03 ant a hemi

Front diff has been changed still grinding when turning left. Just replaced another wheel bearing today.
Anyone have any ideas what it could be. The suspension shop checked the alignment today and it is within specs. But they mentioned that the lower control arm cams are set weird. One being fully forward and one set full rear ward.

Anyone seen this before. I pretty much spent $5000+ now on parts and labour and still have not solved the problem. Pretty much done with this truck. No more money to put into it. Frustrating as heck.

I need a vehicle so it has to get fixed. Anyone have any ideas.

Mike Holemen if you are close by that diff housing can you check the cams and see which way they are set and let me know.


I am going out to disconnect the front drive shaft to see if that helps.

Mike Holmen

Derreck, its in the back of Tate's truck. Tate's in Cuba right now. If he see the post hopefully he can helpout. I've set mine to be straight-up. What position is the cam's in? Is the wheel rubbing or axle? Mine rubs one direction on the running boards. Its just for setting caster.

Thats chitty new buddy. Another front hub wow, If you need the diff back, let us know. Sorry to hear buddy. How about the shop that did the install? They should be a little more helpfull after all it wasn't that long ago that the truck was repaired. The parts should be under warranty regardless. You could pull the axle out like Rob suggested earlier. Keep us posted.

03 ant a hemi

One cam is set all the way back and the other is set forward.
measurment from center of bolt to center of bolt is as follows.
PS lower 18 9/16 upper 16 13/16
DS lower 18 11/16 upper 16 9/16.
Seems to be out a little bit.

The alignment specs came back as being well with in spec.


Will adjusting those cams pivot the axle forward /backwards?

Tate

The cams are for adjusting the castor. How that is killing bearings that fast is beyond me. Even a bent housing shouldn't be killing bearings that fast, otherwise trucks with wheels with little backspacing should be cratering fast. Where have you been getting the cams from?

I'm gonna go grab some food on the other side of town. If the snow in the back of the truck is gone, I can tell you where the cam bolts are set. Stupid snow . . .

03 ant a hemi

When I went into Kal tire the other day they looked at it they mentioned they had never seen the cams with one all the way forward and one all the way back.
With the way it is set up I would think that the axle would be dog legging and putting stress on one side more then the other.

I took some measurements of the frame in front of and behind the axle and it all seems to be fine.
But the axle itself seem to be out by 1/8th to 1/4 of an inch. from one side to the other top to bottom.
Maybe I need to change the top control arms.

pind

basically, with the cams like that, you have about as much cross caster as you can get.

If the arms aren't damaged, and the rest of the truck is straight, I would like to know what someone was thinking, building that much cross-caster into it. Or were they compensating for something? Trying to cure a death wobble.

Some cross is required, but not that much.

I would do something difficult, and measure the center to center on ALL the control arms, to see if one doesn't measure up.

As far as it eating bearings, that makes no sense, unless something is setting up a harmonic vibration that is taking them out. Your cross caster may put a different strain on each bearing, as the wheels try to pull themselves into line, perhaps check your toe in.

When you say it appears to be out by 1/8 to 1/4, do you mean from the insides of the tires at the top and bottom \ / / \ or something else?

Tate

I went and checked the axle. Driverside, the bolt head is to the front, which is pulling the arm to the front as well. Passenger side is pretty much in the middle, bolt head to the bottom. That being said, passenger side has been buzzed loose, so not sure if thats how it came in the truck or not.

And on my last post, I meant to ask where you are getting the bearings from. Not cams.

03 ant a hemi

last bearing to go was a OEM bearing, The one before that was a SKF.

I am not sure what is going on. Kind of makes me wonder.

The out a quarter inch is the control arms. from the cams adjusted the way they are.
I am going to call the mechanic who did the work in the morning, see what he says. All along he has been saying it is the dust shields rubbing, This weekend one bearing was replaced. See what happens.

What I am thinking is the cams are forcing the axle to sit crooked, causing a incorrect alignment.

I will have to measure the control arm lenght tomorrow after work.
Thanks guys.

torquefan

Offsetting the cams from one side to the other cannot actually change the cross caster setting. Cross caster is determined at assembly by the axle yokes and tubes being pressed together, so all offsetting the cams can do is change the squareness of the axle relative to the frame of the truck. Having said this, I can't see it affecting the lifespan of the wheel bearings.

Mike Holmen

I doubt that the hub failure is from your caster adjusters. Are you using different axles? Is it the same shop that installs the hubs or have you tried different shop. Maybe they are putting to much preload on the axle snub???Blasting on the nut with a 1in impact. Does the hub spin freely, once installed? Any funny noise or vibration come from the front end?

You have the alignment sheet/print out? Is it always the same side that fails? I have few nice marks on my rotors from my dust shields, nothing major though. Hate to ask, but are the wheels balanced?

You could also measure the angles on arms and pinion, on a flat level gournd, but even still that shouldn't cause an hub failure.

I would try the rag in the tube and remove both axles. See what happens. I feel the pain, as I went thru a batch of maintaince issues, as well with my ride, but most was caused by my heavy boot on my right leg.

Mike Holmen

Another question, how do the hubs fail? Have you taken one apart. I would find out what part of the hub bearing that fails. Might give you an idea if your getting higher thrust loading or a radial bearing load on the hub. Did you reuse the knuckles off the old axle?

Diesel Dave2

Derrick....If you could get that machine down to Calgary and have Rob look at it..

03 ant a hemi

I am working monday to friday now so i might be able to get down on Saturday if he is open.

Diesel Dave2

Sounds good...I talked to Rob about your truck today...Give him a call or PM him...He has some really good knowledge with these trucks....He has even thaught this old dog some new tricks

Tate

Did you reuse the stub shafts on your new axle, or use the old ones?