I have a 2008 F150 XLT SCrew 5.4L 133K All interstate miles"if that matters to some, i travel alot for my job.....

Question: How difficult from others who may have experience with front wheel bearings..... How difficult would it be to replace mine.and what all parts i might need.. I am not completely sure if they are going out/ or are out, I will be taking it to the dealership friday to have them see what they might think is the problem. No matter how fast i am going, I have a vibration within the truck... Mainly in the steering wheel though.... Schueduled to have my tires re-balanced as well first thing Friday morning that way they cant say that is the problem.. (Just was re-balanced and didnt fix the problem 2 weeks ago) . And i do not hear any sound coming from the truck as it is driving, but, other than balance, i do not know what the vibration might be coming from. Replaced ball joints 4 months ago as well..... Any other suggestions or information on if this might be a daunting task if ford says it is the wheel bearings, on how difficult it may be to do in my own drive way. or if i should just have ford do it and if anyone has an idea how much it may cost to have them do it. What tools i might need. i have a whole bunch of tools, but, any help would be greatly appreciated..

Thank you all in Advance!!!!

 

If it's 2wd, a big *** torque wrench, replacement rotor/bearing assemblies, replacement nuts, time and patience.

 

if its a 4x4 is not a bearing more like an assembly that the rotor fits on. its pretty easy to change and can be accomplished with basic hand tools, but it took about an hour and a half with a impact gun. when my bearings were going out i would hear a clicking sound when turning as well as vibration in the wheel. but with the amount of miles you have it wouldn't hurt to change both sides even if they are aren't going out as a preventive measure. i think both bearing assemblys were 180 bucks from napa for eom ones and 220 for performance

 

If 4x4... maybe it's partially engaging??? usually you hear grinding though when this happens....

 

If 2wd, go with the centric conversion, it changes it to a floating rotor like the 4wd. Rockauto has them. It's a bit more than just the bearing, but the new bearing is significantly bigger than oem. Your also supposed to torque the wheels with the weight of the truck on them since they are hub centric.

 

Well, it is a 4x4 but, took tires to be re balanced, and the guy I buy my tires from, realized that there was a horrible dip in the middle of the tread of one tire. He said that it can be caused by not rotating the tire enough or a bad tire. He is the one that rotates my tires, so said the tires are rotated regularly and no abnormal travel as he can see, just one bad tire. He will be warrantying a tire when I go to buy a new set, but he said until then, to put the bad tire on the rear passenger side (was on drives front) , to reverse rotation and hopefully set that tire back flat with wear. He also assured me that the tire might be bad, but not to worry about it blowing, that the tread wore wrong... lol. He is the tire guy, not me lol so. Thank you all and happy it was not a huge fix at the moment. Will probably look at replacing front hub assembly at 150k for preventive maintance and a good reason to get dirty :-) , thank you all again!

 

For anyone attempting this job please do not use a torque wrench to break the spindle bolt loose. Use a breaker wrench with a pipe on it and it makes it so much easier of a job! Rockauto has great prices and make sure you order the spindle nut along with the rotor.

 

I know this is an old thread, but I have a 2003 F150 that's got an intermittent grinding/rumbling that I'm thinking is the wheel bearings. Is there any guide/info that you know about the centric conversion you mentioned?
@jbhill this was in response to your comment, thanks!

 

2003 Trucks go into the 1998-2003 Ford F-150 Forum.

 

Just curious as to why not to reuse spindle nut. I believe they have nyloc inserts and with the cotter pin preventing them from backing off I just need to know. TIA