How can you tell which is bad without taking everything apart? I thought I had a wheel bearing going because of the slight play the front pass wheel has when jacked up. The dealership said that the U-joint was bad and needed to be replaced. Well, I trust the about as much as I trust the Iranian Govt.

What say you Dodge Gurus?

 

U joint will click as you drive.

 

with the truck on the ground, grab the top of the tire with both hands and shake it in/out as hard as you can. there should be no in-out movement in the hub.

if you have movement, its either the wheel bearing or the ball joint.

to check the axle u-joint, jack up the truck and grab ahold of the ujoint and twist it. if theres any movement, its bad. or if the grease seals are missing or cracked, its not far from being bad.

 

The symptoms tend to be very different. A bad u-joint will often make a clicking sound, usually more pronounced when turning. Bad wheel bearings usually make a grinding sound that can be heard whenever the tire is in motion and the grinding can often be felt in the steering wheel when it is real bad. A worn u-joint can not be determined by jacking up the tire and wiggling the wheel. It can sometimes be determined by looking at it, but one that badly worn would be obvious. It is possible they are both bad, but if one is gone the other is probably going since a worn one puts stress on the other, so replacing both is a good idea.

 

Well, I have no clicking, and there is no movement of the wheel while it is on the ground. The only time I can get it to have some play is when it is jacked up, and I can get about 1/4" of movement from top to bottom.

The only time I had it in 4wd this winter at any speed above 5mph, I had a vibration the moment I was at any speed above 10mph up to 40mph (didn't go any faster). Couldn't tell what the vibrations was, but it was definitely only noticed when in 4WD. I know this could be completely independant of the wheel bearing and u-joint issue, but I wanted to throw it out there as FYI.

 

Of course you won't feel any bearing play with the wheel on the ground. If there is bearing play it will cause the axle shaft to move off axis putting strain on the u-joint. This would be very noticeable in 4WD. If it's been this way for awhile I would replace both parts.

 

your wheel, front axles, axle u-joints turn all the time, in both 2wd and 4wd. so if you get a vibration ONLY in 4wd, you need to look at the front drive shaft u-joints (both ends)

if your wheel hub has rocking motion, either that hub bearing or ball joint is worn out too. double check which one it is.