1999 Dodge Ram Front Wheel Bearings

Tiny
DUSTINBABIN
  • MEMBER
  • 1999 DODGE RAM
  • 5.9L
  • 6 CYL
  • TURBO
  • 2WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 141,000 MILES
Replaced driver and passenger front wheel/spindle bearings. Bearing races were still in hub, checked them and they appeared ok. Cleaned inside of hub greased and packed bearings and reinstalled into hub. Installed grease seal with flat side facing outward (as instructed by auto part store) onto the spindle then installed hub/rotor. Tightened spindle nut then backed off and repeated three times. Drove for about 30 minutes then repeated. Then reinstalled castle style nut cover and cotter key. After putting about 500 miles on the truck I'm getting vibration from the front of the vehicle on non highway roads when hitting bumps or uneven areas. New shocks within 10,000 miles, tie rods and stabilizer joints within 30,000 miles. Greased ball joints while tires were off. Front end was just aligned and tires are in good shape. I'm a certified A&P (airframe and power plant)mechanic on helicopters so technical jargon is welcomed. Needing to know if I did this correctly. I have done bearing jobs multiple times but on 4wd vehicles
Thursday, April 24th, 2014 AT 7:41 AM

7 Replies

Tiny
HMAC300
  • MECHANIC
  • 48,601 POSTS
Anytime you replace a bearing the race shold be replaced as well how ever i'm not sure that this is a bearing problem. Normally if you torque wheel bearing to 50 ft lbs an dback off to hole for castle nut it's ok tightening wise. I'd check your tire balance because yif you didn't mark where it was you could have put it on in a different place hence the vibration. Even I fyou greased the ball joints they may be going bad as well. On a non highway road i'm assuming gravel or poorly maintained asphalt, Kinda like Michigan roads lol, it cold breally be anything so best to have the front end checked out as something could be messed up causing it.
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Thursday, April 24th, 2014 AT 9:34 AM
Tiny
DUSTINBABIN
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  • 5 POSTS
By non highway road I meant older back road, not recently paved, some holes, some uneven spots faded lines that sort of thing. I wasn't sure the best way to describe the road. As for the ball joints, I checked them by visual inspection and trying to move the tire and wheel while the truck was off the ground. If there is a better way or something more please let me know. The main thing I was asking about was the installation and specifically about the direction of the grease seal. The info I found on the net was limited.
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Thursday, April 24th, 2014 AT 10:03 AM
Tiny
HMAC300
  • MECHANIC
  • 48,601 POSTS
You did the grease seal and other part right with the exception of replacing races but it's to late for that now. To check a ball joint the truck needs to be off the ground and control arm supported then try moving wheel up an ddown. If it moves more than a !/4" then it time to replace. Some have red wear indications on them as well.
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Thursday, April 24th, 2014 AT 10:07 AM
Tiny
DUSTINBABIN
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  • 5 POSTS
So, just to double check, the grease seal has a flat side and more or less an open side. The flat side goes towards the bearings?
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Thursday, April 24th, 2014 AT 10:58 AM
Tiny
HMAC300
  • MECHANIC
  • 48,601 POSTS
I misunderstood the way you were putting the seal in the FLAT side has to face the outside of rotor or towards the spindle. That may be your problem then as the bearing may not be seating correctly against the spindle. If unsure the next time always take pics that you can download as you take it apart. Second thing never believe what an autoparts guy tells you on how to repair something, they don't do it for a living we do. I can't tell you how many times they do that and something screws up. Where the arrow points in the pic should be towards the outside of rotor NOT the bearing. See pic
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Thursday, April 24th, 2014 AT 12:40 PM
Tiny
DUSTINBABIN
  • MEMBER
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Fantastic, thanks for your reply. That's exactly why I repeated the question but in more detail. I did the same for auto parts guy followed by telling him that it looked to me like the perv part would hold grease and seal around the bearing better than the flat side. Thanks for the picture, I will be showing it to the auto parts guy I have to stop there on my way home.

A smart person knows the limitations of what they do and don't know and will ask questions when they don't.

That is the difference between being smart and being an idiot!
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Thursday, April 24th, 2014 AT 1:33 PM
Tiny
HMAC300
  • MECHANIC
  • 48,601 POSTS
You might need two more seals btw. Wold be better to put new ones in. Don't be to hard on the parts guy.
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Thursday, April 24th, 2014 AT 3:53 PM

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