Replaced both sides about 15K ago, lost the drivers at about the 2K mark, replaced it, lost it again in 500 miles, replaced it again along with a brake caliper. Everything has been fine for 12K now on the drivers side but it now has about 1/4" of slop in it and the spindle nut it torqued to spec. This is getting real old and I can find nothing wrong, brake caliper is not hanging up like it was before, no unusual wear on my tire or rotor in fact that tire is in the best condition of all of them. I would love to do the Dynatrac conversion but spending $700 a month on fuel kinda kills that. Any ideas? At this point I'm wondering if I'd be better off bringing my old '64 Scout back into action and selling the Ram, the Scout only goes 45MPH top end in 3rd (3spd trans) but has never given me this kind of headache.

 

OK, driveway is a bit drier so crawled under it and found this. I don't have another Ram to compare to, everything else is an International Harvester product but it seems to me it should be straight. The drivers tire (the one with the bearing issue has probaly 5K-8K miles left on it but the passengers (good bearing) is past the wear indicators.

 

The bend is correct, my 96 is identical to that picture.

 

I don't know where you are getting your bearings from but if you don't mind I will ask?? I have a guy that has a small shop as shops go that makes the bearings for our trucks right here in the good old USA!! I changed one out recently and it seamed great! If you would like I can give you the contact?

By the way I have a 1969 International Scout 800A that is by far the most heavy duty 1/2 ton Vehical I have ever had the pleasure of playing with and the knuckle on that truck and the knuckle on my truck are two differant things and I can only say that they just don't make them like they used to.............

 

All the wheel bearings are from NAPA. They were $270 each. I decided to go to the other end of the spectrum and ordered a $136 Timken unit from Rock Auto.
schoust, I would love to get his info from you. If this one fails I will definately be getting one from him.
When I got the pics of the tie rod (thanks GearHd6 for the clarification) I checked the:
track bar: good
all 4 ball joints: good
right wheel bearing: good
brake calipers: good
steering box: 1/8" of play
steering shaft: 1/8" of play

The next things on the list are the steering shaft and box, but I gotta keep getting to work for now.

What's so frusterating is my '64 S80 has 80K on it and everything is original. My '77 SSII has 120K on it and all I've done is a clutch and front brakes, the belts and plugs are still original and it runs great and my '74 SII has 220K on it and all that's been done is a clutch, tune up and brakes. The Ram is a '96 and I've put more $$ into it than all 3 of my Scouts combined, really wish IH Light Line was still producing.

 

Scouts were the happy accident that occured when a co. that didn't know how to build a passenger car but did know how to make trucks & farm equipment decides to make a 4x4 without asking if they could. I loved my '69 800A with the 196 four banger.

 

Here ya go schoust and shorthair. '64 S80, still in primer but runs and drives like new. 152, 1BBL, 3spd, twin stick

 

Had a shocker with the new bearing. Got my Timken(sp) bearing from Rock Auto today and it came wrapped in a anti moisture bag, packed in bubble wrap with 8 new wheel studs all for $136. The ones I got from NAPA came as a bare bearing in a cardboard box for $256. Only time will tell how the "cheap" bearing lasts.

 

I wont buy parts from anywhere but Rock Auto these days.
All the parts stores stuff is junk.

 

ditch the unit bearing blues and call EMS for their Ford hub retrofit kit.. or do it oyurself with junk yard parts. EMS uses a ford spindle and hub assembly on the 94-99 dodge kits .

 

is your truck lifted? thats the reason i got my ems kit. i was tired of those things, if you have wider tires that really cuts the life down on them but still shouldnt be that bad.

 

My truck has over 260K on it, and its only had the wheel bearings replaced once. This set has somewhere around 80k on them, and they are tight as new. Are you driving through water? That'll kill em in a hurry if you never repack them with grease.

Timken is a good name for bearings, I wonder if Napa is using Koyo's, which suck. Personally I think *** bearings or NTN bearings are top notch, but Timken's are respectable, and you can't find *** or NTN bearings in a unit bearing hub anywhere.

 

I had the same problem with my old 1500, then switched to Timken through AutoZone I believe. Thats all I use for drivetrain parts on the 2500, and for the price (regardless of the price actually) they hold up good.