Wheel Bearing

[Orange_Ram]

Hello guys,
I have an 2009 ram 1500 4x4 with the 5.7 hemi and I recently just got an alignment done and took it for a 2 hour round trip. Noticed I had a consistent steering wheel vibration and slight pull when I drove it over 70 mph. I was familiar with this vibration since I had to deal with it about 3 years ago. Today I ended up lifting my front end up and I moved both front wheels and I noticed the driver side one felt loose and I assumed it was the wheel bearing going bad. I plan on ordering both front wheel bearing and replacing the driver side one this weekend if the weather is nice. I have seen a lot of videos where people undo the upper ball joint from the steering knuckle in order to remove the wheel bearing from the axle and steering knuckle. With that being said would I need to realign my truck again since I will be messing with the suspension or is there a way for me to replace the whole wheel bearing assembly without doing an alignment?

I also wanted to see others transmission temps when driving their trucks for that long? I was at 132 after 30 minutes of driving then 147-152 after an hour. Are these good operating temperatures?

thanks in advance!

 

[rzr6-4]

I've never done a wheel bearing specifically on a ram 1500 before, but of the vehicles I have done it on none of them have required taking a ball joint to loose, really don't know why that would be required or even helpful.

I think those temps are a little lower than what would be expected but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. Lots of people use various coolers and bypasses to keep their trans cooler than what the factory originally intended.

 

[stenerson]

Those are good temperatures IMO. They'll probably get up to 190ish in the summer.
How many miles on your truck? My wheel bearings usually go at around 125K miles like clockwork.
I never did a wheel alignment after replacing wheel bearings. I did when replacing upper control arms. But I guess it wouldn't hurt.

 

[Orange_Ram]

I've never done a wheel bearing specifically on a ram 1500 before, but of the vehicles I have done it on none of them have required taking a ball joint to loose, really don't know why that would be required or even helpful.

I think those temps are a little lower than what would be expected but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. Lots of people use various coolers and bypasses to keep their trans cooler than what the factory originally intended.

ok thanks for the input. Yea during the winter time I takes a bit for my trans to even get to 132 degrees F. Never looked into it until now and dont have a record of any transmission mods done by the previous owner.

 

[Orange_Ram]

Those are good temperatures IMO. They'll probably get up to 190ish in the summer.
How many miles on your truck? My wheel bearings usually go at around 125K miles like clockwork.
I never did a wheel alignment after replacing wheel bearings. I did when replacing upper control arms. But I guess it wouldn't hurt.

Yea today the weather was around the 80s and my 30 min drive back home the trans got up to 150. I always check the trans fluid and its always been great. I just got to 135k miles. I been thinking about doing both wheel bearings since its been around 2 years since they got replaced. Ima see if I can try to replace them without messing with the steering knuckle and maybe just using steering the wheel to the right to make more space ?

 

[ExpressRules]

On the 14 I had started hearing a slight rubbing noise noise on left turns. Truck showed no tracking issues with only the slight noise on left turns. Since I was stopping at the garage I use for an oil change I asked them to check the left bearing once up in the air. I was amazed how much play the wheel had considering the lack of evidence. That happened at about 115K.

 

[Hagar1]

Hello guys,
I have an 2009 ram 1500 4x4 with the 5.7 hemi and I recently just got an alignment done and took it for a 2 hour round trip. Noticed I had a consistent steering wheel vibration and slight pull when I drove it over 70 mph. I was familiar with this vibration since I had to deal with it about 3 years ago. Today I ended up lifting my front end up and I moved both front wheels and I noticed the driver side one felt loose and I assumed it was the wheel bearing going bad. I plan on ordering both front wheel bearing and replacing the driver side one this weekend if the weather is nice. I have seen a lot of videos where people undo the upper ball joint from the steering knuckle in order to remove the wheel bearing from the axle and steering knuckle. With that being said would I need to realign my truck again since I will be messing with the suspension or is there a way for me to replace the whole wheel bearing assembly without doing an alignment?

I also wanted to see others transmission temps when driving their trucks for that long? I was at 132 after 30 minutes of driving then 147-152 after an hour. Are these good operating temperatures?

thanks in advance!

When I did mine, I don't recall separating a ball joint but what you want to watch out for is possible damage to the outer CV boot, ask me how I know. The biggest struggle is that sometimes the axle splines are "rusted" into the hub so it might take some extra effort.
They aren't really all that difficult to do.

 

[Wild one]

Yea today the weather was around the 80s and my 30 min drive back home the trans got up to 150. I always check the trans fluid and its always been great. I just got to 135k miles. I been thinking about doing both wheel bearings since its been around 2 years since they got replaced. Ima see if I can try to replace them without messing with the steering knuckle and maybe just using steering the wheel to the right to make more space ?

That's pretty normal for the RFE's up till 2013.In 2013 they implemented the thermal management system and started putting thermostats on the RFE's so that they run hotter and warm up slightly faster.

 

[Rlaf75]

An alignment isn't needed if youre just separating the knuckle from the ball joint. Those transmission temps seem to be pretty normal. Before you dive in with the wheel bearings, I would get tge tires checked and balanced. An out of balance tire or a shifted belt will cause your vibration.

Now a question, when you feel the vibration, do you feel it in the steering wheel or does the whole truck feel like tlits vibrating? A driveshaft u-joint will also cause a vibration as various speeds as well

 

[stenerson]

Ima see if I can try to replace them without messing with the steering knuckle and maybe just using steering the wheel to the right to make more space ?

I've done it both ways. I found it much easier to remove the knuckle and installing and torquing the new bearing on a workbench/table.

 

[Orange_Ram]

On the 14 I had started hearing a slight rubbing noise noise on left turns. Truck showed no tracking issues with only the slight noise on left turns. Since I was stopping at the garage I use for an oil change I asked them to check the left bearing once up in the air. I was amazed how much play the wheel had considering the lack of evidence. That happened at about 115K.

Almost same thing for me. just a bit of noise. When I checked they was a bit of play and boom directly to rockauto to order for both sides.

 

[Orange_Ram]

When I did mine, I don't recall separating a ball joint but what you want to watch out for is possible damage to the outer CV boot, ask me how I know. The biggest struggle is that sometimes the axle splines are "rusted" into the hub so it might take some extra effort.
They aren't really all that difficult to do.

I meant to say that I had separate the spindle from the upper ball joint. I will keep an out for the boot. I just hope I have enough PB blaster especially because of this past winter.

 

[Orange_Ram]

That's pretty normal for the RFE's up till 2013.In 2013 they implemented the thermal management system and started putting thermostats on the RFE's so that they run hotter and warm up slightly faster.

Ah that makes more sense

 

[Orange_Ram]

An alignment isn't needed if youre just separating the knuckle from the ball joint. Those transmission temps seem to be pretty normal. Before you dive in with the wheel bearings, I would get tge tires checked and balanced. An out of balance tire or a shifted belt will cause your vibration.

Now a question, when you feel the vibration, do you feel it in the steering wheel or does the whole truck feel like tlits vibrating? A driveshaft u-joint will also cause a vibration as various speeds as well

ok thanks for clarifying bc I would be a waste to have to realign it again. Well thats the issue, within 2-3 weeks I had all my tires rebalanced, new tpms sensors and an alignment. I still felt the vibration but now that i took the truck on the parkway at higher speeds, the vibration was much more noticeable. And I feel the vibration on the wheel and at higher speeds.

 

[Orange_Ram]

I've done it both ways. I found it much easier to remove the knuckle and installing and torquing the new bearing on a workbench/table.

Since I might replace both try both way. Hopefully with the front end being jacked up completely I can just steer it without any issues.

 

[Rlaf75]

I meant to say that I had separate the spindle from the upper ball joint. I will keep an out for the boot. I just hope I have enough PB blaster especially because of this past winter.

You will need to remove the axle nut to get the knuckles off the truck. The axle may stick/rust in the splines. Once the nut is off see if the axle moves by pushing in on it. If it moves then great. If not then spray some rust bust in and on the splines and gently tap it with a hammer being careful to not damage the threads or mushroom the axle so you cant get the nut back on. Now, if youre separating at the upper ball joint you may as well separate the lower ball joint and remove the entire assembly because removing the bearing assembly can be a real pain in the butt. Having the entire thing off will help a lot

 

[Hagar1]

You will need to remove the axle nut to get the knuckles off the truck. The axle may stick/rust in the splines. Once the nut is off see if the axle moves by pushing in on it. If it moves then great. If not then spray some rust bust in and on the splines and gently tap it with a hammer being careful to not damage the threads or mushroom the axle so you cant get the nut back on. Now, if youre separating at the upper ball joint you may as well separate the lower ball joint and remove the entire assembly because removing the bearing assembly can be a real pain in the butt. Having the entire thing off will help a lot

I used a piece of Oak wooden block between the axle and the hammer. That way, I made sure that I did not hurt the threads.

 

[Wild one]

Loosen and leave the nut on and use a big punch or drift that fits inside the nut,then swat away to your hearts content without worrying about swedging the end of the shaft or buggering up the threads on the shaft

 

[Orange_Ram]

thanks to everyone's response I got a better idea on the whole process. Also found this video https://youtu.be/5n3jqve7aRg?si=6L7t1SH0iKkkT8-k which shows pretty much what everyone is saying. I also picked up the daytona 3 ton jack stand with the circular pad to help! Lets see how this goes tomorrow

 

[Orange_Ram]

Saturday update:
Just finished replacing the wheel bearing about 2 hours ago. It was almost a 6 hour process. Taking the wheel hub mounting bolts was a pain and a half. Couldnt take any pictures of the after since it was night time. But these are the before pictures. A lot of rust as you can see. Took care of most of it. A couple things in mind still.
-I torque everything down. The only doubt was the upper ball joint. I tried to tighten it to the same spot it was before I took it off and the torque is 40 ft lb + 200 degrees but I forgot the extra 200 degrees. Is that a big issue?
-When bring the truck down from the jack stands, I noticed the front wheels where kind of leaning inwards but after I turned the truck on to see if the ABS light would come on, the wheels straighten it out a bit. I cannot put my figure on what could be causing it. Do I need to get it aligned again? Could it be a tire problem?
In addition, I will take the truck out for a drive tomorrow to see how it feels and take more pictures.