How to Replace front Wheelbearings
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12-11-2010 | 11:18 PM
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How to Replace front Wheelbearings
Hi,
After just replacing the third front wheel bearing between me and my dad's 1500 2WD I feel like I should share my experience; after the third time with the two of us we are able to swap the old wheel bearing assembly with a new one in about 2 hours. This is definately one of dodge ram's weak spots.....
Before I go any further, I would like to remind you that this is for 2WD trucks only. I have no experience with the 4wd trucks, and I imagine there are a few extra steps involved with drive shafts and such.
A new bearing assembly will cost about 250CAD. I figure by doing this repair yourself, you can save about 5 hours of labour, and at 80/hour it adds up fast.
When you go to order the new bearing assembly, make sure wether you have 4wd abs or only rear wheel abs.
For this fix you will need the following tools:
- 2 or 3 Jacks
- Sockets, Wrenches, big hammer, small hammer,
- WD 40
- Propane Torch, we have a Mr. Heater torch. It hooks up to your ordinary tank for you Barbeque. Make sure you have a new tank for your bbq, because after you use this torch with the tank, you are gonna wanna keep it around in the shop for other jobs in the future......
- Johnson Bar
- Pry Bars
IF you don't have the torch this job is gonna be a lot more dreadfull, and might take you a lot longer. I would strongly adivse you consider spending the 50 dollars for the torch.
http://www.zimbio.com/Travel+and+RV+...+Torch+MH500PT
Ok, you have your truck in the shop.
- Crack your wheel nuts loose
- Jack up the truck, placing the jack under the frame, far enough back where its not in the way
- Finish taking the lug nuts loose, and remove the tire, slide it under the truck for safety.
- Get your WD 40 and spary the following nuts:
- Streering rod nut
- The nut on the top A arm (this holds the top of your strut
- the nut on the very bottom of the strut
- We are going to be taking out the whole strut, so make sure you spray the nuts and familiarize yourself with them
- Next, remove the brake caliper. There are two big bolts that hold it to the strut. With a little force they should crack loose and can be removed quite easily. DONT loosen the little bolts with rubber sleeves. They hold the pads on your caliper, and they do not need to be removed.
- Once you have the caliper off, tie it to the top A arm with a zip tie, so that it's out of your way.
- Now we are gonna start to take the strut out. Don't be afraid to do this, it will make this job a lot simpler. It's not hard to do.
- To prevent the spring from popping out, put a jack under the A arm, put a little pressure on it. If you have freed up the jack you intially used to jack up the truck, you have gone too far.
- Get your johsnon bar, (or like me, put a pipe on your ratchet), and loosen the three nuts we sprayed with WD 40 earlier.
- Start by loosing the nut that holds the steering Rod to your strut
- Next, loosen the nut that holds the stut on the bottom A arm. (this might be a bigger nut)
- Finally, loosen the nut that holds the strut to the top A arm.
Now the heavy work begins
- with your big hammer give the steering knuckle pin a good tap. There should be a hex ending on it, that you can use later to tighten it back up, therefore you shouldn't have to worry about damaging the treads, but if you are worried about it, go ahead and turn the nuts back on.
- If you are struggling with this, use your torch to heat the aluminum strut, that holds the knuckle. Adjust the flame as low as possible, and be careful not to melt the rubber knuckles. Generally when you see or smell smoke, STOP.
- After heating the cast aluminum, give the knuckle a good hit again.
- If it's still stubborn you probably need more heat.
Success? Great, 2 more to go....
- Go on to the top A arm knuckle, followed by the bottom
- you may need to improvise on how and where you hit the strut or the knuckle ends.
Okay, so you have the strut out?
- First thing we are going to do is spray the bolts that hold the bearing assembly on the strut with WD40. They are in a triangular pattern.
- Next we will try to take off the brake rotor.
I am going to assume the brake rotor will not come of by itself. If it will come off by itself, you are lucky! Go for a coffee while the rest of us catch up.
- Find blocks to support the rotor.
- lay the rotor with the strut atttached to it
- Now, you want to use the blocks so that the strut is off the ground, and that the rotor is laying on the blocks, facing up. Don't worry about the metal shield, it will flex and bend back.
- Get your big hammer and a 1.5" square tubing of about 12". Hold it in the centre of the rotor, which is the hub assembly.
- Give the hub centre a good hit, to see if you can seperate the rotor from the hub assembly. Another good hit might do the trick.....
- If not, get the torch and heat the centre of the rotor, which is collar shaped. Stay away from the very centre though; this is the hub assembly and we do not want to heat/expand it.
- Try to hit it again, until you have the rotor off......
Finally we get to remove the actual hub assembly that has caused us all this misery.
- Flip the strut around
- Again with the blocks, support the strut so that you can hit the assembly out.
- Heat the cast aluminum strut, lots of heat would be good here.
- Grab your square tubing, and maybe get a friend to hold it upright with some pliers.
- If you are sure the strut is supported properly, and the assembly is able to drop out, go ahead and hit the hub assembly.
Any Luck?
If you have gotten the hub assembly out, the heat shield will have come off too. Remember how it went on the assembly.
- Now you will want to clean off any corrosion, which is the actual problem, that likely caused your bearing to fail. See the corrosion actually crushes your bearing.
- Use a putty knife, screwdriver, or wire brush to clean the strut. Don't take chunks of aluminum out! Some pitting may have occured, too bad so sad.
Now we can put in our new hub assembly!
- Reassemble the strut
- Tighten the 3 bolts holding the hub assembly
- Replace the rotor
- Replace the strut in the A-arms
- Tighten nuts on the knuckles GOOD AND TIGHT
- you may need a second wrench to hold the pin if it's spinning on you, in order to tighten these nuts.
- Replace wheel
- Tighten lug nuts
And you are done!
Hopefully this will help you!
I would love to hear feedback, or if you have used this if you found it helpfull.
I know its a long list, and it should have some pictures, but I think if you follow it step by step you should be ok.
Good Luck!
Martien
After just replacing the third front wheel bearing between me and my dad's 1500 2WD I feel like I should share my experience; after the third time with the two of us we are able to swap the old wheel bearing assembly with a new one in about 2 hours. This is definately one of dodge ram's weak spots.....
Before I go any further, I would like to remind you that this is for 2WD trucks only. I have no experience with the 4wd trucks, and I imagine there are a few extra steps involved with drive shafts and such.
A new bearing assembly will cost about 250CAD. I figure by doing this repair yourself, you can save about 5 hours of labour, and at 80/hour it adds up fast.
When you go to order the new bearing assembly, make sure wether you have 4wd abs or only rear wheel abs.
For this fix you will need the following tools:
- 2 or 3 Jacks
- Sockets, Wrenches, big hammer, small hammer,
- WD 40
- Propane Torch, we have a Mr. Heater torch. It hooks up to your ordinary tank for you Barbeque. Make sure you have a new tank for your bbq, because after you use this torch with the tank, you are gonna wanna keep it around in the shop for other jobs in the future......
- Johnson Bar
- Pry Bars
IF you don't have the torch this job is gonna be a lot more dreadfull, and might take you a lot longer. I would strongly adivse you consider spending the 50 dollars for the torch.
http://www.zimbio.com/Travel+and+RV+...+Torch+MH500PT
Ok, you have your truck in the shop.
- Crack your wheel nuts loose
- Jack up the truck, placing the jack under the frame, far enough back where its not in the way
- Finish taking the lug nuts loose, and remove the tire, slide it under the truck for safety.
- Get your WD 40 and spary the following nuts:
- Streering rod nut
- The nut on the top A arm (this holds the top of your strut
- the nut on the very bottom of the strut
- We are going to be taking out the whole strut, so make sure you spray the nuts and familiarize yourself with them
- Next, remove the brake caliper. There are two big bolts that hold it to the strut. With a little force they should crack loose and can be removed quite easily. DONT loosen the little bolts with rubber sleeves. They hold the pads on your caliper, and they do not need to be removed.
- Once you have the caliper off, tie it to the top A arm with a zip tie, so that it's out of your way.
- Now we are gonna start to take the strut out. Don't be afraid to do this, it will make this job a lot simpler. It's not hard to do.
- To prevent the spring from popping out, put a jack under the A arm, put a little pressure on it. If you have freed up the jack you intially used to jack up the truck, you have gone too far.
- Get your johsnon bar, (or like me, put a pipe on your ratchet), and loosen the three nuts we sprayed with WD 40 earlier.
- Start by loosing the nut that holds the steering Rod to your strut
- Next, loosen the nut that holds the stut on the bottom A arm. (this might be a bigger nut)
- Finally, loosen the nut that holds the strut to the top A arm.
Now the heavy work begins
- with your big hammer give the steering knuckle pin a good tap. There should be a hex ending on it, that you can use later to tighten it back up, therefore you shouldn't have to worry about damaging the treads, but if you are worried about it, go ahead and turn the nuts back on.
- If you are struggling with this, use your torch to heat the aluminum strut, that holds the knuckle. Adjust the flame as low as possible, and be careful not to melt the rubber knuckles. Generally when you see or smell smoke, STOP.
- After heating the cast aluminum, give the knuckle a good hit again.
- If it's still stubborn you probably need more heat.
Success? Great, 2 more to go....
- Go on to the top A arm knuckle, followed by the bottom
- you may need to improvise on how and where you hit the strut or the knuckle ends.
Okay, so you have the strut out?
- First thing we are going to do is spray the bolts that hold the bearing assembly on the strut with WD40. They are in a triangular pattern.
- Next we will try to take off the brake rotor.
I am going to assume the brake rotor will not come of by itself. If it will come off by itself, you are lucky! Go for a coffee while the rest of us catch up.
- Find blocks to support the rotor.
- lay the rotor with the strut atttached to it
- Now, you want to use the blocks so that the strut is off the ground, and that the rotor is laying on the blocks, facing up. Don't worry about the metal shield, it will flex and bend back.
- Get your big hammer and a 1.5" square tubing of about 12". Hold it in the centre of the rotor, which is the hub assembly.
- Give the hub centre a good hit, to see if you can seperate the rotor from the hub assembly. Another good hit might do the trick.....
- If not, get the torch and heat the centre of the rotor, which is collar shaped. Stay away from the very centre though; this is the hub assembly and we do not want to heat/expand it.
- Try to hit it again, until you have the rotor off......
Finally we get to remove the actual hub assembly that has caused us all this misery.
- Flip the strut around
- Again with the blocks, support the strut so that you can hit the assembly out.
- Heat the cast aluminum strut, lots of heat would be good here.
- Grab your square tubing, and maybe get a friend to hold it upright with some pliers.
- If you are sure the strut is supported properly, and the assembly is able to drop out, go ahead and hit the hub assembly.
Any Luck?
If you have gotten the hub assembly out, the heat shield will have come off too. Remember how it went on the assembly.
- Now you will want to clean off any corrosion, which is the actual problem, that likely caused your bearing to fail. See the corrosion actually crushes your bearing.
- Use a putty knife, screwdriver, or wire brush to clean the strut. Don't take chunks of aluminum out! Some pitting may have occured, too bad so sad.
Now we can put in our new hub assembly!
- Reassemble the strut
- Tighten the 3 bolts holding the hub assembly
- Replace the rotor
- Replace the strut in the A-arms
- Tighten nuts on the knuckles GOOD AND TIGHT
- you may need a second wrench to hold the pin if it's spinning on you, in order to tighten these nuts.
- Replace wheel
- Tighten lug nuts
And you are done!
Hopefully this will help you!
I would love to hear feedback, or if you have used this if you found it helpfull.
I know its a long list, and it should have some pictures, but I think if you follow it step by step you should be ok.
Good Luck!
Martien