So about 30,000 miles ago, my wheel bearing hubs on my '99 Ram were shot. I replaced them myself as well as the U-joints. All was well...or so I thought.

Yesterday, I drop my truck off at a shop to have a 4-wheel alignment done and have them check out some odd tire wear on the front tires. The guy calls me and tells me, "sir, your driver's side front wheel is about the fall off!!!" Once I picked the truck up and got it home, I jacked it up and found a LOT of play in the driver's side wheel. The wheel bearing was beyond hosed. In only 30,000 miles.

You see, when I replaced the bearing initially, I only had a torque wrench that went up to 150 ft/lbs. So I torqued the hub nuts to that and then used a breaker bar and cheater pipe to "guess" the torque up to 180 where they should be. It seems the German "goodntite" method doesn't work as well as I'd hoped!

I replaced the bearing again last night, but this time invested in a 50-300 ft/lb torque wrench to do the job right. I retorqued the passenger side too just to be sure.

Moral of the story: just cough up the dough for the right tools in the beginning. Trying to be cheep will only cost you more.

 

People will always argue with you that the "cheater bar" method is "just as good" and will quibble over a few bucks for the proper tool.

Overall, you got very lucky.

 

I just got a loaner torque wrench from O'Reilleys. I was the first one to get it too because they had just built the store.

I couldn't see dropping 80$ on a torque wrench that is that big and that I would hardly ever use.

 

I'm a huge believer in torque specs, but in all honesty, I just rattle on those hub nuts pretty good with a 1/2" Impact and I've never had problem in my 13 years doing this professionally. It'd take a helluva lot of torque to actually overtighten a unit bearing like that (crush the inner races). Probably more than the threads could handle.

Who's bearing did you use? Sounds to me like it probably just failed without a causal factor. Over/under tightened bearings don't last 30k miles in my experience.

 

The bearings I bought were from Napa and were about $400 bucks a piece. They were not the house brand. They were supposed to be the top-o-the-line bearings.

This time, I just installed the $150 bearing from Oreilly's (again, not the house brand).

 

I'm just curious, was the nut loose or just the bearing was blown?

 

Well I use the NAPA wheel hub part # PBR930256 and I replace them on warranty every 8 months cuz they are shot or almost shot, But my Question is way did you not take that bearing back to napa for warranty it should have a 1-2 year coverage, even the ones I use have a one year coverage. If you still have it take it back and get a new one and keep it as a spare.

 

The nut had probably 20 ft/lbs of torque on it or less. Just barely beyond hand tight. I know I put it on tighter than that and I know the nut didn't spin (cotter pin was still in place).

 

I probably should have. I still have the bad bearing so I probably still can.

Don't have the receipt though. :/

 

Ah yes the lost receipt, well hopefully you get along with the napa people and they help you out. I've got a few cash receipts for that part but I don't think they will take a CDN one in the States.