Pulled the passenger side ESOF hub off to see if I could free up the dial. No luck.
Putting it back on I see the end of the axle shaft is wobbling around. I believe the shaft is supported by the needle bearings, correct?
Can those needle bearings be pulled out of the hub bearings and replaced on their own?
I can't remember.

Also, I had my ABS light come on twice in the summer but not come back on the next time the truck was shut off. No code thrown when I checked. SHould only be hub bearings that can throw that light on right? Not the needle bearings? The wheel feels ok as far as being able to wiggle it front to back and top to bottom though.

Ron

 

Check here
Welcome to guzzle's 4x4 Needle Bearing Maintenance Web Page

 

Nice link steve, very informative. looked it over to check myself, just replaced my axle u joint's last wknd. and serviced my bearing too. As luck has it, I pretty much did it exactly the same way with no knowledge of this link.
Sometimes a blind squirrel does get a nut!! lol

 

Thanks for the link - I do have that one and looked at it, but he doesn't pull that needle bearing out of the hub bearing assembly, so I wondered if in fact anyone has ever removed it or did they have to replace the entire hub assembly if the needle bearing went bad.

My wheel feels ok, but the axle stub sticking out thru the hub is wobbling. Would be nice to just pull the needle bearing and press a new one in, or would that damage the hub bearing?

 

Yes the needle bearing is replaceable. If yours is bad make sure that the axleshaft hasn't been damaged.

 

It is? I just replaced both my hubs becuase of bad needle bearings!

 

I'm hoping the same procedure applys to manual locking hubs as well. My ABS light came on, checked the sensors and found the bad one. Went to replace it today only to find the reason the sensor went bad is it got chewed up. Upon further inspection it looks like the bearing blew up on me cause I saw a loose needle in the ABS sensor hole. Looks like I know what I am doing on Sunday/Monday. Hopefully my axle isnt effed up.

 

The unit bearing hub itself is the same with either auto or manual hubs.

Khxor, can you give more details on replacing the needle bearing in the unit bearing?

 

Bill here is a link that was posted on the board at one point.

2004 F250 Needle Bearing Replacement

 

Chaosracing, I believe the ABS sensor leads to the main bearings, not the needle bearing at the back of the hub assembly. Hopefully someone with ABS can confirm this. If those ones are shot it means replacing the entire hub assembly.

 

Yep, I do believe the abs sensor is near the main bearings. So if that is shot, you will be replacing the hub as a unit. Most new hub assemblies will have a new abs sensor with it.

 

I have been looking for a detailed exploded view to see exactly what bearing is destroyed. If anyone knows where to find one let me know. I checked on Eds partsguy site and couldnt find one yet.

 

Okay, disassembled my hub from the truck yesterday. Actually went pretty smoothly. Hub assembly does need to be replaced. Priced them from NAPA and Ford. NAPA has 2, one for around $220 and one for $400. The cheaper one is possibly made in China, the $400 one is a DANA hub, same as from Ford. Only problem with NAPA is they dont come thru with new studs, and trying to remove the old studs is impossible. The one from Ford is supposed to come thru with new studs, but if not the dealer has the studs in stock. Also the cheap one from NAPA has a 1 yr warranty, the $400 one has a 3 yr warranty. But I got mine at the dealer so it still has a 1 yr warranty on it. But considering my truck has 96000 miles on it, I can live without a 3 yr warranty.

 

Chaosracing: How did it go?
The only prob.s I had while changing mine, was getting the socket to fit in around the dustcover for the axle seal. Also getting in that tight area around axle ujoints with a socket, had to keep rotating the u joint to get lined up.

 

You can also turn steering left and then right to get at them with a little more space.