2500

has anyone tried popping the seal off to regrease?

or tried sticking a grease needle to load back up with grease?

I've got 120k miles and are thinking all my wheel bearings needs service.

MR. GADGET

That" the $400 question...... They are bad or not.... They will not be smooth, leak oil, and have movement when they are bad, a little oil leaking is not bad, Key little, but movement and not free rolling and smooth they need to be replaced.
I see no way that putting oil or grease in a sealed unit would help, its not the same as a ball joint or U joint that just has a dust boot.

Jeff in TD

Mr. Gadget, did you use a torque wrench on the big nut, or did you just tighten it down good with your cheater bar?

Is that a 1/2" drive?

MR. GADGET

It's a 3/4" drive and I put my 260 pounds at the end of the cheater bar. That's what it took to get it off. I bent the bar getting it off and putting it on so it's about the same.
BTW I have done it that way on several with no problems but if you want to spend the money for a torque wrench that will go up high enough go for it. I got some but not that high.

offroad00

I am in the process of removing my ball joints now or at least trying to and can't get the lower one to come out, the upper came out tough, but finally budged. Great tips and pics, I would of never got the hub off if I hadn't done a search on the forum and saw yours. I have broke two adapter kits made by Astro and am on my third one now which is a different brand KD, the first two were just cast to thin and the screw punched through them. I am using a KD press just like this http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00999845000P with this adapter kit http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00994234000P and no luck. I rented them both from Oreilly's. Right now I have the thing as tight as I can get it with my 1/2" drive breaker bar and small cheater and not sure where to go from here. Any ideas? Do I have the wrong ball joint removal tool? I am afraid to use a 3/4" drive breaker bar on it, which will probably be next, if my buddy has one.

2500

have pulled seal off many a "sealed" bearing and repacked with fresh grease. just have never done a dodge front wheel bearing... yet.

so long as one injects fresh grease before bearing goes dry... causing damage. it's the same as repacking wheel bearing of old. which would last close to forever if kept full of grease.

Fisherguy

This is a cool thread, subscribing for when my time comes...

MR. GADGET

Go to the Pic with "After the bearing has been pulled then you can pull the axle shaft. It shows more rust and also the circle clip on the Ball Joint you need to remember to remove. Now is a good time."


Make sure you pulled the circle clip or snap ring as they call it.
That would be the only thing holding it in.
Remember that you are going to push the ball joint down and out, not up.
Also there are a few steps in the ball joint that the lower cup must not be on or touching, In most cases the lower cup is not big enough to let the ball joint come out. Look at your new one(ball joint) may set it in the press, make sure that the side pushing in on the ball joint only and the other side will let the ball joint slide in like it should.
See how big the cup is, that the joint falls into, and that it is pushing down.

http://www.thetoolwarehouse.net/shop/OTC-8031.html
Better look at the tool I used.

Get a pic of it from top and bottom and maybe we can help if this is not it.

JP-4.5

Great Write Up! Wish I had found this when I did my free spin kit. I could not get the ubs loose and brought my truck to a local shop..

Thanks for the write up.. printed to pdf for future use...

Hvytrkmech

Exactly what I do. I have a large hub adapter for my slide hammer, mount that on the studs and hammer away. The bearings usually come out after a few pulls, and with the axle nut still torqued in place it prevents the bearing from separating. works super slick.


Tim

2500

coool... would this be an easier way to service the wheel bearings?

MR. GADGET

Guys think about this.... The bearing has a inside part that turns with the shaft and outer hub and lugnuts. Then the bearing is outside that, just think of it as a big roller bearing. On the outside of that you have the part that mounts the bearing and center section to the truck, it never turns.
The bearing is sealed with a steel and rubber cover as you can see in the PIC.


If you have pulled it apart you will see that the shaft will seat in the center section that turns and has a cover or dust shield that covers the seal on the bearing but is not in contact with it. It is close and will fill with rust and trasy but has a offset.
You can see the shaft and cover.


If you use a slide hammer, you are only pulling on the inside section of the bearing, putting all the force on the bearing. If you put to much force it will pull the inside section and seals apart. If you are pulling on the unit with the shaft how would it turn if the shaft was in contact with the outside to pull on it as the outside section does not move?
If you use the slide hammer on the bearing it can and will change the preload on it, It may work fine for some time but will go bad.
It would be the same as not undoing the nut on a free spin kit or a old tupe axle and putting a slide hammer on it. You could check the force to rotate and then hit it with the slide hammer and it would make the setup looser and less force to rotate.
I ask at the local shops how they did it and was told that some use a slide hammer.... You know why? Its faster and easy to do. YOu know what else they said? It will sometimes loosen or pull the bearings apart. Why do they do it this way? Its Faster can save them money on the job, the book sets price, also if the bearing fails, its under warrenty or owner pays if not, just part of doing the job.
Flame on if you want on me, but I would hate to see people save 15-20 min on each side only to cost them if the bearing fails now or later.

Also with out a lot of work, You will never get the nut off if needed, like if you need to do the U joint, or replace the bearing you pulled apart.


AND NO, I DID NOT SAY IT WOULD NOT WORK, IT WILL AT A COST, money time and safety, maybe not now, but later....

MR. GADGET

I have also had sealed bearings that I could add grease but not like these.

IF the seal is good no reason the add grease its sealed in and should be fine. If you have a lot of grease on the outside of the bearing you could try to pack it but I would make sure that is was sealed back so junk could not get in, that would make it go bad. For the most part if they leak it is running hot and there is a problem with the bearing, adding grease will not help a bearing that is marked up or burnt.

saf-t scissors

Funny you should mention this... I've got a buddy that's a full-time wrench turner. I asked him one day how he removed the unit hubs. He said he'd put a slide hammer on the studs and yank away. I asked him how he kept from pulling apart the assembly when he did that.

He says, "Never pass up an opportunity to sell parts."



Yanking on it with the axle bolted in does keep the bearing from separating, but it doesn't prevent you from tearing it up. You're just left with one busted piece instead of two.

Hvytrkmech

You buddy is a parts changer. He should sound out the bearings before doing the job. Then the responsibility would be on him for fubaring the bearing, in stead of selling parts after his mistake.


These hub assemblies in these trucks love to seize in the knuckles, plain and simple. Some times no matter what you do you can not separate the hub from the knuckle without damaging or destroying the hub. Take this for what you will, I don't have to do any repairs in my driveway. With that being said, and being in this business for the last 26 years of my life, I feel reasonably certain that the way I described is the most efficient and safest way to remove said parts without destroying them. In all actuality, if you have a problem after removing a bearing hub assembly, then it was most likely in a failing state before you removed it. Hence the inspection before hand.


Tim