I have a 2001 Ram 1500 2WD 5.9 At a local shop for a tire repair the guy said my front wheel bearings were getting bad and needed replacement. This shop does not have the greatest reputation but it was close for the repair. I really don`t trust this place so how can I inspect the bearings myself and can I replace them myself or do I need special tools. The truck does not have any symptoms and the rest of the steering components have been replaced during the past year.
Ram Pickup Wheel Bearings
- Thread starter LAGA
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Jack up the wheel. See if it has any excess movement or noises when you spin the wheel.
Is the truck making any noise when you drive? Get in a vacant parking lot and make a few sharp left and right turns. If you hear growling and/or you have play in the bearing (when you jack up the front end and move the wheel side to side) the bearing is probably bad.
The only thing I can notice is a small vibration at 40mph and a growl when I come to a quick stop. The rotors and pads are less than 6 months old and all steering components are less than 1 year old. I had it aligned about 8 weeks ago and the tech at the dealership said everything was in spec.
If the alignment shop said everything was OK then I wouldn't worry about it.
Sometimes if there is a little play. All you have to do is remove the cotter pin and tighten the castle nut one notch. That should get rid of the play.
Pull the rotors and examine them,repack the bearings and reinstall with a new rear seal.tighten the nut to about 20ft pounds to seat the bearings then back off nut about 1/8 turn.This is a pretty easy job on a 2w drive
^^^ The 2WD Ram has sealed bearings in a hub assembly. FWIW my 2001 Ram 1500 2WD doesn't have any play in the bearings.
That good to know,i thought they were still using conventional bearings up front.
Just got done doing things outside and had a chance to jack up the front end. There is no play in the front end and no noise when I spin the wheels. Part of the reason I asked for help here is that the shop where I took the truck for a tire repair is only a couple of blocks a way from my house,but it does not have a good reputation in the neighborhood. I was very skeptical when he told me about the bad bearings. Thanks for your help
As mentioned your truck has sealed bearing/hub assemblies. LOOOOONG before any play or loosness can be felt they will start howling! Noise will be more obvious when cornering either right or left. But direction of cornering doesn't necessarily mean that is the side with bad bearing. My biggest problem replacing these bearing assemblies is getting the customer to put up with the noise long enough for bearing to get bad enough to diagnose wich side is actually bad.
Other words,, if you aint got noise you aint got bad bearing!
Bob
Other words,, if you aint got noise you aint got bad bearing!
Bob
Kestas
Staff member
I agree. Good post, Bob.
Why don't you go back to that shop and ask them how they came to the conclusion that you had a bad bearing ... you might learn something ??!!
Did you not ask them at the time how they diagnosed the problem ??
Did you not ask them at the time how they diagnosed the problem ??
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Some shops cannot resist creating work for themselves. It's such a needless crime. You never have to sell anyone ..anything that they don't need and you can still make a good buck.
btw- I don't know your particular Ram ..but the older 2WD Durango had the wheel bearing as an assembly with the hub. You could actually get the bearing ..but I don't believe you could get it from the dealer (luckily, we have an industrial bearing house in town - even though we don't have any industry anymore
) It was also debatable, depending on the shop, whether you saved any money. You have to weigh the markup in parts vs. the added labor of removel and replacement of the bearing in the original hub.
btw- I don't know your particular Ram ..but the older 2WD Durango had the wheel bearing as an assembly with the hub. You could actually get the bearing ..but I don't believe you could get it from the dealer (luckily, we have an industrial bearing house in town - even though we don't have any industry anymore
I did go back to the shop today. I asked the owner how he came up with the worn wheel bearings when I didn`t find any play or noise in the wheel. He said his mechanic, who wasn`t there today had found the problem. I told him he was just trying to ring up some business and he could go #@*% himself. Guess I won`t be going back there for any more flat tire repairs. I also had a mechanic friend check out the truck and he said it was fine. BTW the bearing-hub assembly is only available at the dealer.
Can hardly believe that one of the maijor aftermarket companies haven't tooled up a bearing for a popular 6-7 year old truck!
Then again,,,,,,it's a D-A-M-N Dodge!
Bob
Then again,,,,,,it's a D-A-M-N Dodge!
Bob
Kestas
Staff member
The company I work for makes OEM bearings for Dodge. I'm not sure if we made the ones for that year and model, thoough it's a good chance we did. Our aftermarket supplier is NAPA, but these bearings aren't manufactured by our company. I suspect these bearings may not be dealer-only, and you may find them elsewhere.
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