Replacing front bearings, anything else to do?

[Red Rider]

I am in the process of replacing front bearings on my 2004 z71 tahoe with about 145,000 miles. I replaced one side that was so far gone that when I lifted front end, i could shake wheel. Very scary.

Doing the other side now but having problems getting axle nut Off. Will work on that later today. The bearing on this side seems to be in better shape, but was going to just do both sides to avoid having this happen again (we were 400 miles from home when we started hearing sounds).

The front axles look good. Boots are in good shape. Do many people replace everything on the front including axles when you do bearings? I have heard of people using a needle to inject grease into the boots To lubricate?

I also noticed that the Driver side disk seem to have additional drag from the brake pads. When i pulled the disk, the back side does not seem to be contacting properly And the brake pads are not wearing down Evenly. I was going to push the pistons back in, and then bleed the brakes First to see if that helps… or is it better just to replace the piston?

 

[Red Rider]

By the way, When noise started happening from time to time. we brought it to the GMC dealer in Ohio. They took if for a drive, lifted it, checked it out. Then told us they could not replicate the noise and everything seemed fine. And since they could not find anything, they did not charge us, told us we should be fine to drive the 400 miles home.

About 100 miles later, the ABS light came on. Then 100 miles later, the front end was humming more (probably due to tires). I stopped a few time to check hub temp and they seemed cool. When we got home, and lifted I freaked out when i saw how loose the passenger side was.

Wondering if GMC dealer new the bearings were bad and did not want to deal with it.

 

[OR VietVet]

I personally did my axles with the bearings. I had done the brakes already. You have drag and uneven wear, it sounds like. Do new GM rotors, GM pads and GM calipers. Do not do a "piston". Calipers are like rotors now. Like a BIC, use it and throw away. Clean and lube caliper guides, lube with the correct high temp grease. Might want to do the front brake hoses at this mileage as well. Flush the brake fluid.

 

[swathdiver]

X2 What Ron said! ^^^^

 

[tomloans]

Needle with grease? Does this work?

 

[OR VietVet]

Don't do that. The grease is in there if there is no leaks. If the boots are intact and the ends are tight, the grease is there and fine. You make a hole and shoot grease in there, then you allow it to get water in there and the hole gets bigger. Afterall, if you are shooting grease in there, you gotta make a hole big enough with a needle big enough to do that.

 

[nonickatall]

I personally did my axles with the bearings. I had done the brakes already. You have drag and uneven wear, it sounds like. Do new GM rotors, GM pads and GM calipers. Do not do a "piston". Calipers are like rotors now. Like a BIC, use it and throw away. Clean and lube caliper guides, lube with the correct high temp grease. Might want to do the front brake hoses at this mileage as well. Flush the brake fluid.

If only the Pistons are moving rough and the rest of the calipper is good, I have good experience with removing one breakpad. One person then sits in the car and breaks until the pistons are out and on the rotor.

Then i press the brake calipers with the help of a screwdriver, which i put in the opening at the top and lever on the brake discs until the pistons are fully pushed back. Then I let the helper brake again, until the pistons touch the rotor again. If you do this 5-6 times per caliper, the pistons will usually move freely again. By the way. That's why it's so important, that you change your brake fluid regularly, so that you don't get water in the system and the brake calipers start rusting on the inside.

it is also important to clean the sliding bolts, if necessary to polish them with some fine steel wool and to grease them a little.

That makes calliper work again like they should...

 

[Doubeleive]

I am in the process of replacing front bearings on my 2004 z71 tahoe with about 145,000 miles. I replaced one side that was so far gone that when I lifted front end, i could shake wheel. Very scary.

Doing the other side now but having problems getting axle nut Off. Will work on that later today. The bearing on this side seems to be in better shape, but was going to just do both sides to avoid having this happen again (we were 400 miles from home when we started hearing sounds).

The front axles look good. Boots are in good shape. Do many people replace everything on the front including axles when you do bearings? I have heard of people using a needle to inject grease into the boots To lubricate?

I also noticed that the Driver side disk seem to have additional drag from the brake pads. When i pulled the disk, the back side does not seem to be contacting properly And the brake pads are not wearing down Evenly. I was going to push the pistons back in, and then bleed the brakes First to see if that helps… or is it better just to replace the piston?

crack that axle nut loose with the wheel on and on the ground. use a breaker bar a BIG one and it should come off like butter
this is what i use where i can

 

[OR VietVet]

This is a sample of water build up in a master cylinder. I just changed this and the booster on an 85 F150 2wd. His complaint was "my brakes feel funny and the paint on the front of booster is bubbling up below where the master cylinder bolts on".

Duh, ya think!

 

[Red Rider]

@Doubeleive I thought about that. Do you just pop off the cap that covers the axle nut? Frankly, I need a bigger breaker bar.

For now, I gave up on driver side and reassembled everthing. The driver sides actually seems pretty tight. I will keep an eye on it. I also needed the truck and thought I could use more time to figure out what disk/pad/caliper set up to get. I may try nonickatall technique and see if that helps. I put few miles on the truck and last flushed the brakes three years ago. I had checked it last year with a brake fluid testing strip and it was Fine.

I will definitely need to replace pads and probably rotors at some point in near future.