Wheeling Bearing Maybe?

02silveradols · January 24, 2009

Heres two videos of the problems I am having with my truck. The passenger side is much worse. Can you replace just the bearings if that is what it is? The wheel has play up and down and side to side. 12 and 6 and 9-3 directions. Is this a big job? time and price? Thanks again

Scotty-B · January 24, 2009

I just had my passenger front wheel bearing done under warranty. The bearing alone was over $450. With labor, over $550. Easy to do, but it was on their dime so I let them get dirty.

Jansen · January 24, 2009

The wheel bearings on this body style were under designed and are prone to premature wearout/failure. My driver side failed at 57,000 miles and a few other friends had the same issue around 55K-60K. The job isn't bad. One 36mm (If i remember correctly) axle nut and three hub bearing bolts. You can do it in a few hours.

My dealership tried charging $700 but I put a Timken replacement in for about $150.

Jansen

02silveradols · January 25, 2009

Does this diffenately sound like the problem? I don't think anything else up front would cause this. I have not used four wheel drive since I starting hearing the noise. I had a loud groaning coming home from work so I'm afraid it's getting worse. Thanks again

jake1530 · January 25, 2009

I am no Auto mechanic by any stretch, but I just had my annual state inspection and from watching you video the mechanic did the same thing with my front wheel when it was on the jack. He told me it was an inner tie rod and they where quite common in my truck. It wasn’t bad enough to fail the inspection but he told me to have my mechanic take a look at them at my next service. By the way I have 45,000 mile and it is a 2005. I will follow this thread to hear what you guys think. Thanks in advance, Jake.

Jansen · January 25, 2009

I was hearing a squeal noise when driving. It was a high pitch, metal on metal squeal. This was in the spring and I would hear it at low speeds 35mph of less. I'm pretty sure this was just do to road noise at high speeds.

However, my wheel did the same thing as yours. Witht the truck on jackstands, I could grab the tire at any clock position and shake it. If you can do this, it is the wheel bearing.

If you search on wheel bearing you should find a past post of mine with the Timken p/n for the bearing. Do not use the Advanced Auto bearing as it failed on my friends truck after a few thousand miles. Go with Napa/Autozone as they both have the Timken bearing.

Also, make sure you have a torque wrench capable of at least 200ft-lbs, the axle nut is 177ft-lbs of torque and the mounting bolts at 133ft-lbs.

Spurshot · January 25, 2009

My 99 GMT800 3/4 ton exhibitted a whiring noise at 50-70 mph. Then it started to growl in low speed turns and eventually the growl turned to metal grinding/squealing. That was at about 135,000 miles. I bought both fronts and replaced them myself. The first side took me about 1 1/4 hrs and the next side took 45 minutes. I think the 3/4 ton axle nut was 36mm as well. I bought both OEM GM hubs from OEMHQ.com for around $180 a piece.

J-man67 · January 26, 2009

Def a wheel bearing. As the others have said, its easy to do yourself and CHEAPER!!!

02silveradols · January 26, 2009

I have started on one side but I had to go and find a torque wrench and a 36mm socket. I noticed that the side i'm working on is weeking what looks like transfer case fluid. It I notice its wet right outside where the CV goes into the transfer case. Not sure the name of the seal. How hard is something like that to replace and do I have to pull the hub to do that? Thanks again

Zembonez · January 26, 2009

Does this diffenately sound like the problem? I don't think anything else up front would cause this. I have not used four wheel drive since I starting hearing the noise. I had a loud groaning coming home from work so I'm afraid it's getting worse. Thanks again

What you describe is exactly what I have seen when these bearings fail. You can replace one in about 30 minutes with correct tools. The A/M assy is about 150 bucks.

Don't delay. The last thing you want to do is let it fail completely and lose a wheel.

02slt · January 28, 2009

I was hearing a squeal noise when driving. It was a high pitch, metal on metal squeal. This was in the spring and I would hear it at low speeds 35mph of less. I'm pretty sure this was just do to road noise at high speeds.

However, my wheel did the same thing as yours. Witht the truck on jackstands, I could grab the tire at any clock position and shake it. If you can do this, it is the wheel bearing.

If you search on wheel bearing you should find a past post of mine with the Timken p/n for the bearing. Do not use the Advanced Auto bearing as it failed on my friends truck after a few thousand miles. Go with Napa/Autozone as they both have the Timken bearing.

Also, make sure you have a torque wrench capable of at least 200ft-lbs, the axle nut is 177ft-lbs of torque and the mounting bolts at 133ft-lbs.

My truck is doing the exact same thing... mainly when it is cold... thanks for the heads up on what needs to be changed.

When I go to Napa is there any particular brand I am asking for? or do they all use this Timken bearing

Jansen · January 29, 2009

I'm not sure what the dealership bearing brand is but that brand of bearings is the one that failed in the 50K's on my truck. I went with the Timken brand because of friends recommendation. He'd replaced his about a year ahead of me. I've managed to put a little over 8000 miles on mine since then, and knock on wood, no problems.