Anyone have problems with front hub assembly? After replacing 3 times and taking apart the old one, it's definitely a mfr f'up. Two different mfr parts pressed together in one.
Anyone have any ideas.
98 Dodge Dakota 4X4 5.2 Magnum

 

buy aftermarket?

 

I just posted a message regarding a noise in the front end of my '02 Dakota 4wd. It sounds similar to what an older 4wd truck sounded if you left the hubs locked in and drove down the highway (basically a moderately loud hum that increases with wheel speed). What kind of symptoms have you observed when your front hub assembly went bad?

 

at first it sounds like a grind noise, but only when turning thought maybe something stuck in there...

Eventually it started making a noise constantly, after that I was driving on the road and it went out completely... Drove home, got out and noticed the tire slanting out wards... Good thing I only have to drive a few hundred meters...

 

yeah the front ends in these trucks suck ***** reason why mine rarely ever goes offroad

 

the reason why im going solid... lol.

 

It felt very squirmy and when going over a bump it seemed that the rear end shifted to one side, scary. Something is not right and I just havn't figured it out yet.
I replaced the front hub 3rd time, again with an aftermarket because it was still under the warranty. But when they look up parts for my truck Vin code Y 98 Dakota 4x4 5.2, the front hub assembly that comes up has a ABS connector and I don't have ABS in the front?? So I took it anyways and it did seem to handle better but it just seems that all parts are not made well. So after replacing nearly the whole front end, I decided to check out the back and the drum brakes were bad so I replaced with new ones that look the same thickness as the old ones??? and broke the little adjuster that loosens the hub or whatever so I could remove it and now I'm back to more money again.

 

I don't have locking hubs, when I want to put it in 4wd I just put it in neutral and shift the 4wd in low or high (part time) is what is shows on the instrument panel. But I hardly ever use the 4wd. It just seems like all the front end parts are a piece of junk. I still have the problem but I guess it could be coming from the rear, which I'm just now checking and seeing more problems. Any advice on buying better parts and where?

 

Mine turned out to be the front hub / wheel bearing. I didn't have any extra play in the bearing, but I did have a noticeable noise, and a very slight roughness that you could feel when spinning the wheel by hand. Once the bearing was removed, the bearing felt like junk. Very noisy and very rough.

The O'Reilly's replacement was available either with or without the wheel sensor for 4-wheel ABS. My '02 apparently only has rear-wheel ABS, so I got the one without the sensor.

 

the dakotas have auto locking hubs on the front axle, and as for the rear drums, just proves my theory that the drum brakes are barely used, when i replaced my rears, the old set had similar thickness as the new set, pretty ridiculous