devwil68

So, I have 7 wheels trips on the rig

1 Rubicon trail
2 Moab
2 Colorado
2 local trips

And 52k miles....is this a good time to replace my front wheel bearings?

I had the front aligned and the wheels balanced and rotated...still getting some shacking at speed....thinking this might be a culprit...

Vladimer

Why not just check? Jack up the tire an inch off the ground, hold it at the 12 and 6 position and rock it back and forth. It shouldn't move much at all.

If you get a bunch of rocking then you should replace it. I think I did mine when the one side was rocking like 3" back and forth... that was kind of way past gone though

jlocker

Definitely check them, with any noticeable movement top to bottom they should be replaced. May not be the cause of shaking though. Any noise or vibration? Change in noise or vibration while going around curves or over small humps in the road?

devwil68

I checked the about 3k miles ago and nothing seemed too loose. I'll go ahead and check again tomorrow but u feel like I might be getting to that point @ 52k miles that stuff may just need replacing especially with those types of trips.

Mark Doiron

When I had vibration at 55-65 MPH, if that's what you mean, replacing the ball joints fixed it. Folks will tell you that vibration at speed is always caused by rotating parts, therefore the BJs can't fix it. My experience belies their theory. BJs definitely fixed my problem.

igobytony

i replaced one of mine (passenger) a few months ago. It wasn't doing what I'd describe as shaking -more like wobbling. Like the steering felt a bit loose and on cornering in one direction after I was into the turn the wheel would eventually "catch up" and kind of jerk back in line, if that makes sense. I believe I had about 75,000 miles at this point.

Anyway, what I was going to say is that I found Timken hubs on Amazon for a little over $100, and the replacement was really easy. Well, simple. I did have to youtube some tricks for getting the hub to break free, but after learning the trick the part I was stuck on took mere seconds.

Dealerships had told me: one said bad BJ's bad check at next LOF, other said BJ's fine but tire rod end was bad, then on another tire rotation I had the second dealership look over everything again and they said wheel bearing (but didn't even mention the TR they were so worried about getting me to pay them to fix before). I finally tested myself and decided that the bearing was the issue. Fixed it and all is well.

IMHO, with that many miles and major trips, I'd replace the bearings. It's easy enough to do, not too expensive, and tightened up my front end a good amount. If you've got the money for the parts and a few hours, I'd just do the bearings. It can't hurt, and will almost certainly help. Of course, best to check them and decide before you throw money at it.

devwil68

Thanks for the input...

I replaced my front axle with a PR44u at about 37k miles and have the synergy BJs.

Gonna check bearings...:(

D_engel

Is the shake at roughly the same speed every time?

devwil68

Checked everything, and shake pretty much constant. Checked the bearings, everything is still pretty tight...no knocking when i jacked her up and shook everything.

Put some additional air in, was running about 35+/- but moved it up to 40...only other thought is I have a balancing issue with the wheels and tires.

I'm running method racing double standards and Micky Thompson MTZ....could just be me too...jeep sets all week and I drive it on weekends lightly....might just be flat spotting from sitting so much.

jlocker

You will probably need to use a pry bar and a block of wood to see play in somethings like ball joints.