Bad Wheel Bearing

I suspected one of my wheel bearings has been going out for a few months now. Had I looked at twice and the shop couldn't figure out which side was bad. Two days ago the noise has gotten louder, starting to howl and sound like I have mud terrain tires.

If I order a custom hub assembly from BamaToy1997 and put it on next week would I run the risk of the hub assembly seizing up before then as this truck is my daily driver. Second option is get a wheel bearing locally and have it replaced ASAP.

 

Depends, I suppose. How many miles do you drive in a week? Unless it's an extraordinarily high amount, I'd run it until you get the new hub in.

 

Curious for my own edification, it seems that most of the wheel bearing issues are on the early gen 2s. Has it been fixed or is it something that I should keep an eye out for specifically?

 

I believe it's a problem on all 2nd gens, attributed to low quality OEM parts. You just hear about it more on earlier models because most are running on mileage comparably higher than the average late models.

By the time I'd sold my '07 with 210K on the clock, it was on its 3rd drivers side bearing, and the 2nd passenger side was on its way out.

 

About 500 in a week

 

That's a lot of wheel bearings!

 

I wouldn't hesitate over that amount of miles.

It is! And that truck was all stock, only mod was 10-ply 245/75/16 (stock sized) tires. But, if it matters, 95% of those miles were on gravel roads.

I wouldn't hesitate to run it for another week, then replace the hub when you get the chance.

 

I drove my truck about 600 miles between when I found out the driver side front wheel bearing was bad and when I replaced it with a new one from Bill (BamaToy1997). I didn't even know it was bad until I took my truck in for a state inspection and they showed me the play in the wheel. I've heard that by the time there's play in the wheel bearing it's gotten past the point of making noise, so who knows how long I drove with a bad wheel bearing. If it ever made a noise I never heard it over the noise from my Duratracs.

I think you will be okay driving it for another couple of weeks until you can fix it.

 

My 2013 has 27,000 miles on it and I had the dealer replace both the front wheel bearings. It mad a noise and a vibration when i turned left at over 60 mph. They first replaced the left front but it still was there. After replacing the right its gone.