Dodge 3500 Wheel Bearing/Hub Assembly - Other Side

After replacing the drivers side front wheel bearings, I drove it a few times.

I heard another noise.

Pulled the Drivers wheel off to double checked everything; looked good.

Pulled the Passenger side wheel off, and brake assembly.
Sure enough I needed to replace that side as well.



This side was not as loud as the drivers side, but at least I took a video of it. You should not hear any noise when turning it by hand.

If you wanted to read about the Drivers Side (Click Here)

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Amendment

I parked the truck, everything looked fine.

MONDAY!

Drove it to Jury Duty, and the ABS light was on the entire time.

Got home, and checked it out. I figured it was just the connector.

unconnected and connected it back.

Turned the ignition on and the ABS light was still on. Grabbed the old hub. Plugged that sensor in and the light was STILL on when I turned the ignition on.

Called around; found a place that I could check the ABS system for codes, but as I drove the truck down the drive, the light went out.

Note To Self

If there is an ABS code registered, and you repair the problem, you need to drive it to get it to reset.

That information could have saved me anguish a number of hours.

Dodge 3500 Wheel Bearing/Hub Assembly

Heard some rubbing noise, and grinding sounds when I made turns.

Honestly I heard some small noises for a few weeks that I just thought were a little brake squeal.


The grinding is not a pleasant sound when driving a 1 ton truck or any vehicle.
LOL Stating the obvious there I suppose. I once took a speech class in college. One of the guys did a speech on martial arts. I will never forget this line from his speech. "Elbow smash to the Adam's apple, I think that would hurt very much". Most of the guys laughed.

Anyway, imagining being stuck somewhere in traffic and the cost of being towed home. Besides the cost of repair.


I was not sure what it was at first, but after thinking about it I just knew it was the front wheel bearings that have gone out. This discovery got me to thinking; Was I supposed to be maintaining these bearings by packing them on a regular basis?
No - they are sealed bearings and not something you need to repack.



I pulled The front wheel off and sure enough there was a lot of slop (in and out play, and very easy to turn) in the hub assembly. You could feel the bearings rough and grind as you turned the hub assembly. Bearings are supposed to be smooth and not any slop.



After reseacrhing and reading reviews (some bad reviews on other parts store parts) I decided to buy it at Napa Auto Parts. Hub Assemblies are not a cheap part, and if you find a really cheap part you might get just what you pay for. Not a part I wanted to gamble on.

the 3 bolts that hold the hub
on. 18mm Need a socket for
the bottom 2.

Pretty easy to replace, Pull the wheel,
Brake caliper, caliper bracket, and rotor like you were going to do a brake job.


There are only 3 big bolts in the back that hold the Hub on. You might need to Tap around the old hub with a hammer to get it off.
The new hub slid right in no problem.
Put everything back together.

Dont forget to pump your brakes before driving driving off just like doing a brake job. It takes a few pumps to get your brake pressure back up.

Hub out

Check the orientation of the
backing plate

Pretty easy job, you can do it yourself. Just a few wrenches, socket wrench, and a socket.

I wore gloves to keep the brake dust off my hands. Back when I was a mechanic I hardly ever wore gloves, There was always an easy place to wash your hands in the shop. You did not have to open and doors. I wear gloves often now manly so its easier to clean my hands, but I assume it is healthier as well, lessoning the exposure to chemicals.

I need to check the other side, and a home repair before I can work on that Fender Amp! Oh, and mow the yard before.

Drivebelt Tensioner

When I replaced the drive belt a while back I found that the tensioner bearings were rough and made some noise when I spun the pulley.

I ordered tensioner from RockAuto.com

Today I finally got a chance to install it.

Unfortunately I did not take many pictures. I started at dawn, and I was in a hurry to beat that Texas heat. Besides my hands were pretty dirty.





I released the tension on the belt from underneath the truck with 1/2" ratchet, and slipped the belt off the Air-conditioning Compressor. Used a 13mm socket on the bolt that holds the tensioner on. It was so tight that I ended up loosening the bold with a beaker bar from the top side. Then went back under to remove the bolt the rest of the way.

It was a TIGHT fit. I was able to pull the old tensioner out from the bottom. The new tensioner was a little thicker, it would not fit between the compressor and fan shroud. I was able to slip the tensioner between the fan blades from the other side of the engine and work it around to the side it needed to be on.
Started the bolt on the tensioner, but left it real loose so that I could get the drive belt back in place easier since the belt slips between the pulley and motor.
Once the belt was in place; I tightened the tensioner bolt.

Used that 1/2 ratchet to compress the tensioner to get the drive belt back on over the compressor. checked all the pulleys to make sure the belt was on correctly.
Snugged the belt tensioner down more, and started the truck.
Everything looked good.

How long? The hardest part was figuring out how to get the new belt tensioner back in. I tried a bunch of things before I discovered working it around in the fan.
It took a couple of hours, and a some choice words.

Next time will be a lot faster.

Drive belt Noise

I did some research and talked to a few people before replacing the drive belt.

Few videos on the internet and One guy in person said; It is a two person job to replace the drive belt, and that it was hard to do.
Balderdash!

Needed a new drive belt - researched -  RockAuto.com had the best price.
You need to check that site out if you have not already. I have purchased a number of things from them in the past.



Lets get to it!
Im 5,9 so first thing I did was lay down some pallets on the sides, so that it was easy for me to get to the belt from the top.

The only tools I used

I used a 1/2" ratchet, a socket big enough to fit over the end of my ratchet with an extension. With the long extension I had lots of leverage. It was easy to pull on the tensioner with one hand, and then I just slipped the belt off.

the hardest part for me was getting the new belt into position. It just took some patients and a long pri-bar (you can use anything to help you) to push the belt down.






RockAuto.com had such a price I was able to get the heavy duty belt. See how much wider the new green one is compared to the old black one.

Ratchet on the tensioner with the Socket an
Extension on the end of the ratchet.

Here are some pictures. It is real tight in there, so it was hard to get a good picture.

Long story short, it was not hard to do. It just took a little time.

The old belt was thiner than the new belt.

Lamp Out Warning - Intermittent

remove these 2 Torx head
Screws

I drive a 2005 Dodge 3500 - Great truck! Diesel and Im getting 21.45 mpg in the city. What's there not to like?

My lamp out warning light would come on intermittently. I would pull over to check the lights and all the lights worked.
This month I need to get the truck inspected, so I figured I needed to get this sorted.

How to pull out tail lights out, or change a tail/brake/reverse light bulb on a 2005 Dodge

Remove the 2 Torx head screws

remove these 2 Torx head
Screws

The lens has pegs that go in these holes

note the 4 phillip head screws

I pulled the tail lights out, and found that I could wiggle one of the bulbs to make it fail.

t should look like this on both sides

With wire melted in

Pulled the bulbs to look closer at them. Noticed that one did not look like the others.
The metal wire on one side looked like it was broken off. So it seemed.

scrapped the plastic off the wire on the left

I did not want to buy another bulb since this bulb was good. We like to fix things instead of sending them to a land fill.

Took out the pocket knife and discovered the wire was not broke off, but just melted into the plastic. I scrapped the plastic, and pulled the wire out some.

pulled the wire out a little

Since the revers bulbs are the same, I just put this bulb in the reverse lights slot.


Lights were great now, time to go get it inspected.

If you need to replace the part the holds the bulbs, the wire can be a little tricky to get unplugged. There is a little red clip or keeper that helps hold the wire connector on that needs to be taken off first. Then you can unplug the wire.

The red clip

the red clip