Hey guys,

Gotta quick question. Have an "04 Dodge Ram 1500 SLT QC, heard a "clunking" noise a while back and took the wheel off thinking maybe the caliper was slipping or something of that nature. When I took the wheel off, I found that the spindle had play, not so much up and down, but in and out. Checked the CV Boots and axles, no real problem, both had very, very little play in them. My buddy who I was working with said it seemed to be the bearing. I have no play when trying to rock the tire at 12 and 6, no real roar or noise to speak of, although there might be some, but not like when bearing have gone in the past. The nut seems to be "out" or not tight against the hub but I was told not to mess with it. SO after all this I guess my question is would that nut back off at all (I was told they are locking threads)?? Do you think it's the bearing??? or the CV?? Tie rods, ends and ball joints all look good...ANY suggestion is helpful..
Thanks Guys

B

 

The CV nut wouldn't affect play moving the tire around. I'd say your wheel bearing is the most likely issue, but they usually make a roaring sound as you go down the road.

 

Thanks man I was thinking along those lines but am looking for different takes as not all the symptoms, like the roar, are there

 

Pull the tire off and just spin the hub assembly, if it makes a grinding sound it's on it's way out. I saw one wheel bearing go from barely loose to nearly losing the whole tire in 2 weeks.

 

Hopefully do it this weekend...thanks for the help dude truly appreciated

 

Hey Big Ram... if I'm reading this correctly.... when you inspected the large nut that holds the end of the cv axle in the hub assembly.... its not tightly torqued down??? And you can actually slide the spline drive of the cv axle in and out.. it moves??? Bro if this is the case.. thats not correct at all..... that needs to be torqued down. I just got done replacing both my hub assemblies and cv axles.... my book says 185 ft/lbs on that nut.

 

Check your hub. This is what happened too mine.

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/3rd-gen...your-hubs.html

 

Mike, your take is correct, I know in needs to be torqued down, but would it come loose???

 

WOW!!!!! Yeah I'm fairly certain it's my hub, all one piece as far as I can tell, thanks for the info though

 

Mine was one week. My buddy told me to listen for some noise then youll know its getting worse. It went from no noise at all one day to sounding like the Titanic rubbing up against a steel iceburg the next day.