can i replace front bearings without hub 97 chevy c1500?

[1998_K1500_Sub]

Here's the relevant text from the 1998 service manual. Their explanation isn't the best, but it's all I have handy for you.

You're evidently in AZ. Whereabouts?

 

[bode winham]

thanks everybody for your help, now i know what parts to order and have a good understanding of the procedure. hope everybody has a good day/night !

 

[bode winham]

Here's the relevant text from the 1998 service manual. Their explanation isn't the best, but it's all I have handy for you.

You're evidently in AZ. Whereabouts?

flagstaff arizona, thanks for the manual pdf. sorry i was so slow to get the gears moving as to how this is done, i think i was exclusively searching videos specific to 97 c1500’s and got myself really confused in a youtube rabbit hole, but everything makes sense to me now

 

[sewlow]

I work in a machine shop ( as a welder) and we press bearings all of the time. The owner of our shop ( it's a mom and pop place, only 12 employees) said one day, that, 90 percent of the bearings that front end mechanics say are bad, are not bad at all. If the bearings are loose, then the nut that holds them, is most likely loose just a little. Should you pull them and check, yes. There are a bunch of videos on wheel bearings on YouTube. Just type in c1500 wheel bearings. 2 WD front disc brake wheel bearing replacement is almost all the same. Doesn't matter what year.

Took my '97 in for a wheel alignment just before a road trip. Buddy's shop. Known him for years. 10 employees.
Pick up the truck & the wrench says the passenger side bearing was loose. He tightened it.
I learned how to install front wheel bearings & races many years ago in the ole man's shop. Maintenance is much easier. Packing bearings is one of the things on the check list whenever I've brought home another vehicle. The learning curve was pretty steep after blowing up more than my fair share, setting bearings improperly.
Now, I'm fussy about it.
But...this guy's getting paid as an alignment specialist. It's his job to know this stuff.
Tightened the wheel bearing? Sure. Thanks. I'll take your word for it. You're the front-end guy.
Didn't check.
Next morning, off on a 3 day trip. Secondary, mostly 2 lane highways.
One stretch is 113 miles running right beside (literally feet away) a series of small-ish lakes on one side with either 50' high clay cliffs or open fields on the other.
A great road. Nice sweeping corners that dive into several series of tight twisties, interspersed by some nice long straights.
Posted limit is mostly 50-60mph. 4:30-5a.m. Nobody around & I'm cruising @ 85. Hitting 110+mph on the straights. Corners marked @ 40 I'm going into @ 60.
A 2 hour drive in under an hour & a half.
Coming down the last l-o-n-g hill into a major interchange & I hear a loud BANG. Sounded like a fair-sized rifle shot. I actually ducked! WTF?
Pull over to the side. No bullet holes. Tires have air. No fluid leaks. No hard parts hanging down. Give the front end a shake. Seems fine. Huh.
Make it down the hill, probably 3 more miles. Get into the designated left turn lane @ maybe 30mph. Go to slow right down for the intersection...and I have no brakes. Nothing. Foot to the floor. Butt puckered.
Slow enough to make the corner, but as soon as I turn the wheel, the right front corner of the truck drops. A lot.
Boom, crunch, grind. Erch. Middle of the intersection. Far as we're going.
Holy F'n F!
Jump out to look & the right front wheel is on a 45* with the top stuffed right up into the wheel well. LCA's on the ground.

An uncle that lives in that town has a shop. Once we started tearing into the repair we found that bearing had been way over-tightened. Everything was burnt blue. Even the nose of the rotor where the dust cap fits. The whole assembly must have glowing red.
The boom was the dust cap exploding off of the rotor from the heat. The cotter pin had melted.
The wheel didn't come off immediately after the explosion because it took the last three miles for the spindle nut to unwind off of the spindle.
Now if I find loose bearings, they get inspected before tightening.
Wheel bearings are cotter pinned. They just don't loosen up for no reason. If the bearings & races pass, then they're repacked.
But I never just go & tighten a wheel bearing just because it's loose.

Yea. I went back & 'discussed' this with both the mechanic & the owner. "Oops." & "Sorry' only go so far when their work endangers lives. They know I won't be back. One more reason why I really don't like anyone else working on my vehicles
If this had happened 30 minutes to an hour sooner, they would of been scrapping me off of a cliff face or dragging me out of the lake, if they even figured to look in a lake or where to begin if they did.
Vanished. Like a fart in the wind.

 

[kennythewelder]

I can show someone how to set preload, but to try and explain it, is another story. IDK who is teaching these technicians about wheel bearings, but they are not doing a very good job of it. And, it's everywhere you go. It is very hard to find a good front end shop, where they really know what they are doing.

 

[1998_K1500_Sub]

Pick up the truck & the wrench says the passenger side bearing was loose. He tightened it.

Excellent story, and the takeaway for the OP is, at least:

If you've never adjusted the preload on the front wheel bearings, learn what you can about the subject and perhaps have someone else hold your hand while you do the job. The first time you do it, you'll probably think you're doing it wrong because it seems unnatural.

OP, take this seriously. That big friggin' castle nut on spindle does not need to be torqued to your maximum ability.

I've attached the service manual instructions regarding the wheel bearing adjustment.

I have my own procedure that I've used for years which is very similar, but difficult to put into words.

In situations when I've installed new bearings, after about 2000-3000mi of operation I'll check the preload again. This may not be required, it's just me being me.

 

[Hipster]

IDK who is teaching these technicians about wheel bearings, but they are not doing a very good job of it. And, it's everywhere you go. It is very hard to find a good front end shop, where they really know what they are doing.

Idk either. Most of the knowledgeable guys are long. I even had issues with techs doing it at the dealership level. It seems alignments is the next step up from lube tech and while they're taught how to run the alignment rack either by the equipment retailer doing a demo in shop, a brief demonstration in vo-tech or someone else of little experience there's little understanding of the how and why of what it is there doing.

 

[Pinger]

I work in a machine shop ( as a welder) and we press bearings all of the time. The owner of our shop ( it's a mom and pop place, only 12 employees) said one day, that, 90 percent of the bearings that front end mechanics say are bad, are not bad at all. If the bearings are loose, then the nut that holds them, is most likely loose just a little. Should you pull them and check, yes. There are a bunch of videos on wheel bearings on YouTube. Just type in c1500 wheel bearings. 2 WD front disc brake wheel bearing replacement is almost all the same. Doesn't matter what year.

That's what I did on mine (C2500). Pulled them, cleaned and regreased then back together properly tightening the nut. That was 3000+ miles ago and they are still fine despite some signs of damage. They will be replaced soon when new rotors go on. Meantimes I check for play and roughness every 500 miles or so.

A sign on mine that there was play in one of the bearings was a steering oscillation when coming to a halt with the brakes. Maybe that is different truck to truck depending on tyres and wheel off-set but on mine it is a sign I'm vigilant for.

 

[dave s]

My sophomore year I decided that the regular school was more than I could take so I signed up for automotive mechanics at vo-tech. Very first lesson was replacing, repacking and adjusting preload on front wheel bearings. And like someone mentioned earlier here, repacking these front wheel bearings was routine maintenance back then. This was early 70's and I still remember it like it was yesterday. And that Shakespeare I had to read in regular school? Well I don't remember a word of that crap.....and I don't want to. Lol! No offense to those who like that sort of reading. Just wasn't for me.

 

[Pinger]

My sophomore year I decided that the regular school was more than I could take so I signed up for automotive mechanics at vo-tech. Very first lesson was replacing, repacking and adjusting preload on front wheel bearings. And like someone mentioned earlier here, repacking these front wheel bearings was routine maintenance back then. This was early 70's and I still remember it like it was yesterday. And that Shakespeare I had to read in regular school? Well I don't remember a word of that crap.....and I don't want to. Lol! No offense to those who like that sort of reading. Just wasn't for me.

‘To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.’​

(Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 3)