How to test for a bad front wheel bearing?

[HiHoeSilver]

I have a grinding type noise coming from left front wheel. I just jacked up the truck and took the wheel off. The wheel hub has alot of play, it wobbles quite a bit. Would that be my bearing!?

Yup. Do it soon, they can get squirrely pretty fast. Use Timken if at all possible. Rock Auto usually has a good price and theres a 5% off code in the vendor section of the forum.

 

[OneSik805Hoe]

So its not my bearings. Went ahead and replaced both. But when i took off my break pads, (why did i do that? just wanted to double check everything) one pad had alot of wear on the outside edge! rotors??

 

[bottomline2000]

So its not my bearings. Went ahead and replaced both. But when i took off my break pads, (why did i do that? just wanted to double check everything) one pad had alot of wear on the outside edge! rotors??

You have a caliper hanging up, slide pins are probably dry or you may need new calipers..if so perfect time to do a gmt900 front brake upgrade.

As far as the wheel bearings I would consider them a wear item to be replaced a 100k miles with Timkens regardless of noise. Im on my 3rd set of bearings at over 200k miles. Mine were quiet but i could feel some slop and yanked them due to mileage and they were the source of some of the play in my steering.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-T377A using Tapatalk

 

[afpj]

Another reason not to skimp on hubs. We hear a lot about wheels falling off, but this is scary...
http://news3lv.com/news/local/two-critically-injured-in-crash-on-us-95-near-charleston

Don’t know if hub failure was the reason, but makes you think.

 

[Todd1966]

I'm about to replace mine soon. I'm at 200k on original set. After replacing is it necessary to then have a shop do a front end alignment?

 

[clandr1]

I'm about to replace mine soon. I'm at 200k on original set. After replacing is it necessary to then have a shop do a front end alignment?

Nope, I just did mine about three months ago and no alignment was needed.

 

[Rocket Man]

What he said^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

[sumo]

No alignment needed technically. The hub has no adjustment to it as it just bolts in place. You’re not messing with the geometry of the suspension.