Just a heads up for you who have 2500HD-35000's. I just had the left front hub bearing replaced at 80K. Thought it was a caliper dragging, turned out to be a hub bearing. Mechanic says he's replaced about 25 in the last 18 months, always left front, always 2500HD-3500. Something you don't want to fail.
Most all OEMs now have the whole front hub as an assembly outsourced
and is meant to be replaced as an 'assembly'. No longer is there a
re-packing, or even new bearings. The whole thing needs to be replaced
as an assembly.
Here are some pictures from a series of discussions on the front hubs
and a great HOW2 found for another thread on the Suburban forum.
There were a few early problems and thought GM solved them.
Have found that some brake work and not putting that big nut back on
and/or rolling the vehicle while that nut isn't torqued to spec will
ruin the bearings.
Also, those four bolts have a very rich history of rusting and not
coming off easily. Even have to torch them off on occasion. So when
ever I touch them, I use liberal amounts of anti-seize.
-Ben Picture of my rig
1996 GMC SLT Suburban 3/4 ton K3500/7.4L/4:1/+150Kmiles orig owner...
1980 Chevy Silverado C10/long bed/"BUILT" 5.7L/3:73/1 ton helper springs/+329Kmiles, bought it from dad...
1998 Mazda B2500 (1/2 ton) pickup, 2nd owner...
Praise Dyno Brake equiped and all have "nose bleed" braking!
Previous trucks/offroaders: 40's Jeep restored in mid 60's / 69 DuneBuggy (approx +1K lb: VW pan/200hpCorvair: eng, cam, dual carb'w velocity stacks'n 18" runners, 4spd transaxle) made myself from ground up / 1970 Toyota FJ40 / 1973 K5 Blazer (2dr Tahoe, 1 ton axles front/rear, +255K miles when sold it)...
Sold the boat (looking for another): Trophy with twin 150's...
51 cylinders in household, what's yours?...
Weird. We have several '01 to '04 GM 2500HDs in our family, and in our neighborhood, including mine. All these trucks tow, some TTs, some fivers, with mileage ranging from 60K to 145K, and none have had failed wheel bearings. I wonder why some fail and some don't? Could there be more than one OEM vendor that supplies the assemblies, that maybe has a problem? Or could it be related to driving in excess moisture or road salt? It's pretty dry here in Central and Northern Texas, but some of my family live in SE Texas and coastal and inland Louisiana, too, and one in Branson, Missouri.
2003 GMC Sierra Crew HD; 6.0L; Prodigy
2006 Thor Tundra 30RL-DSL; Reese Strait-Line & Dual-cam HP
2001 Honda Elite Scooter
Jim & Gayle Bryant
Murphy's Law: "Anything that CAN happen, WILL."
Bryant's Law: "31 years of RVing? Probably already HAS."
I replaced my left front at 84k miles. I do run a little larger tire also. These are pretty easy to replace, even for the novice. If you look around a little bit you can find the assembly in OEM quality for less than $200.00. The Diesel Place site has an excellent DIY write up with pics.
ugeesta wrote: What are the symptoms to look for to know if the bearing is failing? Squeeking and grinding? I have 50k on my 2500HD so curious.
You will feel a shimmy or shake in the truck. It may not be constant and it may come and go, but it does get progressively worse. I guess it feels like your tire is way out of balance, which essentially is what is happening. Whenever you rotate tires, always check to see if you have any movement in the hub bearing assembly. When the truck is up on jacks, before you remove the tire, grab a hold of the top and bottom of the tire and see if there is any play in and out. If there is movement, you have a bearing on it's way out or a failed ball joint.
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