I've had a slight rumble and vibration in my truck for a while now and last week it turned into a full on grawl.

It seems to be coming from the passenger side front wheel and it truely is loud. It's a very aggressive and constant humming sound and I found that not only does it change with speed rather then RPM, but it also goes away if I load up the right front wheel by suddenly turning left. If I go around a leftward turn at full speed the truck quites down and smooths out completely.

Enough said

I talked to a Ford tech today about having the bearings and seal replaced and he stated $55.00 labor and $200.00 for the inner and outer bearings and the seal.

I researched through my http://www.alldatadiy.com account and found that he is either charging way too much or doesn't have the right parts. Maybe he just doesn't understand which truck I have. I don't trust them to deal with this now.

>Inner bearing is: $9.94
>Outer Bearing is: $7.70
>Hub Seal is: $6.77

The trouble is that I havn't done this before and I'm not sure exactly what I'm in for.

I'd like to do it myself so I know that it was performed proper and carefully and it also gives me the opportunity to buy some tools I need like a torque wrench, jack stands and perhaps a slide hammer if necessary.

Am I missing any of the parts for this or do I only need the bearings and seal???

I really would appreciate some help with this one.

I don't think this is a common problem with our trucks because when I searched over the past few weeks under virbration and humming, I didn't find a single post related to wheel bearings.

 

Well just be lucky you don't have a 4x4. Ours are sealed units and the cheapest I could find them is $200 and nobody carries them in stock.

You'll see that alot. They won't charge you all that much for the labor so you think you're getting a good deal, but if you actually saw the markup on their parts you'd have a heart attack. Expect to pay that price from most Ford dealers. Other brands will do the same thing to you too. Occasionally some dealerships are really good and don't rape you too bad, but it has been my experience that those are few and far between.

That should be all you need. The bearings should come with new races. On my 91 Ranger, when my bearing went bad the race was still ok, but I caught it pretty early so I didn't have to replce them. The surface of the race has to be completely smooth otherwise they need to be replaced. Getting them out could be a pain to do and use of a torch to heat up the housing may be required as a last ditch effort. Its not extremely difficult to replace them, but it could require you to think up some ingenious ways to replace some of the parts. The only other thing you MIGHT need would be a new spindle. This would only be if you let this go for a long time and the bearing eventually chewed up the shaft, but this is usually kinda rare.

Just a little bit of advice, if you're not completely sure on how to do it stop by a parts store like NAPA, Advance, etc. almost all of them carry chiltons repair manuals. They will tell you what tools you need and what steps to take. I don't remember what they cost, but I have one that covers your truck as well. You can IM me through aol @ powerstroke73d or email me at powerstroke73@hotmail.com and I could look something up for you.

Also this is a somewhat common problem with trucks. Usually it comes after they get a little older, but it does happen on newer ones if the seal fails and a little bit of dirt gets into the bearing and chews it up. Good luck replacing them.

 

Exactly as PS73 said. It's not that hard of a job, he's the one that talked me into doing my own vs paying someone. Keep in mind this is a 4wd but prices are still a factor either way. Dealer wanted 220 for hub bearing and 180 for 2 rotors ( you shouldn't do just one) and 130 for labor = 530. I could get 2 hub bearings, 2 rotors, and a set of brakes for 600 from aftermarket companies. I of course had little extra's like grease and cottor pins and the like but still it wasn't over 630. Point being if you can do it youself you can save $ big time and gain knowledge of just how your truck works and all it's little details.

On another note I might have one of those going back out again or it might be something else. I am not for sure, I might let/pay someone help me pinpoint the problem and then do the repair myself. Anyways I also have Chiltons and a Haynes, so you can contact me also if you need specs or help.

 

KY, the easy way to tell if your hubs are going bad is to jack up the truck, take off the wheel and find a hose of some sort, like a garden hose or somehthing along those lines. Then try and hold one end to your ear and put the other end down on the bearing and then have someone spin the hub. If you can hear clicking or the other tell tale signs that the bearings are bad then you might wanna go ahead and replace them. But since ours is a sealed unit and you replaced both sides (i think) then they should still have warranty on them and you should get them replaced for free.

 

PS73
I've come to the conclusion that I really do not suspect them as being bad already. They are only about 4 months old. If it is them I will have no problem getting them replaced as they have a year's warranty and I work at the store I bought them at (Advance). The last time I just jacked the truck up and could spin the hub and feel the rough places. The problem I am having now is more of vibration, possibly fro mthe rear. It's all to tell sometimes. No nosies, just a vibration. I am going to change out u-joints (which I do not think is it) but they have 133K+ and I will just feel better knowing they are in there. My worst fears are that it is a pinion bearing failure or the problem with the tailshaft I have read about on here. Thanks for the heads up.