I've had wheel bearings fail before on all my gmt-800 trucks. Not that big of a deal, 30 minutes to replace and they don't cost an arm and a leg.
I lost a passenger side wheel bearing 3 weeks ago, it started to squeal and I noticed a faint vibration. Got the truck in the air, found play in the wheel back and forth,so I bought a new one. Checked the ball joints on both sides and the bearing on the driver side as well, in case something else was loose. Dr side bearing had NO play. It was the original bearing, it had 122,xxx miles on it. Passenger side was on the second one, first being done at 101,xxx, second at 122,xxx.
This last weekend, I hit the road, going out of town, barely made it 5 miles on the freeway when I heard a loud bang and then lots of thumping, all of this with me at 80-85 mph. This truck sits on 38's so things get amplified a little more with suspension problems. I started making my way to the right shoulder, noticed I had hardly any response from my steering. Finally got onto the shoulder, went to hit the brakes, pedal drops nearly to the floor.
Needles to say, I get the tow, put the truck in the air, found this on the drivers side.
I've never seen one fail this way,and it could get kinda sketchy, especially on a big lift/tires. If this had been a 2wd, I coulda been watching my wheel wander away from the truck on the freeway. Only thing holding it on was the nut and washer on the CV shaft. Rotor tipped into the caliper and ground into it about 1/4" on each end.
Needless to say, check your bearings. This one gave me no indication it was gonna fail, it just snapped. Glad it happened in town and not 2 hours up the mountain though
I lost a passenger side wheel bearing 3 weeks ago, it started to squeal and I noticed a faint vibration. Got the truck in the air, found play in the wheel back and forth,so I bought a new one. Checked the ball joints on both sides and the bearing on the driver side as well, in case something else was loose. Dr side bearing had NO play. It was the original bearing, it had 122,xxx miles on it. Passenger side was on the second one, first being done at 101,xxx, second at 122,xxx.
This last weekend, I hit the road, going out of town, barely made it 5 miles on the freeway when I heard a loud bang and then lots of thumping, all of this with me at 80-85 mph. This truck sits on 38's so things get amplified a little more with suspension problems. I started making my way to the right shoulder, noticed I had hardly any response from my steering. Finally got onto the shoulder, went to hit the brakes, pedal drops nearly to the floor.
Needles to say, I get the tow, put the truck in the air, found this on the drivers side.
I've never seen one fail this way,and it could get kinda sketchy, especially on a big lift/tires. If this had been a 2wd, I coulda been watching my wheel wander away from the truck on the freeway. Only thing holding it on was the nut and washer on the CV shaft. Rotor tipped into the caliper and ground into it about 1/4" on each end.
Needless to say, check your bearings. This one gave me no indication it was gonna fail, it just snapped. Glad it happened in town and not 2 hours up the mountain though
