Ok. I'm going to give this a shot. I'm hoping someone out there will be able to help me with this problem. I just need to explain it right. Here goes:

I noticed a vibration in my right rear wheel on my '08 SD Lariat 4x4(pics of the truck in my garage) so I jacked up the rear end and put her in drive. The right wheel has a shimmy to it. It's not the rim, as I rotated tires around and they all did it. I took off the wheel and watched the rotor and hub. The hub has a slight shimmy to it, but the rotor portion doesn't. (The hub and rotor are one unit on these).

I remember taking a corner too short one day while pulling a trailer. Couldn't convince this lady to pull out so I could swing wide, and I hit the side of the concrete curb. I had a pretty good mark on my rear tire from the hit. I'm guessing I could have bent something by hitting the curb..... but am not sure where to even start replacing parts. I've thought this out over and over, but I just can't figure where to start. Could the hub be bent? The wheel bearing rocked sideways? Axle bent? Bent wheel studs?

You would think the aluminum wheel would bend before a hub or axle shaft, or even wheel studs, but all the rims are straight. I could buy a rotor/hub assembly and replace it, along with the bearings, inner and outer, but would hate to do that and find out it's not it. I'd also hate to guess on anything else and go replacing things only to find out it's not it. I don't really have much of a bank account at the moment. So I'm hoping to figure it out and fix it myself at discount prices!

I thought at first it might be the axle shaft, but these axles are pretty far back inside there, and wouldn't think an axle shaft would bend before an aluminum rim.

So basically that's where I'm at. I'm hoping someone here has an idea....... or maybe that cheezit might see this post and have seen this happen before. Or any other Ford mechanic for that matter. Or any good axle guy. I'm just in need of some advice and am hoping someone could help me out. Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

I just replaced my fronts. I detected a crack in the right front one.

So I did the pads and new rotors.

Maybe go ahead and replace the rotor just to see.

I sprayed some WD40 around the holes and on the hub surface. Gave it two or three wacks with a brass punch around the lug nuts and off it came.

130 bucks per rotor for the fronts though.

 

Hi Scott,

I just did some digging around and it looks like you probably bent your hub assembly. The rotor doesn't include the hub, and because this is a full floating axle a bent axleshaft would do nothing to cause your wheels to have this shimmy you describe.

Looks like it takes a special socket to remove the hub nut, and various pullers to remove the hub and then the bearings for reinstallation. This isn't going to be as simple as replacing the brakes, but it doesn't look too difficult if you can get your hands on the tools.

Looks like Tousley Ford sells the hub for less than $120, and you can likely rent the puller from your local parts store. Can't find the book labor rate for this either, but it doesn't look like a bad job.

 

And it sounds like you got ripped off Scott! Tousley sells them for less than $90, and most parts stores can get rotors for around half that!

 

Yup but I needed it asap and was right there. Did not want to pull the trailer with a cracked rotor.

 

Hell no you don't, you made the right call.

 

Thanks Tom, I must have misunderstood the Ford drawings in their Service Manual. I think you're right on with your theory there. I'll get into it this weekend and see what I can do to fix it.