have had my first dodge since december, dakota 4.7 2001 quadcab 4x4. driving yesterday in town and at stop light noticed that hot smell, not cooling system hot but that metal on metal type hot, and at the next light noticed a little smoke outside front right quarter panel. pulled over and the smoke was coming out of the front right tire/rim. i think it is a wheel bearing going out. left the truck in the parking lot. have never changed a wheel bearing on a dodge but have done several toyota's. they require a special socket. does anyone know if there are special tools required for changing the wheel bearing and would appreciate any tips?

 

How do you know its a bearing. Maybe its the Friction that are to tight.
I think that when a bearing is bad, its sounds like a ratling sound on that tire.

For a Dakota year 2001, it would be to soon to have bearing problems, unless
it had Big tires in a past usage and it ware them of.

 

hi,

i appreciate your response and i am not sure it is the wheel bearing yet as i haven't had the chance to pull the tire. it is about 20 miles away and i will pull it down soon but it just smelled like the last one on my other truck when it went bad. i sincerely hope it's not the bearing as i called the dodge dealer this morning and was told the bearing for this truck is a sealed $400.00 one and the labor would be approximately $240.00 plus a towing charge!!!!! could you explain what you mean by the "friction is too much", the truck has never had any tires larger than the p235 x 75r16's that came on it. the truck has never been off road.

 

The pads that stop the wheel. Maybe there to tight.
when you use the breaks constantly they over heat and
let out a burning smell.
I'm just guessing that might be the smell you said.

 

with the 4X4 part of the truck, you could run into other possible problems...I have not had the privalage of having to rip apart my front end as my truck only has 1400 miles on it so i cannot tell you. If you do your own work, or just as reference, you can pick up manuals on eBay, or from me if youd like, on CD. its in adobe format and seems very nice for the $10-15. I havent looked through the whole thing, but the parts i have are nice and explanatory.
As for your wheel bearing theory, that is a possibility. Id find it hard to believe your caliper could have frozen on that new of a truck, and you not noticing it pulling extensively to the right under either braking or regular driving. If you jack the front corner up, grab the top and bottom of the wheel and do a push-pull on opposite sides and there is a lot of play, your bearing is shot. if not, ummm...like i said, im not very familiar with Dodge 4x4 front ends...

 

Man, not sure what part of the country you are in but those prices are way too high..Shop around for the parts at other dealers. It depends on whether you have all wheel anti-lock brakes or just rear wheel anti-lock brakes. For rear wheel anti-lock brakes the part # is 52069361AC and works on either left or right side. These have a manufactures retail price of $217.00 For all wheel anti-lock brakes, the right side part # is 52068964AE and retails for $302.00, left side is 52068965AE and retails for $299.00 These wheel bearings are sealed in the hub assembly and cannot be repacked with grease. You have to replace the hub and bearing assembly. At my dealership the labor would be between $105.00 and $140.00 per side. This is something that you can do in a parking lot with a few tools and a jack. The following instructions came off Dodge's tech site.
REMOVAL
Raise and support the vehicle.
Remove the wheel and tire assembly.
Remove the halfshaft nut.
Remove the ABS wheel speed sensor if equipped,
Remove the brake caliper and rotor,
Remove the hub/bearing mounting bolts from the steering knuckle (Hub/Bearing).
Slide the hub/bearing out of the steering knuckle and off the halfshaft.


INSTALLATION
Install the hub/bearing into the steering knuckle and tighten the bolts to 166 N·m (123 ft. lbs.).
Install the brake rotor and caliper.Install the ABS wheel speed sensor if equipped.
Install the halfshaft nut and tighten to 235 N·m (173 ft. lbs.).
Install the wheel and tire assembly.
Remove the support and lower vehicle.


Hope this helps. If you cannot get the dealership to come down on the parts prices, let me know and I can ship you some if you want. You can email me if you need more help.