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I serviced my front calipers and with the wheels off spinning the hubs their is rubbing and grinding noise. The noise sounds like it's coming from the auto hubs and not wheel bearings. They also don't spin very good. Does this sound like they are in need of service or total replacement? I have no hands on experience with this.
Could be either or both, but my money is on the bearing hub assembly.
Turn it while you hold on to it with both hands. If it feels lumpy,it's the bearing assembly for sure.
Probably the Hub as stated. Put the wheel back on and check for any lateral movement, both horizontally and vertically.
If it is the Hub, the change out is straight forward. However, "most" after market hubs don't come with the attachment studs. You will need four from the dealer. I have had mixed results with heating the ones on the bad hub and removing them. About 50/50. For $9.00 its worth just getting the new ones.
You could remove the locking hubs and see if the sounds continue. Compress the tabs of the spring that stick out to remove, then wiggle out the hubs. They can be stubborn. Those ESOF hubs are not cheap but can be rebuilt. Many folks replace them with more durable manual hubs. There are some needle bearings in there that ride on the stub shaft, and dying bearings can destroy the stub shaft too, so check it sooner rather than later.
But I'd also bet it's the hub itself, they are notorious.
One of my locking hubs sounded gritty, so I replaced them both with OEM. I really like the ESOF function without exiting the truck to lock/unlock hubs, so that was my choice. You would want to evaluate what your goals are, then determine if you want OEM or something like Warn locking hubs. I found them for a good price on Amazon.
Although I'd like something more 'durable', the oem parts have lasted this long so I'll stick with them. I definitely like the shift on the fly.
Thanks guys.
