I left my house today to go to work and did not get even a mile down the road, heard a bad humming/roaring sound from the front end of my truck. The truck also seemed to be struggling to move, as if the brakes were stuck. I came back home, called in to work and put the front end up on jack stands. Left front wheel spins fine, no noise, very easy rotation. The right front has obvious wheel bearing noise. Rough scraping sound and the wheel did not move nearly as easily as the left front did. The wheel itself was also a lot hotter to the touch than the left wheel was. But there was no movement of the wheel. For now it is still tight to the hub, no play at all in or out, top or bottom or sideways. Caliper and pads are OK.

So I am pretty sure I have a bad wheel bearing hub assembly. I just replaced my OE hubs in November 2012. I used Duralast hubs and am now finding out they may not have been very good quality. I just now ordered two Moog hubs from AAP, used the TRT41 code, did two transactions and saved $80.00 on the pair.

I hope the Moogs will do better but I wonder what exactly caused such an early part failure like this? It has been only about 15,000 miles on the Duralast hubs, they should not have failed this soon. I have new tires and my alignment is perfect. Ball joints and all other suspension parts are OK, so is my steering. Is Duralast just bad quality or what? I did see the Driveworks brand at AAP and Duralast at Autozone both have the same part number so they both come from the same factory in China. I did drive in some heavy rain on Friday, did not drive the truck at all on Saturday or Sunday, and when I pulled the wheels this morning the right front hub-rotor had water on it. The left did not. Could water have gotten past the seals on the bearing and caused this?

Anyone else here have hub troubles like this? I am replacing both hubs today even though the left *appears* to be OK for now. I do hope these Moogs will be the "problem solver" they claim to be. Man I hate Mondays..

Jimmy

 

Are you positive the caliper has released?

Usually the hubs make noise for a while before they fail.

 

I want to agree with Dan. Odd for a hub to work then fail overnight....

 

Long day today..I had to take the day off work but drive my wife to her job so I could use her car to get parts if needed. I told her I could ride my mountain bike to Napa or Advance but she wasn't having it. So I got back here, checked the prices online and bought two Moog hubs from Advance. I used the TRT41 discount code, did two separate transactions and saved $80.00 on the pair. My cost was $78.00 each.

When I removed the right front hub it was pretty clear what had happened, the outer surface of the bearing race was rusted and the bearing itself was very rough when I spun it by hand. With the hub on the spindle without the rotor and caliper/pads the hub had so much play in it that it was like a socket on a wobble drive extension. I could almost rotate the outer part with the wheel studs in a complete oval pattern. It was pretty obvious water must have got in the seals and ruined the bearings inside.

The left side was not near as bad as the right but I replaced them both anyway just for peace of mind. This was a lesson learned, cheap parts are cheap for a reason. Maybe the hubs failed because my alignment was off for a while last year. My steering wheel was straight so I did not notice the alignment problem until I had some tire cupping problems. Last summer I got new tires and a lifetime alignment deal at Firestone so I should not have any problems like that now.

I can say my truck is rolling smooth as glass now, no noise and no problems at all from the front end. I will also say buy a name brand part if you need suspension or steering parts. Those Duralast hubs were made in China and only had a one year warranty. The Moogs are made in Korea and have a three year warranty. That alone should explain this entire ordeal today. Thanks for your replies here.

Jimmy

 

Glad you got it fixed.

One more question, did you torque them to spec? That's the biggest killer of hubs.

 

Yep torqued to 185 ft-lbs on both with new spindle nuts too. Calipers are fine, they slid right off the rotors. I did not even need to use a c-clamp. Truck drove fine coming to work today.

Jimmy

 

I'm glad nothing serious happened.
Thanks for posting this. I know none of us like to spend more money than we have to but your experience might save someone else some money (or even an injury) in the long term.
Dan

 

My guess is the hub's sat on a shelf too long

I have seen all to many people have new hubs only last one year I just replaced my hubs two or three months ago.

We will see how long they last

 

i replaced my hubs about 4 months ago, and they failed within a month. same brand that failed on you, i pulled some off a dak in a local junk yard. new hub nuts. have not had an issue since. lol.

 

I bought ebay hub's for my dakota cause at the time they only carried the timkin one for 190.00 so I got them on ebay for 50.00. Everyone said I was crazy and was lucky to see a month out of them but a year later and 20k and they were still quiet and tight when I sold my truck. I dread the day I have to get one for my ram at 350.00 a piece!!