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Wheel bearings

3K views 12 replies 8 participants last post by  Mike Holmen 
#1 ·
I'm at 240k and change, front wheel bearings probably need to be done around 280k... any idea what wheel bearings and tie rods should cost?
 
#3 ·
I used a company account at napa and for my 01 they were right around the 300 a side mark, list price was 589 I think. This was for the 4 wheel ABS ones but again they are for a second gen, yours might be a bit cheaper.
 
#5 ·
Ya the oem stuff is junk. I would also replace check ball joints, I think that NAPA is around $50 a piece. Outer Tie rods are about the same amount. It would be a good time to check to see how good shape that your steering box is? The longer arms/bars are the pricey stuff. If you buy them from NAPA you get a three warranty.

ynot57, Do you have a parts list of replacement parts or a web link for the hub upgrade.

The hubs are a pain to remove. Mine needed to be heated up and beat on to get them to come out.

Most of the front end will be replaced. At 250 to 300k KM mark is a good time to just go from front to rear and place all the worn stuff. U-joints, brakes, front end stuff.
 
#7 ·
Sounds like it would be easier to do the whole front end for sure! My ball joints have less than 50K on them, steering box as well, drag links and track bar were replaced last year. Just did the brakes.
 
#8 ·
My drive line has 426,000kms on it, used daily stop and go traffic, check the front end to see if they are loose if not, leave them be, I believe you will find other stuff wore out first, if your talking about your 04, I'll bet both upper ball joints are toast, my suggestion is to replace them with MOOG Ball joints(approx 70$) from a 2nd gen Ive done a couple courior trucks with these and so far they have held up longer,Stay away from the adjustable BJ unless thats whats in the truck to correct a steering issue. I've also replaced the track bar bushing in two trucks (04 and 05) bushings were around 15$ each vice 360$ for a bar, both trucks had 270XXX on the clock and have been courior trucks all their service life. both of these trucks I've also put steering boxes in due to the lower seal leaking, because the lower bearing was beat out of it, so inspect that as well, you can push/pull on the pitman arm with your hand and see and hear the play. a DDS (steering box brace) brace will stop the problem. Of the 4 courior trucks plus mine I've only replaced 1 bearing, I dont consider replacing them as a pre-caution (preventive maintance) but would reccommend inspecting your front end regulary, at least every oil change, that will increase your chances of catching problems BEFORE they become problems when you least need it.
also found on the 3rd gens they like to eat thru axel u-joints and front drv shaft u-joints and carden bearings
the other high fail rate item is the trans cooler, they usually are soaked with tranny oil edventually they puke, the factory version is junk, if seaping replace with something else, they are around 300$ from dodge, After Market are 1/2 that

My two cents
 
#9 ·
Good stuff Nickg. Its always good to hear someone who actually works on these trucks daily. Dodge usually have upper ball joint issues as long I owned one. I like replacing everything at the same time, so the worn parts don't put more stress onto new parts and wear them out, IMO.

The steering box adjustment, sometimes fixes the wiggling that you get. I'm still not 100% sold on the value of the DSS steering box brace. Yes it helps, when the truck is used on rougher non-hiway use. Most of us just drive on hiway, so how often does that steering box lower bearing fails? If you do tons of gravel or back country driving, yes its a good mod. My dad had a 01 CTD 3/4 4X4, the front was toasted in 50000km's. He did tons of gravel/off hiway driving. Mine lasted till 240000km, most of mine where hiway. My lower ball joints and long bars (upper tie rods??) where fine. I just replaced them as its tons of work to get at that low ball joint, and you risk the damagin hub seals.

My brother has two complete front ends on his 04 3/4HD chevy duramax for 100000km's.
 
#10 ·
all of our company trucks have never had the front end done on them and these are oilfield 1 tons and 3/4 tons and they are beat to crap and for the daul ss bar id say get it cause thats all that i can feel wrong with these trucks right now im gunna order a few and see how they doo
 
#11 ·
Mike, my opinion is the dirt/gravel has no bearing (pun) on the lower bearing failure, think of it this way, a courior driver makes a gazillion dry turns backing in and out of loading docks and puts way more stress on a steering box than a regular driver does, you have a super heavy engine sitting over the wheels so when you turn the steering the stress is transmitted thru the tierods to the lower bearing which is not supported, it takes the lateral load and as the pitman arm rotates it puts lots of stress on the pitman arm shaft and lower bearing, it has to because the load is located at the outboard end of the pitman arm shaft, In a stock configuration you have an upper bearing then a space then the lower bearing then the pitman arm (or load) with a steering brace you have top steering box bearing a space then the lower box bearing then the pitman arm (load) them another bearing, in this manner the load is sandwiched between 2 bearings, this takes the stress off the stock bearings in the box. No doubt a stock truck used only for hi-way work with min stop and go city driving will last much longer, but when used as a work truck on dry pavement the stock set up is doomed to fail
 
#12 ·
i usually average 2 -3 full front end rebuilds/year (40,000-60,000km)
at about $2000 a pop i decided to go with the Moog replacement parts, with lifetime warranty all you pay is the labor costs (about $500) each time.

id have to say that i dont think the Moog stuff is any stronger than the OEM, but at least all i pay is the labor.

as for the steering brace, regardless of what you drive on, they make a huge difference in the front end stability and stop alot of the wandering, especially on the pre 03 trucks
 
#13 ·
I could have re-used my old steering box on my truck. I do lots of hiway and abit of gravel. I just find the gravel harder on the truck. It makes sense that couriers need a better steering box, but it also depends on who rebuilds the box. Anybody have the parts list on coverting these front dana 60's to manual locking hub?
 
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