Carrier Bearing Play

Was doing routine maintenance underneath my ‘04 DC 4x4 and noticed the carrier bearing had a fair amount of play. Everything is stock and I have no abnormal noises or vibration.

For reference before I install a lift kit, how much play is the carrier bearing supposed to have and how do you measure the amount of play?

Bob

 

It's hard to say.....

The bearing itself sits inside a rubber cushion/housing. Chances are, the rubber cushion could be bad and not the bearing itself. Look at the rubber bushing/housing.... is it ripped, torn, or got holes in it? Push on it with your fingers - does it collapse easily?

It'll probably have a good 1/2" + or so..play up & down if you push up on it. It's not supposed to be rigid. It's supposed to 'absorb' any vibrations so not sending them into the tranny/transfer case.

If you're not having any problems and don't see any damage to the rubber housing, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

When mine finally went bad, I had a clunky sounding vibration coming from under the truck when coasting both in gear and in neutral. There was probably more than 1/2" freedom in the bearing when I replaced it, and the shaft was clearly no longer "centered" as it were.

 

yea mine you could tell was sagging. After 8 moths of 4.5'' lift it died. I got a CB drop bracket from Beefed fab. Works great and now no more steep angle.

 

thanks all. i'll just keep my eye on it.

 

I think mine could be shot too i have a squeeky noise and like a little clanking back an fourth, on the gas and coasting

 

Thank could also be your rear U joint from having so much stress of being lifted and not corrected

 

if everything is fine, leave it

 

Aww shit lol even before it was lifted it made that noise but idk only one way to find out

 

how many miles you have then??

there shouldn't be any play in the U joint. Easy to find out. Just go out and grab the shaft right before the diff. If its moving on the U joint..get on it to replace it.

 

The rear axle correct?
I have 160k

 

Sub

 

Yep the man driveshaft right before the rear diff.

 

Thanks man ill check it out tomorrow i hope thats not it cause im sure its a little pricy

 

Nah u joints are like 30 bucks ad not too hard to do yourself if you have the tools and skill.

 

I don't think u need even that much skill actually. A few YouTube videos and u will be replace the u joints easy. I used a hammer and socket if I remember correctly. The center bearing is easy to replace too. U don't need any press for it which is nice. Just basic tools

 

Yep true on both accounts.

 

I need to change out the center bearing in mine. It's got 251k on it and before I pushed it backwards to stretch the remaining rubber a bit the thing had a very noticeable vibration below 65mph. Now it's still there but nowhere near as bad. Before I moved it you could push the driveshaft in any direction about 3/4". And it wasn't the rubber stretching it was basically clunking around in there the rubber is so shot.

 

Change it out. You can get an aftermarket for like $100. While you have the drive shaft dropped you may as well change the ujoints. Would suck to replace the center bearing then realize it was actually one of the u-joints and have to drop it all again. No write ups are needed. If you are good with lego you will be able to do it easy. Comes apart and goes back together one way.

 

Doesn't the center bearing need to be pressed off the shaft? Need a press or bearing puller for that. And U-joints are no walk in the park, either, if you don't have some fairly significant mechanical skill.

I had a shop near me do the job of replacing the bearing and both ujoints, cleaning and re-greasing the slip yoke, and balancing the entire shaft for $280 and I thought that was a pretty good deal. All I had to do is R&R.