whats the best way to check the front wheel bearing to see if its going bad.I'm driving down to disney and i dont want to brake down some where.thanks Bill

 

Listen for noises. It will have an extremely annoying "humming" noise from the wheel bearing that is going out.

Also if you would like to investigate it, take the wheel off and rotor off and there will be a cheap cap in the center of the hub assembly. Take the cap off and remove cotor pin and remove bolt and you will be able to take entire hub assembly off. Our rigs are easy as to replace the bearing you must replace the hub itself.

If you are really worried about it grab a few hub assemblys off eBay (around $45 a piece) and bring them down with you if worst comes to worst. I just recently replaced mine in the front and the job took me a total of 2 hours to replace both.

Firestone complete auto center will do an inspection free.

Also, you have to drive on it for a while from the first signs of a wheel bearing going bad for it to leave you broken down on the side of the road Granted if you do drive on it for long enough, it has potential to tear up your ball joints and tie rods, but you can drive on it for a while. Before I replaced mine I drove on the worn wheel bearing for about 4,000 miles.

 

Here's another way to find out which bearing may be going bad: If you turn left and you hear the groaning/humming/grinding sound, then it's the right bearing. Vice versa then it's the left.

 

Can I jack up the front end and check the tires for movement or is that just for the ball joints.

 

That's the ball joints. Side to side you can check the tie rod ends.


The only way to check the bearings is to remove them and check for ware unless they are giving signs of ware by sounds or vibration.

 

Im starting hearing a sound more like gears winding up.. the sound starts at about 25-30 mph... i have checked the gear oil on both axles and made sure the tranny was filled... any other idea? could this be wheel hub issue?

 

Does that happen when turning or just rolling straight? If while turning, consider this... You stated that both axles have plenty of gear oil... but do you know when the rear diff was serviced last? If it's been a long time, the friction modifier may have broken down. It will look fine, but will not function properly with the limited slip differential. If in doubt, replace the gear oil with Mobile 1 FS 75W-90 oil and 7oz of Friction Modifier... less than $40 total.

One thing that I have learned about the Duranago, is that suspension/chassis sounds are very difficult to pinpoint... the sounds travel well along the frame.

 

Agreed, but when they go, they can really go. The last time I had one go out it threw the wheel off center enough that the brake caliper started grinding a groove into the inside of the wheel. Got it pulled off the road before it did any real damage, but it was bad enough that I ended up having the D towed to the shop because I wasn't comfortable driving it another inch. And the shop was right across the street, would have been about a 70 yard drive....

 

The real question is; is it broken?? or are you just searching for things to fix??

 

Thats interesting you say yours went out like that because typically you get a while before it NEEDS to be replaced. My wife drove about 6,000 miles while it was moaning and groaning before it got replaced.