2016 3500 front wheel bearing

[RiverRatJim]

Last Thursday 6/11 was driving down freeway. Got a knock / bump, ABS light came on, about a 1/2 mile to off ramp, had a slight pull to the left. Got off brakes were squishy but got it slowed down. Just before I stopped wheel, 1/2 a bearing, caliper, rotor, rim and tire came off and folded under truck. The wheel bearing was dry as a bone. The truck has 73,530 miles on it.

Is this common for RAM ?
Since it's over 12 months its NOT covered under warranty per RAM customer service.
Any ideas or suggestions on how I need to handle this ?
Insurance states it's a manufacturing issue, will not cover due to no accident.

 

[U&A]

70,000 miles on front wheelbearings I think is not too bad for these trucks. As far as the wheel falling off......[emoji15]

Normal.












Justkidding. NOT NORMAL[emoji33][emoji33][emoji33]


Sent while firmly grasping my redline lubed RAM [emoji231]

 

[chri5k]

I replaced the ones on my 2016 2500 a little over a year ago with 90,000 miles on them. They had developed some play in them and made noise during turns. I could see where grease had been seeping out of the inner grease seal. I replaced them with a set of SKF hub bearings. I don't think the wheel should come off. That sounds like an extreme case of wear or a defect.

When replacing them my first choice would be Timken, then SKF and then ***.

 

[RiverRatJim]

Thanks, the issue I have a 5th wheel trailer that's only 7500 pounds. I've towed it maybe 3500 miles.

 

[RandomRam]

Stock wheels and tires?

 

[tron67j]

My problems were on a gen 2 but replaced both front bearings after failure at about 100k and had one of those go bad 3k later but under warranty.

 

[RiverRatJim]

Yes the tires and rims are stock

 

[RiverRatJim]

This to me is looking like a defect

 

[crazy jerry]

if it broke at 10k then i would say defect but not at 73k. hate to tell you this but bearings are wear items just like the other 5000 parts on the truck. hard to say who the manufacturer was , perhaps a low qaulity supplier. maybe the bearing had very little grease from day one. maybe youve hit 100 curbs. maybe the axle nut wasnt properly tightened. theres a hundred possible scenarios. put some new skf hub units on both sides and go on about your day and let this be a lesson to everyone else that thinks hub units last forever

 

[mtofell]

That's crazy.... something is totally defective. I've been on this board pretty much daily for 5+ years and can't remember anyone even talking about replacing a hub or bearing. In fact, I've specifically asked since my old truck (2006 HD Chevy) ate front end parts like crazy - by 150K miles I'd done each hub twice and a bunch of other stuff. These Rams seem to be holding up pretty well.... most of them, anyway.

Here's a thread that went around not too long ago that talks about this:

https://www.ramforum.com/threads/how-are-the-6-7l-front-suspension-components-holding-up.158667/

 

[crazy jerry]

That's crazy.... something is totally defective. I/

you know nothing. a disadvantage of unit bearings is they can break. doesnt happen everyday but never the less can happen and has nothing to do with defective parts. clearly his were living on borrowed time for quit a while. im not suprised its broke. again hub units are wear items . what part of that is hard to understand ? since theres no way to measure the wear , its up to the vehicle owner to perform preventative maintenance periodically. changing a unit bearing is about 1hr at most ,even by a incompetant monkey, yet 99% of people wait until they break then rush to a forum and talk trash on the bearing. at 73k, (probly with little to no lube, who knows what other abuse it was subjected to), im suprised it didnt fail a long time ago

 

[crash68]

Considering that probably somewhere around 120 of these bearings roll off the assembly line every hour for at least 14 hours a day if the plant is running two shifts, that over 400,000 a year. There is bound to be a couple defective ones that slip through production.

 

[mtofell]

what part of that is hard to understand ?

I guess the part about hundreds (if not thousands) of users on here running their trucks and having no failures and OP's going out at 73K miles. There are regular posts about guys topping 200K and reporting no big problems (I'm guessing a wheel falling off would be mentioned). I'm not saying it should be warrantied and I get that things wear out. But for the wheel to fall off it's pretty clear something was screwed up... not just "worn."

 

[crazy jerry]

i wouldnt even want to ride in a vehicle with 200k on the unit bearings. their design is such that the wheel can depart from the axle when they fail. if you know what preventative maintenance is, replacing wear parts before they fail and put you in a ditch or send your wheel assembly into some old ladies car and put her in a ditch. like balljoints, ujoints, waterpumps, timing belts etc. hub units dont last forever and only a fool would think otherwise. seen many vehicles on side of the road with driveline in the dirt. it wasnt a defective ujoint but rather **** poor maintenance

 

[RiverRatJim]

Ok I understand maintenance, but looking at this the zert fitting is plugged with a bolt. If there is maintenance to be performed on this why plug the port ?
There was no noise, vibration, pull or any other indication that I was going to loose it.

 

[mtofell]

hub units dont last forever and only a fool would think otherwise.

So, OP is a fool for not replacing his hubs at 73K miles? I looked over my manual and can't seem to find that on the maintenance schedule.

 

[Iron Outlaw]

Man yall got me nervous. I'm at 95,000 and now I feel like i need to rebuild my front end. Everything seems fine...

 

[crazy jerry]

So, OP is a fool for not replacing his hubs at 73K miles? I looked over my manual and can't seem to find that on the maintenance schedule.

theres no maintenace schedule for ball joints, ujoints, waterpump, timing chain . i guess fca leaves it up to the owner to use good judgement. i had a older dakota and at 100k when i bought it i changed balljoints, ujoints, timing chain, hub units, axle seals, axle bearings, waterpump, because the original owner hadnt replaced a damn thing. after i got my hands on it, that truck was stone cold reliable and never once left me on the roadside in 10yrs i owned it. thats just how i roll

 

[Hootbro]

I guess anything is possible but I am sure skeptic that there was no indication of some kind before catastrophic failure.

 

[crazy jerry]

Man yall got me nervous. I'm at 95,000 and now I feel like i need to rebuild my front end. Everything seems fine...

its a unit bearing not the whole front end. do you know what a unit bearing is?