Wow. That's not supposed to happen....... Was it making any noise before it failed? Usually, they will be growling pretty loud long before they get to that point....

And yeah, that just the hub/bearing unit. Replace it, and you'll be good. I would be very tempted to take a very close look at the other side as well.

 

 

Tow truck would be a better plan.... driving it may do significantly more damage......

 

If you have a vehicle dolly (something like this - https://www.harborfreight.com/1000-l...-pc-61283.html), I'd jack the damaged side up, slide in the dolly and lower/remove the jack, put the truck in neutral and push the truck around the block (with a friend) into the parking lot. If you don't have a dolly, calling a tow truck would take care of it, too.

Keep in mind that these trucks are old and require periodic maintenance, especially the parts that tend to wear, such as wheel bearings.

 

It's a 4X4 so the wheel bearing are maintenance free(sealed unit), Not even a zerk fitting.

 

yikes....shouldn't be too bad of a fix in actuality. I remember when I first got my 01 3.9 ram it needed the driver's front wheel bearing, was pretty loud.... on the last couple years of 2nd gens you couldn't just replace the bearing itself, the whole hub itself was one part.....found a Timkin one cheap on rockauto https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo...366578&jsn=501 , around ~110 with 1-2 day shipping, wasn't bad and WAY better quality than the crap autozone brand ones from what I read, and cheaper too I believe.

 

Ya, that thing was trying to tell you it needed help for quite a while & you weren't listening until it was too late. Be very careful & look over your brake caliper & holder, as you may have f*cked it up when the wheel went wonky. The caliper is the only thing that kept the wheel from coming completely off & taking the axle with it.

You don't need any special tools to fix it other than that big *** socket for the axle nut and a 12 point 13mm socket for the 3 bearing bolts. make sure you loosen that big nut before you jack it up, or use an impact driver. Since the hub will certainly fall out of the bearing housing when you remove the brake caliper, you need to use a big *** hammer and a big chisel to wedge between the bearing housing and the spindle.
Mike Sal

 

Congrats on not ending up dead. You got some good karma.

 

Gotta be more in tune with your vehicle, friend. That thing had to be sounding like an airplane for a while. Definitely do both sides as the other is probably getting ready to let go too. I replaced my fronts with Timkens last year. 2WD is super simple. Word of advice when replacing, use a torque wrench when tightening. If you go too tight, you end up wearing out the bearings faster and you don't want to be too loose either. Quoting myself from my old thread, I drive a Dak, but I think torque is the same.