In my last of three reports tonight, I want to share a disturbing thing I discovered when installing the Brembos. The driver's side wheel bearing was WAY loose.

Now I have had that wheel off several times and I never noticed it. But when I was installing the new hubs, I noticed that the spindle nut on the driver's side was sticking out way more than the passenger side, which I had just done. When I shook the hub, I found an amazing amount of play!

Since I didn't have any replacement bearings on hand and the truck only has about 8Kmiles, and the bearings and races looked fine, I reused the bearings. But I will be keeping a close eye on that wheel in the future.

Fellas, this thing was way out of whack. And because the spindle nut is secured with a cotter pin, it was that way when it left the assembly line.

Kinda scary, considering I have an open track event in March on the Fontana Speedway. Imagine that sucker letting loose at about 130.

 

When I had a tire go flat back in August on my 2000, Ford found that they were loose and offered to replace them under warranty. Got it done later that week. Maybe this is not just a single occurance?

-Kimball

 

I think I'll turn on the heater in the garage tomorrow and do some investigating. I have had the front tires off only once and that was to rotate them. Time for a rotation anyway.
This is the first I've heard of any loose ft wheel bearing

 

Thanks for the info Tim. Im going to check mine tomorrow. Ill report my findings.

 

if you'll don't know. the easiest way way to check for loose bearings in jack up the truck and move the wheel back and forth in a vertical manner.

if you feel and lump lump, repack them and put them back together.