Damos y Caballeros,

I recently sold the 04' and bought an 07' MegaCab 4x4 Cummins. My question lies here: do offset aftermarket rims put more strain on any of the wheel bearings? The rims in question are the black ones off my old truck (pics are in my profile). The reason I ask is that a couple of months after having them on my old truck, my front drivers side bearing went out and I wasn't sure if the greater offset on the rim would have caused it. I would like to put both the new tires and rims back on my new truck (I took everything off of the old truck) and wasn't sure if it would cause premature wear on my front hub bearings.

I appreciate your views and any concerns you may have.

Regards,

LT

 

The unitized bearings assembly has the bearing close together and higher offset rims will add more stress to the bearings. The answer is probably yes.

MikeyB

 

Yeah I would definitely agree. It'll also put more strain on your ball joints. The further the center of the wheel is from the joints/bearings, the more strain it'll put on them. A couple of inches would probably translate to 20%+ more additional stress.

 

That does it then. I'll take the tires off the rims and put them on the stock rims. Thanx guys.

 

I doubt with that little offset that i see on those rims it would hurt anything they don't look drastic. the unitized bearings are junk by the way

 

Is there a replacement bearing that I should be aware of if and when they do go out?

Also, with only 700 miles on the truck, should I be waiting to put larger tires on the truck? Are there some break in issues that the stock tires need to accomplish before replacing them?

Thank you for your reply.

LT

 

Probably 25% of the new trucks around here have aftermarket rims on them, I havent heard of anyone having issues with their bearings, I would say you just had some bad ones right from the factory

Kevin

 

I would say it add`s to wear due to the off-set and added weight. Out of every truck that I have inspected for bearing failure, 60% have had high off-set wheel`s with bigger tires. I`m not sure if the warranty covered the part in question, but for the most part they frown on oversize tires and wheels. They do allow some cushion on them.
Some allow up to 10% and others only allow up to 4% from stock.
Bigger tires and wheels change the load characteristic, add wheel weight and will cause premature bearing failure. Suspension lift`s add to the mix.
So be advised if you have an extended warranty, make sure you read your policy. I see this stuff all day long.

 

Any wheel with a different offset than the stockers will change the way the bearings are loaded. How much is debatable unless someone actually measures the loads. The stock unitized bearing assembly is a poor design and more prone to failure than the older designs. The Ford F-250/F-350 has the same problem. I've heard reports of their bearings failing as early as 35,000 miles on a stock truck. When mine fail I'll throw down the plastic and order the Dynatrac conversion.