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ball joint/ wheel bearing/ auto shop full of it?

i have a 97 ranger that i had tires put on and an alignment. the shop repacked the wheel bearings and about a yr. later the right bearing broke. The shop said bearings do go bad it not their fault. Okay it's possible but i believe more to do with the 18 yr old doing the work. They replaced everything on the right side the 2nd time (spindle,rotor,bearings) but apparantly not the ball joints as i found out today ( they reused the old balljoints on the new spindle):hammer: . I think the bearing went but they looked at it again and said no its the lower ball joint on the passenger side and the upper on the driver side coupled with a broken carriage bearing on the drive shaft. Could that cause the sensation that one tire is repeatedly running over a large stick even at a crawl it does that. i believe the wheel bearing is the cause. either way they reused a pressed in balljoint that cant be right.
 

blacksnapon

Moderator
Staff member
i have a 97 ranger that i had tires put on and an alignment. the shop repacked the wheel bearings and about a yr. later the right bearing broke. The shop said bearings do go bad it not their fault. Okay it's possible but i believe more to do with the 18 yr old doing the work. They replaced everything on the right side the 2nd time (spindle,rotor,bearings) but apparantly not the ball joints as i found out today ( they reused the old balljoints on the new spindle):hammer: . I think the bearing went but they looked at it again and said no its the lower ball joint on the passenger side and the upper on the driver side coupled with a broken carriage bearing on the drive shaft. Could that cause the sensation that one tire is repeatedly running over a large stick even at a crawl it does that. i believe the wheel bearing is the cause. either way they reused a pressed in balljoint that cant be right.
The first bearing could very well have been a defective bearing. 1 Year is too long to believe poor installation. The re-using ball joints, in my opinion, is shabby work. The carrier bearing can and will have annoying vibrations that increase with speed.
 
its not really a vibration and feels only to be coming from the front passenger side. I used a U-haul car dollyt to take it in but i drove it on. The tires spun (its snowy here) a few times before i used the winch but had no vibration or jerking i assumed due to the front tires not moving. It is only when the truck is rolling even idling forward or reverse. Neither me or my brother noticed anything from underneath the truck while trying to drive it up the ramps only the grinding that the front tire was making.
 

blacksnapon

Moderator
Staff member
its not really a vibration and feels only to be coming from the front passenger side. I used a U-haul car dollyt to take it in but i drove it on. The tires spun (its snowy here) a few times before i used the winch but had no vibration or jerking i assumed due to the front tires not moving. It is only when the truck is rolling even idling forward or reverse. Neither me or my brother noticed anything from underneath the truck while trying to drive it up the ramps only the grinding that the front tire was making.
When driving, make wide sweeping turns. A bearing noise will tend to go away when you turn toward the bad bearing (turn right, noise gone, turn left, still there.....bad bearing,right front)
 

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