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How to Remove Tail Light Assembly?

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The good news is I found out why my ABS light came on. The LF wheel sensor was toast. The bad news is why it was toast. Back in Jan I hit the brakes hard and because I was on ice it didn't stop very well. The ABS and the Brake light both came on and have been on ever since. Since I don't drive the truck much in the winter I left it til the weather warmed up. The brakes still worked but no ABS. One day while I had the truck out at my buddies place I put it into his shop where it was warm and dry to do some minor things. I had already replaced the rear diff ABS plug as it had been patched before. I tried to get the LF wheel off but it was being stubborn and I was tired by this time so I left it and drove home and parked the truck again.

Fast forward to the beginning of April and I needed the truck to haul a trans for his GMSEE. I put on about 200 clicks that day and a couple of times I was sure I heard some noises but couldn't tell where they were coming from. Since I have Dynatrac Hubs I tend to lock them when the snow flys and leave it that way until the snow is gone. Then I just shift in and out of 4X4 like normal. Altho the highway was clear there was still a lot of snow in the country roads and lanes. My friend tells me I shouldn't do this but Dynatrac says it's OK. The steering did seem to be loose but it always was sloppy, even after the DSS and all new linkage ( 08 style ). While driving down the freeway on my way back out to his acreage it just didn't feel right so I got off and and pulled into a parking lot and got out of the truck. The LF hub felt warm to the touch while the RF was cold. It was a cool day ( about 40+ F ) so I knew something wasn't good. I moved it but knew I couldn't continue on my journey so I called a tow truck. A couple of hours later the flat deck had me at a friends shop where I could put it inside and check it out. My friend met me there and we pulled the wheel off. As soon as we jacked up the wheel we could see there was a LOT of play in the bearings as the top of the wheel tilted a couple of inches. The rotor was stuck to the hub but came off with a bit of beating. The brake pads were OK but one of the s/s clips that the pads rest on had been rubbing on the back side of my rims. The ABS sensor was a bit shorter than it should have been. The seal has spun in the back side of the hub wreaking the hub. The bearings, or what was left of them had basically welded themselves to the spindle, requiring a torch and a big hammer and chisel to ket them off. The races in the hub were of course toast as well. The Warn hub was toast also. I was able to leave the truck inside over night and the next day I got some new bearings and we cleaned things up enough so I could at least drive it home, about 2 miles.

I order a new Hub and Spindle from Dynatrac in California and was actually able to get warranty on the Warn hub. (They sent me both sides :) ) So all the new parts are on the truck finally and it is drivable again. What went wrong? I'm still not sure. Altho it had been 3 years since I installed the hubs I only have about 35k kms ( less than 22k miles ) on them. No I never checked them because of the low mileage. I used a good quality grease but it wasn't good to -30*C but then when it is that cold I don't use the truck anyway. I still have to take apart the RH side and repack it.

BTW my ABS and Brake light are still on. There are no codes. How do I get them to clear? Funny thing is switching to manual hubs is supposed to help prevent Hub failure, but I guess not MAN failure :-laf
Sorry no pics.
David
 
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David,
Sorry to hear about the failure but glad you got the truck fixed. What went wrong ---nothing maybe the bearing just failed. I have seen that in failure analysis before where the bearing failed before the B10 life of the bearing for no reason.

Where the bearings Timken, SKF or another brand?

Jim W.
 
I've looked at codes with my smarty and I seem to remember it also cleared them. They could have cleared up due to fixing the problem.
 
Took the truck for a long run last weekend and the "lights" ares still on but the bearings are quiet now. David
 
I had a wheel bearing failure in my Yukons back in December and got the abs light when the hub tried to leave the truck. As soon as I replaced the parts the light went off instantly. I had a lockout issue that took out the bearing. Now all noises are bad... :)

My guess is that is that your wheel speed sensor is bad.
 
my abs light has been on for 7 years,i do not like abs brakes anyway. had a dealer look at it 2 times under warr. no luck.i live with it.k
 
When I had the hub off I replaced the ABS sensor with a new one from Dodge. The old one was damaged. Because I don't drive the truck daily I have just been living with it. The Dodge dealer I deal with isn't next door so I will go see them some time soon, before I get into pulling the TT. David
 
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