Front Wheel Bearing/Hub Failures

[jbplock]

I changed out the passenger side front hub-bearing assy today on my 03 and the squeak is gone.. fairly simple repair .. After reading that the caliper bracket bolts could be a problem I picked up a heavy duty 24" breaker bar and had the oxy-acetylene torch ready ... Using just the 24" breaker bar with a 6-point socket , both the caliper bracket bolts and hub mounting bolts came off with no problem (no heat needed).. If anyone is looking for replacement hubs I found a good price on USA made Timken SP580310 hubs at www.dmaxstore.com .. bought two at $179 each including shipping .. the price has increased a little since I bought mine but still a good value IMHO .. Autozone lists TIMKENs for over $300 each .. TIMKEN is also the OEM for the GM labeled parts ..

[gophergunner]

Well the time has finally come. My truck was getting some vibrations and a bit of noise from the front end for the last couple weeks. It came time to do an oil change so I figured I'd check the hubs while I had the truck inside. Of course the driver's side was a bit loose and the passenger side was nice and tight.

So I changed it out......seems to ride like new without the noise and vibrations from before.

143 008 km's on that front wheel hub.

[BlackMaxAlly]

Well, my Passenger side went bad at 59,000 miles, and the stealership here in Central PA., charged me 700 clams! I needed the truck fixed, and should have consulted this forum, because I just did it myself on the drivers side for a whole lot less! It has 66,000 miles and the drivers side went bad. I got talked into buying a rotor as well, a bit over 400 bucks for both. I might just keep it as a spare. Those pads look like they have very little wear on them though. Gotta love the tow button for going down hills, some say they last past 90,000 miles.

Now, if they could only build better bearings, or at least have a way of rebuilding them!

I do have extra weight since I replaced that tin foil front bumper with a beefy Ranch Hand REAL bumper which probably tips the scales at < 250 lbs.

If you have ever replaced front brake pads on any vehicle it's only 3 steps more, and you are done with the job. Just follow what this fine gentleman provided for us at his link ...
http://www.mcratracing.com/wheel_bearing.html You'll be glad you did!

[IUPAC]

I just replaced my drivers side bearing and ball joints at 59,500 mi on my '03 HD. I used a GM bearing (I can get it at my cousin's cost) and Moog ball joints. The ball joints were tight but the boots were split. I figured while it was appart. Not that difficult as long as you have the right tools (but it was a little costly).

[Luis]

Well I had the thumping vibration in front right wheel, jacked it up and sure was loose...not too bad...ordered two from dmaxstore.com at $229.00 each with no shipping charge. Delivered within a week, and first warm day I installed both in 4 hours. (2.5 on first and 1.5 on second) I can do it faster now that I know all the little things to do.
Jack up both wheels off floor.
A good breaker bar is the handle to the floor jack.
Use RED LockTite on Caliper mounting bolts on installation.
4WD...remove one wheel at a time; put in 4WD to remove (36mm) axle bolt. I had to wedge a piece of wood between the tire and floor too keep the wheel fron turning while removing the axle nut fom the opposite side.
Be Careful removing dust covers from hub.
Turn wheels to make access easier for calliper mounting bolts.
BE sure to install rotor dust shield in the proper direction! Not just facing forward but flaired side turned outward...Trust me I KNOW NOW...cost = extratime...
Not a bad job...easier than I expected...but save a boat load of money...

[rat4go]

Have any of you seen a bearing go bad and just make noise, but not allow 'slop' in the front tires? I have had a strange noise from the front end for a while (10k+ miles). It's definately vehicle speed dependant. Doesn't matter if in 2wd or 4wd lock or on the brakes or off the brakes or on dirt or on pavement or on snow or straight or turning (although it might be a touch worse on a gradual left turn) and it did it with my old tires and now my new tires (different rims, too!) and I've done front brakes in that timeframe with no change. Also done T-case fluid and front diff fluid recently with no change (and old fluid looked good). It's a low pitched Wahh wahh wahh that you can hear and feel. Truck has roughly 100k on it. (2003 2500HD D/A CCSB)

I've checked the bearings by jacking the truck up and pulling on top and bottom of the tire and found no slop. I've seen frapped bearings before on other vehicles and this one doesn't feel or sound like what I've experienced, but I can't figure out what the noise is. I've had it for quite a while and it hasn't really gotten worse, but it's getting on my nerves more now. Bearings are too expensive to just replace 'em.

Thoughts?

[jbplock]

Have any of you seen a bearing go bad and just make noise, but not allow 'slop' in the front tires? I have had a strange noise from the front end for a while (10k+ miles). It's definately vehicle speed dependant. ... It's a low pitched Wahh wahh wahh that you can hear and feel. Truck has roughly 100k on it. (2003 2500HD D/A CCSB)

I've checked the bearings by jacking the truck up and pulling on top and bottom of the tire and found no slop.

Mine had no slop when they went bad, just noisy .. It started with a low frequency howl when slowing down on an exit ramp after a long run on the expressway.. It then developed into a squeaking noise that was most noticeable on slow turns... Seeing that you have a 100Kmi on your truck bearings would be a likely suspect.

[rat4go]

Mine had no slop when they went bad, just noisy .. It started with a low frequency howl when slowing down on an exit ramp after a long run on the expressway.. It then developed into a squeaking noise that was most noticeable on slow turns... Seeing that you have a 100Kmi on your truck bearings would be a likely suspect.

Scrap my previous comments. After I posted, I went out to run some errands and jacked up the truck when I got back to see if I could detect bad wheel movement. Left front wheel bearing is the culprit. Dunno if it needed to be warmer to show some movement or not (last time I checked was in Feb when it was cold out), but needless to say, I think I've found the smokin' gun. Guess I have me a little project for tomorrow PM.

Thanks for the response anyway.

[carco]

We see bearings all the time noisy but not particularly loose and bearings that sometimes are loose and not noisy, goes both ways. The only constant is if given enough time/wear bearings will be loose. Of course loose bearings are almost always easier to find, though sometimes noise helps a lot. bob................

[rat4go]

Well, the good news is that when I replaced the left front wheel bearing, it only took about an hour (after I found the rotton 36mm socket for the half-shaft nut on my work bench, which suffers from "horizontal surface syndrome")

The other good news is that the loose bearing on the left front is taken care of and is now nice. The bad news is that the noise is still there. I'm not ready to swallow another $250 to do the right side when it's not loose and I can't prove it's the source of the noise. Grrrrrrrrrrrr!

I will probably wait a few weeks and just plan to do it before I hook up the 5W for the first real trip this spring/summer.

[hapaschold]

had mine 3500 in few weeks ago, wanted to get a few things done before 3 year/36000 ends may 5th..

had looseness in front end for last 2 year... and 1 st trip they replaced steering something ?

this trip was the drivers hub, they claimed passenger hub was ok, but i still get the loose feeling in steering and little noise from passenger side.

also had tranny cooler lines replaced and the tsb done for the leak around the blue turbo hose.

dealer had problem lifting truck up...i weigh in at about 8600lbs total.

gotta get this addressed before 3 year part run s out.

[rat4go]

Well, the good news is that when I replaced the left front wheel bearing, it only took about an hour (after I found the rotton 36mm socket for the half-shaft nut on my work bench, which suffers from "horizontal surface syndrome")

The other good news is that the loose bearing on the left front is taken care of and is now nice. The bad news is that the noise is still there. I'm not ready to swallow another $250 to do the right side when it's not loose and I can't prove it's the source of the noise. Grrrrrrrrrrrr!

I will probably wait a few weeks and just plan to do it before I hook up the 5W for the first real trip this spring/summer.

Well, my plan changed after I posted the above. I had the dreaded rust under the wheel speed sensor causing the ABS to dump brake pressure to one wheel at 5mph. I figured it should be semi-easy to remove the sensor, clean things up and replace the sensor. Yea right....


I removed the sensor from the right front...well, most of it. Part of it broke in the hole and I spend half an hour getting it out. Then I cleaned up the surface nice, pulled the sensor from the hub I replaced earlier in the week. Best I can tell, I busted that one removing it too (not my day), so off to the parts store I go to buy another hub. I didn't feel too bad as I suspected that it was the cause of the noise that I'd been chasing and it was only a matter of time before I swapped that hub anyway. Well, now both hubs are swapped. I also did a tire rotation while I was at it. Brakes work like they're supposed to, but I still have the noise.

Whatever....At least the brakes work and I know the noise isn't a wheel bearing. Since I can't for the life of me figure out what else would cause the noise, it must not be a problem, right? :-D

[mattb5150]

Did any of you guys notice specific tire wear issues due to the bearing failures?

My wife's Suburban is cupping the drivers front tire even after new Bilstein's and an alignment.

Matt

[carco]

Yes, a bad bearing may allow the wheel camber to change enough to wear the inside or outside edge of the tire. However the alignment shop would normally have caught the bad bearing if you are talking recently on the alignment. I have seen bearings that had no loose movement but made noise; in the early stages of going south, therefore the alignment shop would not have seen a loose condition. Cupping probably would not, but could happen due to loose bearings. bob.................

[More Power]

Resurrecting an old thread....

I've noticed a noise and a slight vibration in the steering wheel for a while now. To eliminate some possibilities, I rotated the tires this past weekend. The somewhat aggressive tires had worn in ways that made them more noisy.

Rotating the tires helped with tire noise, but not with what I believe is due to a bad passenger side wheel hub bearing.

I came to that conclusion because taking a slight right-hand corner at anything over about 30-mph will unload the passenger side of the truck just a little, which eliminates all of the suspect noise and the vibration (feels like you're driving over some gravel spilled onto the highway) in the steering wheel.

I'll be replacing the passenger side hub bearing assy next week.

Thanks to everyone who posted in this thread.