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3500 Front Wheel Bearings

12K views 19 replies 15 participants last post by  Loki223 
#1 ·
I had the left front factory wheel hub bearing on my 2015 3500 disintegrate at 70K miles. While on the highway, it started making noises, then set an "implausible wheel speed" code, then completely melted! All within 50 miles!

The dealer replaced the hub unit along with the brakes & caliper bracket that the crooked wheel took out during it's meltdown.

Nothing like spending 60 grand on a "heavy duty" truck and having the wheels fall off while you're driving it! Anyway . . . I'd like to replace the OEM front bearings with something reputable. I know locomotives & freight cars use "Timken" bearings so I would guess they are probably better quality than the stock ones.

I contacted Timken directly but haven't heard back. A few sites list Timken part # HA590628 for the RAM 3500 2013-2018 model years. Can anyone confirm that part #?


Thanks in advance!
 

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#2 ·
Wow! I just finished doing mine. It lasted until 180,000 miles though. Sorry I can’t help on the part number though mines a 2012. I went with timken also. Rockauto had the best deal I could find.
 
#4 ·
Lucky you! I bought my 3500 RAM brand new. At 30K the front axle U-Joints went and at 70K the wheel bearing melted! And lets not forget the 80 million recalls!

I have to say - None of my Duramax diesels ever had a wheel fall off!
 
#7 ·
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#9 ·
Bearing quality is all over the place in the aftermarket. I had one fail on my 05 at about 20,000 miles. I kept an eye on that truck after i sold it and the second owner never did have any other issues with bearings and the truck is over 200,000 now.
Fix what failed and roll with it. If you get a second failure then reevaluate.
 
#10 ·
Thank you Mr. Brockman! I have relied on your advice many times over the years.

I just hate to replace failed parts with the same exact ones, but If you trust the SKF bearings, I may just order those. It's good to know they have a lot of grease inside as I believe a lack of grease in these so called "sealed" bearings is the cause of the failures.


Also, I like your "Average Speed" numbers. Awesome!
 

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#11 ·
I know Chinese bearings off ebay are poor choices for electric motors, they are too loose.
I have bought new bearing from those sellers and they have feelable play, and put them in motors and they whine badly.
Had good experiences with Japanese bearings for all kinds of uses.
 
#12 ·
Armed with part numbers from gsbrockman I went ahead and ordered the SKF bearings. In the meantime, I started getting all the tools together for the replacement job and discovered I did not have the correct size axle hub socket.

I've read a lot of confusing information about what size socket will work on a specific year truck. Mine's a 2015 3500. I measured the axle nut with a caliper and it was 32MM. However, both 32MM 6 & 12 point sockets were too small and 34MM 6 & 12 were a bit loose.

I was lucky enough to find an "Advance Auto Parts" store that let me take a handful of sockets out to my truck to see which one fit. They had a 33MM 6 point impact socket that fits the axle nut like a glove! So now I'm waiting for FedEx to arrive with my bearings so I can start this weekends project.
 

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#13 ·
Just did mine a couple days ago. Not a bad job. I didn't replace the axle u joints though I intended to. Rock auto sent the wrong ones and they still felt and sounded good after 135k. I too couldn't find the right socket locally. I used a 1 3/4 I believe. Was a little loose but it worked fine.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 
#15 ·
I’ve used hundreds of SKF bearings on commercial HVAC equipment and they are darn good bearings. My 2012 started life in Wisconsin and all the bare metal parts got rusted really tight. My front hubs went out 120 thousand miles and I needed Wood blocks and a 10 pound sledge to take everything apart. I sanded off all the rusty spots and put everything back together with a thin coat of grease, just in case there is a next time. Craig
 
#16 ·
I just changed the driver's bearing on my 2017 3500, 39,500 miles. Replaced with a SKF from rockauto for about $215

Dealer had it for 9 days and were unable to positively diagnose the noise beyond saying they thought possible front wheel bearing and maybe the driver's side. They did get that right.

Took about 2 hours to do including a trip to advance for the socket. I had 32mm, 34mm and the 1-11/16. No dice... 33mm is the one.

https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p...eavy-duty-chrome-moly-steel-w80553/11957790-P
 
#19 ·
OEMs are SKF and SKF uses Timken bearings. You can get a Timken brand one, or pay a little more and get the SKF one that uses the same timken bearings. Or it could be the other way around, i just remember i replaced with Timken units as they were cheaper. there's multple threads on that on here and i'm honestly to lazy to dig them up. But good on you for digging up a thread from 2 years ago that relates to you current situation

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