vehicle issues

[Mobuck]

This is just friendly advice or maybe a cautionary tale. Last August while making trips to Kansas City for my hip I noticed an increasing vibration in my 04 Chevy 1/2 ton. I suspected the problem was a bad tire and played musical chairs with the spare w/o really accomplishing much. Finally, I discovered the right front hub/wheel bearing was bad and closer than a complete failure than I like to consider. That was 11 months ago at 101564 miles. Three weeks back, on a 700 mile trip to see some relatives I again noticed a vibration above 65 mph and as I'm prone to do blamed it on a tire. Back home, I started checking things and did find a tire that had a bit of wobble and changed it. I'm not driving much these days so yesterday was the first "high speed, good road" driving I've done since the previous 700 mile trip. The vibration returned and was maybe a bit worse than before I replaced the tire. Has anyone began to see a pattern?
I limped home at 50mph and this morning began the investigation BUT by now, I'd gone through several possibilities in my head and started at the most likely culprit. YUPPER, the other front hub was dragging and making a bit of growl. Still no detectable slack, slop, or wiggle--just the little bit of grumble. I removed the wheel, forced the brake pads away from the rotor, and gave the bare hub a spin(or tried to because it was dragging too much to spin). I have the old hub off and new hub awaiting afternoon cool down for re-install. Current miles 116530.
Since many/most 4wd vehicles have similar style sealed assembly front wheel hubs/bearings, folks should consider that should a vibration show up or increase w/o reasonable cause don't overlook the possibility of those assemblies failing. AND it's fairly logical that when one goes, the other isn't far behind.
When Jeep Cherokees were our most used vehicles, I made it a practice to change those hubs every 100,000 miles whether they showed symptoms or not.

 

[Heliman]

I don't know if you have 4WD or not. I had similar issues on my 78 Blazer. I chased lots of potential causes and after a near complete failure the culprit was the constant velocity joint in the front driveline. Just my experience. Good luck!

Dave

 

[Colonialgirl]

GO FORD in the Future !!

 

[Bull Barrel]

These unique bearing assemblies for 4wd, fwd or 2nd don't seem to last these days. I think I have one going out on my FORD.
The old tapered bearing you could clean and repack.

 

[Acorn]

Just an FYI
When you replace the hub bearings on four wheel drive or front wheel drive be sur to torque the axle nut to the correct torque. It varies vehicle to vehicle. Many shade tree mechanics just dial up the impact gun and tighten it till it screams. You have to be in the “Goldilocks” zone.

 

[any ruger]

Acorn is right the specs are there for a reason.

 

[Mobuck]

Best I can tell, that nut does nothing except hold the axle in the hub. Since it's a self locking nut, as long as it's tight it's good.

 

[rob-c]

Just a tip . if you suspect a hub is going but not 100% sure, jack up that side of the vehicle place a hand on you’re coil spring and spin the wheel you’ll feel the rumble in the spring. Myself if I’m at high milage and doing wheel bearing, ball joint etc. I always do both sides. Because as you’ve found the other is usually ready to go.

 

[tunnug]

I've got a '95 Ford Bronco, 185K miles, I'm also aware and investigate any odd vibrations and noises, a while back I noticed one and looking around I found a universal joint that had gone dry and was getting ready to fail, it was one of the permanent sealed ungreaseable types, replaced it with a proper one.
U joints are one item that will fail and cause more damage when they do.

 

[Mobuck]

It seems that I've got it fixed. The front bearing/hub assembly was definitely failing. In addition, I went ahead and replaced a tire that was showing an irregular wear pattern(not related to the hub). I've put 700 miles on it and that seems to have taken care of the more noticeable issues. I had planned to make another 300 mile run today but it's forecast for thunderstorms in that area this morning and I can't work in the rain.

 

[Busterswoodshop]

Repacking the front wheel bearings with grease should be routine maintenance.
I do mine once a year.
I clean and re-grease 4X4 front hubs the same.

 

[RSIno1]

Our 2004 4x4 Excursion is nearing 300,000 miles. Trans was redone at a little over 200,000. Regular maint and no other failures. I am going to replace the engine because we want to start using it for long trips when I retire later this year.

 

[daveg.inkc]

Our 2004 4x4 Excursion is nearing 300,000 miles. Trans was redone at a little over 200,000. Regular maint and no other failures. I am going to replace the engine because we want to start using it for long trips when I retire later this year.

Are you buying a crate engine from Ford? You have the 5.4 Triton? I have 216,000 on my ‘02 F150. Runs great. I did rebuild front end 2 yrs ago. Ball joints, tie rods.

 

[daveg.inkc]

Best I can tell, that nut does nothing except hold the axle in the hub. Since it's a self locking nut, as long as it's tight it's good.

I tighten that axle nut as far as my torque wrench goes. 125? 130? Ft Lb.s. I recently did ball joints on a Grand Prix. Same set up with drive axle to wheel bearing. Anti seize the threads and get it tight.

 

[Mobuck]

"Repacking the front wheel bearings with grease should be routine maintenance."
I dunno about other brands but as far as I know, all mid-90's and newer GM and Mopar 1/2, 3/4, and 1 ton 4x4 non-dually pickups and SUVs have sealed double roller bearing hubs that are "non-serviceable".
My JEEPS from 1986 forward had the same setup(just smaller) and often required replacement at around 100K, my 1998 K3500 got new front hubs @ 106K when one began squeaking. Apparently, the 04 K1500 runs a similar distance since I replaced a totally failed one @ 106K and one was grinding @ 116K. Son had an 01 Dodge 1/2 ton that required front hubs @110K and he didn't haul anything heavy.
Maybe just my luck since my Cousin is still driving his Dodge 3/4 ton with the OEM hubs @270K and he beats it hard with a big stock trailer and a 28' gooseneck flatbed.

 

[Mike J]

My wife's 2004 Explorer does not have 4 wheel drive. It does have the sealed hub assemblies on the front. Replacing the assembly on the front wasn't too horrible. The Back was more difficult. After removing the assembly & getting the new bearing I had to take it to someone to get them to press the old bearing out & the new one in. The Torque on the axle nut on the rear is 150 ft pounds. It can be aggravating trying to track down the source of the vibration.

 

[blume357]

Question, you talk about 4 wheel drive, would this also pertain to All Wheel Drive?

 

[Mobuck]

"Question, you talk about 4 wheel drive, would this also pertain to All Wheel Drive?"
I would say yes.
All of the "newer" vehicles I've worked on that had any sort of front wheel drive had similar hubs on the front. From a 1990 Chevy Celebrity(front wheel drive) to a 1998 Chevy K3500 1 ton 4WD to Son's current 2019 Silverado with several Jeeps and Dodge pickups added in, all had the sealed double tapered roller bearing hub design. I even had a 2WD JEEP Cherokee that had the same hubs but no drive axle through the center.
The "old fashioned" tapered roller bearing, race, grease seal, and adjustment nut may still be in use on heavier rated vehicles but I haven't had one of those apart since I sold the 1985 GMC dually.
I suspect that many of the vehicles with independant rear suspension have the same type of hubs on the rear. This is something that should be kept in mind if/when buying higher mileage used vehicles. The O'Reilly one year warranty hubs for the front of my Chevy 1/2 ton cost $130+ tax and the 3 year warranty units cost $180+ tax. If I were buying ANY used vehicle of unknown maintenance history with over 100K I'd factor in the cost of replacing however many of these hub assemblies it had simply as a safety concern.
One of Grouch Attack's relatives was in the used vehicle business for many years. A couple years back, he helped move his Son to Colorado using a nice looking SUV(125K miles) right off his "premium vehicle" line up. One of the front hubs went poop on the way out and the other on the way back. They were driving two vehicle and between the two of them, had enough tools to complete both repairs along the road. How many people just happen to have the tools, skills, and the second vehicle to run parts on every trip?