Is it my wheel bearings or trunnion bearing giving problems?

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snowboardonsnow

snowboardonsnow

10 Year 15 Year
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Tacoma, Washington
Ok guys I need some wisdom here, I lifted my vehicle and had dw, I knew from the start the right front wheel was giving me some problems. I fixed the dw and kind of figured my front right wheel was just still out of balance and more or less forgot about it.

So 500 miles later my rig wanted to dw again and then I noticed some looseness and shaking on the frw again. I hopped out and checked my wheel and it felt loose re torqued lug nuts but it wasn't that.

Ok here is the break down, I can barely feel a "tap" like a wheel bearing when I pull back and forth (driver side to passenger side) but not when I try and turn the wheel back and forth with my hands. (and it's the same wether it's jacked weight off or sitting weight on)

Does that mean it's the trunnion bearing? Or can it still be the wheel bearing? How can I narrow it down? Having a hard time dialing the death wobble away makes me suspect the trunnions but hey, who knows.


Blah, help me out. I am in the middle of moving and I need to swap these out soon. I'm supposed to be working on the house not my baby.
 
Front right wheel sorry. Slow death wobble 15-35mph. Im not worried about the dw I need knew tre's. But yeah it's a very slow speed dw if that helps? (the speed changed each time I changed something when I was working on that)
ok sorry but now when it tries to dw it's about 30sih right around there faste then it as before and only when the right wheel hits a bump.

Its probably trunnion I am thinking?
 
Here is my experience (2X front axle rebuild on my 80, 3X on my 60, so not an expert by any means).

Once I've rebuilt the front axle, I have never had trunion bearings loosen up. Even the first time I did the axle rebuild, the trunion bearings were fine.

The wheel bearings however have caused me more difficulty. These have loosened up. After reading lots of posts on here, it seems to me that it's best to err on the side of tight for wheel bearings on a cruiser. Ignore the fish-scale, adjust the wheel bearings so there is no play, plus just an scooch tighter.

In your case, of trying to figure out where the problem is, I think it's easier. Jack up the front axle and push/pull on the wheel at 12/6 and at 3/9. If the trunion bearing is loose, you'll get play when you do the 12/6 test. If the wheel bearing is loose you'll get play at both 12/6 and 3/9.

Based on my experience, your wheel bearings are loose, but do the test described and you'll know where to go next.

Good luck!
 
lovetoski said:
In your case, of trying to figure out where the problem is, I think it's easier. Jack up the front axle and push/pull on the wheel at 12/6 and at 3/9. If the trunion bearing is loose, you'll get play when you do the 12/6 test. If the wheel bearing is loose you'll get play at both 12/6 and 3/9.

Based on my experience, your wheel bearings are loose, but do the test described and you'll know where to go next.

Good luck!
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Thank you for all that info, it seems I only get it at the 12/6 so I thought trunnions but I will double check to make sure I don't get any at the 3/9 again and then find some time to dive in this weekend or tomorrow. You confirmed my thinking on that though.
 
Just a update I jacked the vehicle up and I could feel it loose in the 12/6 position and nothing in the 3/9 position. So I had my brother push and pull in the 12/6 and I could see my knuckle was still tight and not moving. So I dug in and sure enough it was the wheel bearing. Spec'd her down and we were golden.

Thank you Doug, I apreciate it it saved me some time and money for sure. I was about to order up some koyo's but now I can wait until I put my lockers in.
 
snowboardonsnow said:
Thank you Doug,
Click to expand...

No prob! Super glad it worked. I've learned so much from here, it's good when I am actually able to pass it along.

...and BTW...I'd really like to know more about the tires you are using, how they ride on the highway, off-road, rain, snow, etc. Crushers seems to like them, which counts for a lot. Anyway, maybe we can meet up sometime, since we're both in the PNW.
 
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