Is this the wheel bearing?
- Thread starter B1gflip
- Start date
Nope not anymore. That wheel bearing has left the chat lol
But it once was a wheel bearing yes!
Where are you located? There's a loaner bearing puller kit managed by bdub which makes changing that bearing a lot easier.
But it once was a wheel bearing yes!
Where are you located? There's a loaner bearing puller kit managed by bdub which makes changing that bearing a lot easier.
VERY bad! You need Dave Lenzi and you need him NOW!!!
We all need Dave
My zerked Lenzi loaded knuckles are in the mail right now and I can't wait to get them installed.
That is probably all bad. Bearing, the knuckle and hub probably damaged.
I’m I. Central Pennsylvania. I don’t think there are many gmc people around here. So I’ll have to take it all off and send it some where I’m guessing.
I'm not sure how many GMCers are in central PA, but there's a noticeable lack of Assist List people in a large swath running down along the Appalachians.
If you're game (or between a rock and a hard place), the parts just bolt up and people here could talk you through it.
There are several GMCers in Central PA. Ken Smith is your likely goto. He more or less took over for Ken Frey when he retired. I can make an intro if you like. He doesn't take on many jobs but he is a great resource to have in PA.
We're also planning a rally in May around Gettysburg/Harrisburg area for GMCers. We usually get about 10 or so from PA/MD/VA areas.
You will be happy with them. I have been running the Dave Lenzi set-up on my front end for almost 100,000 miles, greasing them about every 20,000, with NO problems or signs of wear. And that's with the Dodge truck front wheels and the 245/70 tires.
I'm hopeful to never have to so much as think about the front wheel bearings ever again. Except to grease them as you pointed out.
Call Dave for his latest prices. Well worth whatever he's charging currently.
This link likely has out of date prices but his contact info is there.
This link likely has out of date prices but his contact info is there.
You can get complete knuckles from GMC parts-r-us also
COMPLETE FRONT KNUCKLE ASSEMBLY
We are a major supplier of GMC Motor Home, RV Parts. Serving GMC MOTORHOME owners everywhere.
www.gmcrvparts.com
Good grief, Applied sure is proud of that knuckle!
Dave L will send you fixed-up versions of each for $200+ a piece. You can get new bearings on Amazon for $100+ (as of 18 months ago).
My knuckles were just fine, which seems to be the outlier. My hubs were bad, but I was lucky to have a parts coach with perfect parts in it. I bought the new bearings for $104 per side. Had a friend whip up a UHMW seal installer on the lathe for $0, drilled and tapped my own knuckles for grease zerks, and had it all fixed up pretty cheap. I would've used Dave Lenzi's services if I hadn't had a parts coach.
Here's what you don't want to see on the hub:
I think you need a good tear-down inspection first. Are your knuckles bad? Probably. Are your hubs bad? Maybe.
Dave L will send you fixed-up versions of each for $200+ a piece. You can get new bearings on Amazon for $100+ (as of 18 months ago).
My knuckles were just fine, which seems to be the outlier. My hubs were bad, but I was lucky to have a parts coach with perfect parts in it. I bought the new bearings for $104 per side. Had a friend whip up a UHMW seal installer on the lathe for $0, drilled and tapped my own knuckles for grease zerks, and had it all fixed up pretty cheap. I would've used Dave Lenzi's services if I hadn't had a parts coach.
Here's what you don't want to see on the hub:
I just wrote the check, $1618 with new rotors for the pair. It's a chunk but looking at Dave's work it's a good investment. The front wheel bearings are (arguably) one of the few weak points of the GMC and Dave's knuckle completely corrects it. I don't believe there's been a single failure yet and some have over 100k on them.
My old ones have 30,000 miles on bearings that I installed 6 years ago. They were new bearings at the time b/c I destroyed the old ones while trying to remove them with the tools specified in the maintenance manual. I actually tracked down the specific tools from the manual and bought them on ebay. Probably user error, but they weren't the easiest to use.
After that, I bought the good tool designed by a GMCer. It 'should' pull the bearing without damaging it.
Standard maintenance is to pull the bearings, clean and grease the bearings every 30,000 miles. So they were due, instead I'm swapping on a pair of Dave's refurbished knuckles that have the zerk fitting installed. So they just need to be greased with a grease gun, no disassembly.
Maybe someone can confirm, the axle nut should be loosened and the axle shaft push inward to allow the old grease to escape without damaging the seal, prior to pumping in fresh grease on a zerked knuckle?
If you want to bring your knuckles up to Buffalo, NY we can pull your bearings and put fresh bearings in.
Bdub also has a loaner tool that's circulating somewhere, someone has it.
Idk, I think it depends on the buyer. If someone were paying a mechanic to work on their coach, that seems about right for a brand new part for a 50 year old obsolete coach that a mechanic could bolt on and be done. And have high confidence that it's going to hold up. They aren't going to want to mess around swapping out bearings anymore, the labor alone would make it wash after he gets done putting it all back together, and it won't be as good a part as that one. jmo
I get it. Eventually I’d like to do the right thing, but since I’m bringing it back to life I’d like to know if it shifts gears before I start replacing everything. All the bushings are dry rotted so theyd all need replaced up front. I have a shop and tools so it’s no biggie to do the work but I’m just on the fence about dropping big cash now. Thanks for the info it’s super helpful.
The problem is that you might not be able to just put a band-aid on it by replacing just the wheel bearings. If it has spun in the bore, or the tolerances on either the hub or the knuckle (or both) are out of tolerance, it will do no good to just replace the bearings.
I wish the news was better, but unfortunately it's not. The best way to fix this problem will likely be the ONLY way.
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Just an FYI; the shipping to send loaded knuckles to Dave is more than buying a known good pair of cores from Dave. Ask me how I know lol.
