B250
Member
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2019
- Posts
- 37
- Reaction score
- 13
- Location
- Rhode Island
- Ram Year
- 1991
- Engine
- 5.2L V8 MFI
I'm reaching the end of my rope with my front wheel bearings. About a year ago I had a shop replace the front rotors/hubs/bearings as the rotors were worn badly. The bearings were OK at that time but I thought I would have them changed while the hubs were off.
Anyway, a month or two later I checked them for free play and there was a tiny amount of wobble on both front wheels. Not noticeable unless you really pulled at the tires, and then less than 1/16" movement at the outer tire circumference. So I tightened them up following the manual instructions, and set off again. Another month and another wiggle check produced the same results. By July I must have re-tightened the bearings at least six times. The axle nut retainer and pin were not in the best condition by now and I put the wobble down to slack between those two parts and the axle nut - maybe the axle nut was loosening itself just enough to free up the bearings slightly.
In July I had a lot of front end work done, so decided to change the wheel bearings to fix the issue once and for all. I even got new nut retainers to hold the axle nut securely in place. After 200 miles I checked the bearings and the wobble was back! Another tightening and 100 miles later they were loose again!
When I tightened them this last time, I noticed that even hand-tightening the axle nut still left a minute amount of play before I even drove anywhere!
Is this normal for Dodge front axles? Is there supposed to be a tiny amount of free play in them? There is no bearing noise and they don't get hot. I am now starting to wonder if the free play is not the bearings themselves, but the outer race not fitting tightly enough over the spindle. Could a problem with the spindles be causing this wobble?
I don't know what to try next other than replace the front spindles, but it's hard to find new ones and I don't want to put junkyard ones on as they may be in worse shape than mine may be.
Anyway, a month or two later I checked them for free play and there was a tiny amount of wobble on both front wheels. Not noticeable unless you really pulled at the tires, and then less than 1/16" movement at the outer tire circumference. So I tightened them up following the manual instructions, and set off again. Another month and another wiggle check produced the same results. By July I must have re-tightened the bearings at least six times. The axle nut retainer and pin were not in the best condition by now and I put the wobble down to slack between those two parts and the axle nut - maybe the axle nut was loosening itself just enough to free up the bearings slightly.
In July I had a lot of front end work done, so decided to change the wheel bearings to fix the issue once and for all. I even got new nut retainers to hold the axle nut securely in place. After 200 miles I checked the bearings and the wobble was back! Another tightening and 100 miles later they were loose again!
When I tightened them this last time, I noticed that even hand-tightening the axle nut still left a minute amount of play before I even drove anywhere!
Is this normal for Dodge front axles? Is there supposed to be a tiny amount of free play in them? There is no bearing noise and they don't get hot. I am now starting to wonder if the free play is not the bearings themselves, but the outer race not fitting tightly enough over the spindle. Could a problem with the spindles be causing this wobble?
I don't know what to try next other than replace the front spindles, but it's hard to find new ones and I don't want to put junkyard ones on as they may be in worse shape than mine may be.