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Wheel bearing/HUB ABS light problem

Matt Bachand

Matt Bachand

Depends on the 6.5
Messages
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Location
Worcester, MA
Even though 1 month ago I jacked up vehicle and all front end seemed tight, I started hearing noise coming from a tire. This is also compounded by a loud power steering pump that effects my brake pedal, so since the noise was very very intermittent, I could never pinpoint it.

However, today going to pick up my material I was on the highway and had a real floaty feeling going on, paranoid as I was, I buckled up and held the wheel firmly with 2 hands. That was the longest 10 miles ever. Finally off the highway and arriving at my location I hop out and look at the front end, i thought I saw my drivers side tire out of whack a little, but parked on a slight angle...

Ended up jacking it up, and the tire was held on by nothing but the caliper squeezing the rotor!!!! bouncing all over the place with little effort!

I popped off the chrome center cover and my axle nut with a few inches of my axle was snapped clean off and sitting in the center ring!

Got towed to house to work at, (by a nice 6spd automatical dodge diesel with exhaust brake towmaster package 2008, i'm not a dodge guy, but man what a nice 5500 that was)..

Removing axle revailed the wheel bearking grenaded, and fell all apart. Now, for 1 1/2 years, I have ignored an ABS light on as I don't like abs, and knew how much wheel bearings were.

Had I fixed that back then, would have saved me the hassle today, and the lost day of work.

Replacing this bearing is no easy task especially with those dualliy extension spacers, as all 8 of those lugs had to come off, basically separating the rotor and hub/wheel bearing. The new wheel bearing is a beast with a lot more too it then just a bearing. It's a critical piece in there for sure!

Turbine Doc yield warning to everyone about this, and For some reason always had the thought in the back of my head, but as I said I jack it up regularly and it was tight.

Before even starting the truck, plugging in the new wheel bearing and just turning the wheel to other side to reassemble, I noticed my ABS light was off.

Lesson learned, the ABS light was indicating dangerous failure possibilities, and I am just happy I didn't lose my tire on the highway. As I said, the only thing holding my tire on was pretty much the brake caliper squeezing the rotor.

Nothing else.

All repaired, and she runs good now, and for the first time in almost 2 years, my ABS light is off. And the pedal is doing its stupid abs pulse thing at the end of stops again....
 
You're a luck man! I had a similar experience 2 years ago, but no ABS light. The axle wasn't busted either, but it nearly locked up on me. Those bearing assemblies are expesive up here, but the replacement was fairly easy on the 2500. Should be a routine maintenance check, both front wheel bearing and steering parts. Glad you're back on the road.
 
There was no play in it, I'm a front end finatic due to towing history . I've towed so many vehicles with busted front ends, and its a mess. (I was also a State inspector for stickers).. I jack em up by lower control arm, wiggle with hand left right, top and bottom, then take a bar and put it under tire and lift up, that usually shows a bad wheel bearing... It must have had some symptoms, must have missed it.
 
Matt Bachand said:
There was no play in it, I'm a front end finatic due to towing history . I've towed so many vehicles with busted front ends, and its a mess. (I was also a State inspector for stickers).. I jack em up by lower control arm, wiggle with hand left right, top and bottom, then take a bar and put it under tire and lift up, that usually shows a bad wheel bearing... It must have had some symptoms, must have missed it.
Click to expand...

I was just trying to enforce your experience for the benefit of others. You have done a lot more of this than me, I am sure.:smile5:
 
mfgguru said:
I was just trying to enforce your experience for the benefit of others. You have done a lot more of this than me, I am sure.:smile5:
Click to expand...

Same here... From now on when I check front ends I'll be alot more precise and take more time... Just because you can see everything you grease, don't forget about this wheel bearing.

My camera got stolen so ihave no pix, but this is alot more than just a 'wheel bearing'. It has its own housing that attaches to the rotor on the lug nuts, its a big heavy unit that has alot of beef.

I guess I didn't realize how much of a job this piece played as a role before. Critical. Not just for smooth spinnin, but for structural necessity.
 
Hi,
The ABS kicking in just before a complete stop is a known problem, GM has a service bulletin for that issue. What is causing this is the sensor on one or both hubs is being heaved by rust scale. The diagnostic procedure to find which wheel is causing the problem is to connect a DVOM to the connector from the sensor and spin the wheel by hand at moderate speed and using the AC millivolt scale, you should get a reading over 300 millivolts.
Now sinced you installed a new hub bearing assembly on the drivers side you can use that to give you an idea what voltage reading you get when you spin the wheel. Then go to the passenger side and do the same test. The voltage output should be reasonably close.
If you find the voltage from the right hub is low, then you need to get at where the sensor is fastened to the bearing.
Remove the sensor from the bearing and clean the surface of rust, you may have to chip away the rust to get it clean, then put a smear of grease over the surface and reinstall the sensor. Rechck the voltage output.

Considering the age and mileage of the truck and your location (rust belt) you may be better off just installing a new hub bearing on the right side.

William
 
That is some scary stuff! Listen to the Doc, the Doc is wise...

I checked mine after a short phone conversation with him about my steering being sloppy and found it was the tie rod ends.
 
I apriciate the heads up,I checked my 3 trucks front ends to day,no prob found! even the 89 with 700+ k on it with the original hubs still on it.
 
TD is wise because of the experience.

We can be wiser by listening to TD's on his writing based on his experience.
He has written a lot of stuff that contributes to the knowledge here and 6.5L TD world. His writing on his PMD/FSD experiments was the one that taught me about this truck the most when I just bought the truck. Over the years, people has tried to proof him wrong but so far nobody's did.

Tim, thanks for taking the time to do it despite your busy schedule.
 
Stupid question but this seems to be only associated with people having 4 wheel drive. That is the case right? For once an IFS may be useful in this situation...
 
BigBlueChevy said:
Stupid question but this seems to be only associated with people having 4 wheel drive. That is the case right? For once an IFS may be useful in this situation...
Click to expand...

Not a stupid question...the 2wd's use the old spindle/bearing setup and the 4wd's use the unitized bearing assemblies. 2wd's can and should be repacked as a matter of routine maintainence and the seal replaced.
 
gotcha. Whats the general life of the spindle/bearing setup? Is that one of the items I should add to the "replace at 80-100K miles" list?

Luckily, my truck is just coming up on 66,000 miles so its not like these parts have clocked hundreds of thousands of miles, just ages really.
 
They can last as long as you maintain them and don't abuse them. Only time they fail is when aren't lube or they are overloaded, both of wich overheat them and burn them up.
 
By overloading do you mean heavy loads on the front end? IE- Heavier engine, plow, aftermarket bumper like a buckstop...

How would I go about lubing them? As well as what kind of grease? Regular, something special? I can't imagine a can of WD-40 or white lithium grease would do very well.

Sorry for jacking your thread Matt. This may do good to have in the technical library seeing as its something that should be maintained and looked after on our trucks. Especially considering the damage it can cause.
 
BigBlueChevy said:
By overloading do you mean heavy loads on the front end? IE- Heavier engine, plow, aftermarket bumper like a buckstop...

How would I go about lubing them? As well as what kind of grease? Regular, something special? I can't imagine a can of WD-40 or white lithium grease would do very well.

Sorry for jacking your thread Matt. This may do good to have in the technical library seeing as its something that should be maintained and looked after on our trucks. Especially considering the damage it can cause.
Click to expand...

I'm just as curious as the next guy! As far as I know, the sealed hub units are sealed units, and need no maintenance, besides regularly testing, i'd say they should be good for quite a long time once replaced.

the 'normal' wheel bearings are probably cheap, and can't hurt just to replace em. Or repack them at the least.
 
Overloading, by exceeding the design specs, IE:too much weight or too much stress from dropping from excessive height or as said before lack of lubrication.
As far as lubrication: either standard wheel bearing greas or synthetic grease packed into the bearings and hub after first cleaning out the old grease completely. Check the spindle for any signs of heat damage. Also check the bearings and races for the same and replace bearing and race as a unit if any damage or excesive wear is detected. Put in a new seal on the back of the rotor as well. Always use a new cotter pin as they are very cheap insurance.
 
I want to add that my hub unit actually separated in 2 halves, the wheel bearing half, which is attached to the spindle via 4 bolts, and the other half which attaches to the rotor via the 8 lugs. The only thing that holds your wheel on at this point, is the axlenut, and the 4 bolts that tie it into the spindle. At this point that is attached by ball-joints and tie-rods.

Not sure what happens first, wheel bearing detioration, causing heat and strain, snapping a 1" thick solid axle, or the axle causing strain on the wheel bearing?

I have heard some odd thumping of late plow season in 4x4 coming from that area, wondering what that was, and knowing it would be there nxt winter if not fixed.

It truly is a independant suspension, and everything is just tied into everything else, with no true base of structure.

I ignored my abs sensor fault, for a year and a half. That sensor must have extreme precision, and can tell when a bounce or looseness begins.

I also have a 9' plow that has about 50lbs of weld, not to mention the welding plate. Its heavy.

So far very minimal problems with my front end. Normal stuff, factory balljoints still and tight. Boots are starting to dry-rot though.
 
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