Well, it used to be...

It let loose at about 75 on the highway last sunday:

 

Whoops , the barly pops have gotten the best of me , can i get a mod to move this to general diesel?

Sorry. Jayme

 

mine went out last week but it stayed together. I didnt really need to spend the 340 bucks for the new one but you got to do what you have to do..........Jamie

 

$340? Mine cost me $420. I got lucky and caught mine before something bad happened. I had the tire up in the air and kinda shook it and heard it rattle and felt the tire wiggle. Then when I spun it you could feel it grinding. Oh joy.

 

I thought I only paid about $170 for my last one at Napa??

Eric

 

Price is higher if you have 4 wheel ABS

 

When you say it let loose, do you mean the bearing inside grenaded on you and the whole assembly just went haywire, or did it blow apart? I'm just trying to get a mental picture..... it seems that the spindle nut would hold it partially together, but it's never happened to me (knock on wood). What exactly happened?

 

It basically grenaded, i limped off of the highway into the gas station and called for a rollback , had it towed into work , and dropped off in the back lot. At that point the wheel was not turning. Most of the rollers had come out on the highway , and what was left had bunched up and locked the wheel. I got it turning enough to limp it into the shop, at which point the rollers had all made and exit , and the wheel was leaned in about like yay / .

Once i pulled the wheel off , and took the caliper and axle nut off , the hub and rotor just pulled out , i dare say all that kept the wheel on the truck was a combination of the brake caliper , and the u joint running up against the back of the bearing race in the knuckle (the yoke was starting to get chewed up)

There was basically no warning , driving happily one second , then funny handling, loud roaring, etc , and i pulled over , and smoke was coming out of the wheel well...

I picked up a bearing from car quest , for 260$ (canadian) , the dealer wanted 406 , and NAPA wanted almost 600$ (i am pretty sure the moron at napa quoted me an ABS bearing).

 

yikes.........

 

Ouch... that sucks big time. Thank God you got off the road safely, and that the wheel stayed on!

 

Looking it all over , it would have taken some awful beating to make the wheel come right off, something would seriously have to let go to make the wheel come loose , first the disk would either have to break apart , break the caliper , or find some other way to get out past the caliper , and the stub axle would have to break , or grenade the yoke or somthing to get it out past the bearing race that would still be attached to the steering knuckle.

It did make some noises that a truck should never make , and just about ripped the wheel right out of my hands every time the wheel would lock up while limping it up the shoulder.

I never got to use the socket/steering press trick to remove things , the bearing flange was rather accessable for me...