up is that it came without the brake disk , just have to knock the lug studs through to R&R .

 

[dezeldog]

Ryan, it got so bad that the wife asked to speak to the owner. The owners daughter finally cleared up that mess. She said that it was the new clerk in finance that was the problem. Nonetheless it still took 5 mos. to get eveything figured out. Glad that you hed better luck than I did.

Also I wasn't aware of the difference in the warranties. Atmus/SKF is one yr. and the Timken unit is lifetime and they were a little cheaper. Hope this helps.



Jim

 

[steved]

Ryan, it got so bad that the wife asked to speak to the owner. The owners daughter finally cleared up that mess. She said that it was the new clerk in finance that was the problem. Nonetheless it still took 5 mos. to get eveything figured out. Glad that you hed better luck than I did.

Also I wasn't aware of the difference in the warranties. Atmus/SKF is one yr. and the Timken unit is lifetime and they were a little cheaper. Hope this helps.



Jim

Most of the time, the warranty is through the place you buy them... Napa also has a lifetime warranty on their unit bearings.



I'm not sure what the difference (if any) there is between a late 2nd gen and a 3rd gen unit bearing... both have ABS sensors, IIRC both have the same splines, and both mount similar.



steved

 

[steved]

Since my 1st post , I have been asking when at parts stores , a place had quoted me $169 , so I bought one as a spare , the main reason I bring it up is that it came without the brake disk , just have to knock the lug studs through to R&R .

The early 2nd gen bearings (without ABS) are fairly reasonable... I think I paid $180 for a Napa with a lifetime warranty. Its the ABS versions and the 3rd gens that are $$$ (not that $169 isn't expensive)...



steved

 

[DZLROKET]

interesting! I just had both front axle hubs replaced under warranty with less than 17 K (on road miles on the truck)?????