I made an attempt to figured out the issue by trying to take the front hub assembly off. My intention was to replace the needle bearing and the dust seal. I ran into a little struggle with the c-clip on the shaft and also ran out of time, so I had to put everything back together and head out to work.

With the rotors off, I spun the wheel and notice a tad bid of noise. Also, to my luck the upper ball joint gone out too. Ironically when I checked the front end for the past two days I didn't get any ball joint movement until now.

Thus far, I am looking at possibly

2 front hubs
2 front upper and lower ball joints
2 Dust Seals
2 O-ring knuckle seals
2 Knuckle Seals
2 Front Rotors
1 Set Brake Pads

And hopefully the needle bearing didn't eaten up the stub axle, if so that would be two more front stub axles + 2 u-joints.

I ran into a problem trying to get the rotors off.

So the saga continues.....

 

go slow, grease what you can often, replace ball joints with greasable type,if you take care of the truck it will take care of you.

 

ther are no needle bearings it has a 1 piece hub and bearing assembly

 

From what I have read and seen there is a serviceable needle bearing the "pilot" the axle spline, sort of like a pilot bearing inside the end of a crankshaft the supports the input shaft in a manual transmission.

But either way, I will probably end up replacing it with an entire hub, I hate to take everything apart a second time. My only worry at this point is the stub axle, I really hope that it hasn't been grinded up.

 

I done about 15 in the past 2 years (including mine) and the only bearing i know of is the bearing\hub assy.Axels bwere never a problem just make sure you check the u-joint and put a coat of grease on everything on install and all is good.By the way if the bearing doesn't want to come out ,it is usually the studs that sieze up.

 

You will have to get the whole hub assembly to fix the problem with the bearing, when I replaced my ball joints I used Moog joints with 90 degree grease fittings they just clear the knuckles.There is a bearing inside the hub where the axle shaft goes through that can be serviced but thats not where the problem is.A great place to get the parts you need is www.powerstrokeshop.com

 

Thanks mmpowerstroke and 84diesel. I am pressed with time and work 6 days a week and some times 7 days so I am going to take 2 days off to work on the entire front end. Instead of just going through all the hassle of just taking all the parts out and just replacing 2 bears and possible still run into the same issue, I decided everything needs to be junked and replaced. Right now I am hunting for some good bargains on parts.

Sorry for the thread jack!

Back on topic, other then my current issues I think these truck are perfect for plowing. I know a few guys with Chevys and Dodge that plow, the problems they run into makes my front end issue looks like a chimp :lol:. The Chevy frontends isn't build for plow support, if you look at them you can see that the front end sags tremendously with a plow on it. With my SD 350 my frontend drops less than 1/2" with the plow on.

My advice, if you do end up with a SD Plow truck, get yourself a set of snow/ice tires. I ran the OE COnti Tracs and they blow in the snow and ice, actually got stuck a few time. Secondly, wear your seatbelt. And thirdly, expect neck and back pain from the whiplashes and and the constant looking back.