Sumdumgi83

I have a 2004 2500 4x4. It has 149k on it. I bought it several years ago and was told the ticking sound was the u-joints in the front. I took the truck to a very reliable diesel shop and they replaced all the u-joints with high end parts. I dont drive the truck much but the next time I had it out I was in some ruts on a dirt road and I kept hearing a sound like something metal was tinging (metal wire tapping on metal was what it sounded like) while going straight. Then when I turned I heard the familiar ticking noise. I took it back to the shop and they put it on the lift. The left front tire would wobble when the mechanic shook it. He said the hub was bad and that was causing the sound.

Do you all agree from the sound of this? It had a slight wobble and I did see it. He told me the hub isn't hard to replace if I did it myself. He was very nice and showed me a used front hub and how it came apart.

If you agree that the hub needs to be replaced what brand and is this a simple job? Where should I order the parts from and do I only need to replace the hub? I only want high quality parts on my truck.

justen920

My hub went out at 70k, and made the same sound. I took it to a shop and had it done under warranty. It sounds like you are going thru the same issue as myself. If you have the extra money go with a free spin hub set up. No more messing with u joints and hubs will last a lot longer. I plan on doing that in the fall with my coaching money. I have replaced 2 u joints and the hub and my buddy has the spintech set up and loves it. Get yourself a slide hammer when taking off your hubs, or spend hours trying to free it. Good luck.

06RAM2500

Did he spin the wheel while it was on the lift to see if it still made the same noise?

Sumdumgi83

Free spin hubs, never heard of that...thanks for your reply.
He did spin it by hand but with no weight on the hub it just spun freely. We didn't hear the noise...

06RAM2500

Well, all you'll need is an 8" or bigger 3 jaw puller, an 8 lb sledge hammer, a really hefty impact w/ a socket, and that's just to remove the hub.

Need to get a hold of a 250 ft/lb torque wrench, some anti-seize, just in case new bolts that hold the hub to the axle tube, and a new cotter key. When you torque the nut, it's gonna take over 300 ft/lbs. I'll look all the specs up when you go to tackle the project.

Sumdumgi83

Thanks for your willingness to help me out. I am going to wait a while to do this job but definitely would appreciate your help in specs etc...

steelblitzkrieg

Do you have Chrome Clad Factory wheels?

Mine was doing the same, I put it off for a bit. Rotated the tires and it went away.

robmints

If it wobbles, it's dead. But make sure it is not the ball joint causing the movement. I just bought 2 hubs, got SKF. I think Timken may be ok too. I would stay away from the cheap ones. If you have 2-3k burning a hole in your pocket look up dynatrac, ems, and spyntec. They convert your truck to what it should have been from the factory. Remember older trucks with simple taper wheel bearings and Warn locking hubs you had to get out and turn to lock? That is what you will get in a conversion. But the question is $450 for unitized or $1450 for the cheapest free spin? And spending close to 3K is easy for all top line Dynatrac stuff. If you are doing ball joints at the same time BEWARE, they are not all created equal. If I was to do it all over again I think I would get XRF. I think the spicer greaseable u-joints I used were ok though. I bought everything from NAPA but should have gotten better ball joints than the unknown NAPA brand.

Oh and it is easy to bend a couple of dust shields under there and they will ting too. Also greaseable lower bj's can tick when if u-joint hits it, but it won't do that for very long though. Plus, they usually miss.

But you need to find and fix the wobble for sure.

robmints

Oh I just read the part where he said the hub was easy for a DIYer to do, that's funny!

bnold

Dodge installed the power steering pump for the sole purpose of removing the unit bearing assemblies.

I can replace both in a driveway inside of 3 hours. Really not as scary as they are making it out to be.

robmints

Salt on your roads all winter?

And I use your method too, it works but takes time and a little whacking to break the rust from the salt loose. It can take us 45 min a side just to get the rotor off. But he has had the u joints done, he might be ok.

Nadir Point

I consider myself to be a fairly competent DIY'er and pulling the hubs to do u-joints last month was probably the most challenging job I've done on our '07 yet - not easy by any means.