I recently had to take my truck into to get inspected for registration and they told me that I would need to replace my wheel bearings soon because they are worn. I have read a little and searched about wheel bearings and it does sound like it could be a culprit to the front end noises I have had. Its like a metal on metal banging sounds like a bag of marbles bouncing around when I drive down the road and its been getting slightly worse over time. Could it just be that the bearings are basically metal metal and they are grinding and they needed to be repacked before. I'm not sure what the best way to determine what I need to do is. Any input is greatly appreciated. And my truck is 2wd

 

if your getting an metal to metal sound its probably time to replace them, they are fairly inexpensive and not hard to change on a 2wd, i would probably go ahead and do an front break job while your at it total parts should cost less than 60 bucks as long as your rotors are in good shape if its your first time it might take you too hours but really it could probably be done in 30-45 mins

 

i just barely changed the pads around 4 or 5 thousand miles ago so my brakes are fine. Is there any specific parts or tools i need to do this? and any hints

 

its pretty straight forward its been a while sense iv done it on my Toyota your need to take the front tires break calipers and pads off take the dust cap off, remove the large nut probably something like an 30mm (don't quote me on that) you can get by with an big set of channel locks, after you take that bolt off you should be able to take out the washers and the outer bearing, then screw the big nut back on by by hand a little ways, and you can use the nut against the inner bearing to pop the inner bearing and rear dust cap off by pulling the rotor outwards against the nut. your new wheel bearing should come with new races for the rotor, the old ones can be removed with an brass punch and hammer the new ones can go back in with an hammer and block of wood. pack your new bearing with grease re install set your bearing pre load and reinstall the break components and tires.

 

Well said!

Honestly if you can replace your pads you only lack a few steps to replace your wheel bearings. It should be pretty easy. Good luck

 

could the metal to metal noise be coming from a ball joint and would not getting the grease zerks filled with grease cause this sound too? I just want to make sure i fix what actually needs to be fixed

 

Jack up a wheel, and then spin it slowly with your hand. If you hear (or feel) any rumbling then the bearings are gone. You will need to fix that no matter what is going on with the ball joints.

Checking the ball joints is slightly more complicated; you pry up on the lower control arm to see if the lower ball joint has play, then you pry up on the tire to see if the upper ball joint has play. The pictures in the FSM are better than my text description.

 

when i spin the wheel there is a grinding sound is this the pads running against the rotors or should i just replace the wheel bearings?