Still could be the bearing. When you apply the brakes the force torques the bearing quieting it down momentarily. The angle of the rotor (there shouldn't be any) is due to the bearing being bad.

If you have front ABS, expect to pay $300+ to a shop just for the part. I've seen them on eBay as cheap as $179. If you don't have front ABS, expect to pay about half that. Labor will probably run you 2-2.5 hours per side.

If you have the tools, you should consider doing it yourself. It really is pretty simple.

 

if you can wiggle your wheel at the top and bottom, its the bearing. it might have been that way for awhile, and it may last awhile longer. but bearings are supposed to be tight and not wiggle at all.

well, the good, brand name timken bearings are about $180 apiece. i don't know the labor times, but i'd guess at least an hour per side. you could be looking at $600 for both sides.

 

Damn...yeah I have ABS. Is that $300+ per side or for everything?

Is there a way to tell for sure whether it's the bearings or the ball joints? Do I have to replace both sides at the same time? The passenger side is solid when I pull on it.

I also noticed uneven wear on the drivers front tire (Dunlop mud terrains) . The inside of the tire has a lot less tread than the outside. Could this be a clue as to what the problem is? The other 3 tires look fine. Thanks again

EDIT: Thanks dhvaughan, you must have replied just before I did.

 

Tire wear can indicate both a worn bearing or bad suspension components like ball joints. The noise is common to bad bearings, though.

Rock Auto has non-ABS bearing units from $100. You can replace just the bad one, but expect the other side might go south not too long from now. Be thankful, the ones for my truck start at $260.

 

are you sure you have front ABS? most of our trucks are RWAL (rear only abs). front abs will have a wire attached to the front hub, in addition to the brake hose...

 

I think every Ram truck from our generation has rear ABS. Front ABS wasn't offered until the last few years, IIRC, and even then it was a very high end option. 99% don't have it.

I'm with dhvaughan, make sure you have front ABS or not for sure. I doubt that you do.

 

IIRC 97-up all models had RW ABS. My 99 base model 3.9 even had it.

 

the best way to find out what your issue is would be to pull the tire, brakes then hub off and spin it while listening for any noise and feeling for any stiffness. getting the hubs off is really easy so you may as well do that. when you get the hub off then you can get a good grip on the spindle and check out your ball joints since you'll have them right in front of you with nothing blocking them.

i said that hubs are really easy and that is a true statement if you have a good penetrating fluid (not pb blaster), a cheater bar and a torque wrench that will go to 175 ft. lbs.

 

I have 4 wheel ABS. It's rare to find it on a 1500, though.

 

I guess I only have rear ABS, I misread your post Miami. I picked up a new hub bearing for $105 out the door at Advanced auto. Seems like a fairly easy fix, but where the heck do I find a 1-11/16" socket? Nobody around here carries anything that big.