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2011 F-250 Repeat wheel bearing failure

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3 years 2 months ago #45748 by Tyler
Decided to ask the brain trust around here for any ideas on what I'm missing. :cheer:

'11 F-250 6.2L belongs to a fleet company that we work with regularly. Since the first wheel hub assembly got replaced in January 2019 at 132,453 miles, we've put five more hub bearings in this truck. Total of six hub assemblies. :ohmy: Four on the left front, two on the right, if I'm reading the service history right.

The odometer is over 150,000 miles now, and we're about to put two more hubs in it. Truck came in today with the left front smoked, excessive play. The right front had no play but excessive roughness when spun by hand.

First few hub assemblies were Moog. Next were Precision. No significant difference in bearing life between them.

So I ask you, what's causing this truck to eat it's wheel hubs? :huh: And before you suggest an overtorqued spindle nut, you should know that there is no spindle nut on this design. Solid front axle with locking hubs. Hub assembly bolts to the knuckle with four studs/nuts.

It's been suggested that the driver may just be an animal. :silly: But we see lots of abused trucks, and none eat bearings this quickly. Even lifted ones. Crap parts are definitely possible. But two different brands? I've seen other techs discuss poor engine grounding, causing current to flow across the bearings themselves. I've never seen it personally, but I intend to voltage drop the engine and body grounds during cranking once the new hubs are installed.

Any suggestions?

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3 years 2 months ago #45752 by Hardtopdr2
If its a dana front diff i would check half shaft u-joints, upper and lower ball joints, and steering assembly for excessive play. Otherwise if it has vac actuated 4x4 check the solinoid and hub seal. If nothing then someones screwing with the hubs so someone drives with them locked or they're forgetting to unlock them.

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3 years 2 months ago - 3 years 2 months ago #45753 by Matt T

Tyler wrote: Surprised you haven't gone with O.E. or a bearing manufacturer before now. What's it getting this time?


More Precision. :silly: I've never worked on this truck, it's just been passed around to other techs.

Motorcraft bearings were suggested last time, but nobody wanted to pay for them. We made the same suggestion this time...

One other thought on parts is check you aren't getting hubs for a Dually. They might fit but will be designed to work with a very different wheel offset.


I'll check.

I've heard of that happening on vehicles with transaxles but it seems unlikely on a truck with solid axles IMO. Diff bearings would be the shorter path to ground.


Agreed, just trying to think outside the box.
Last edit: 3 years 2 months ago by Tyler.

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3 years 2 months ago #45754 by RJMARRA
Tyler, My family owns and operates a NAPA Auto Parts store in CT. We did a dinner early last year with some of our customers and the people from SKF. They informed us that moog does not manufacture any bearings of any kind. They buy them and re-sell them. Just figured you might find this interesting.

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3 years 2 months ago #45757 by Nelson60
We have had good service with Timken hub assemblies. Not sure if they make one for this application.
Or Motorcraft hub assembly.
Are you having to replace these failing assemblies under shop warranty?

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3 years 2 months ago #45759 by Tyler
Thanks to everyone for their replies! :cheer: This truck left today with two more Precision hubs. I confirmed that the axle U-joints were tight and that the 4WD works as designed. The right upper tie rod has minimal play, nothing to get excited about. The truck came in to us with the 4WD switch in 2WD. Doesn't mean they're not driving it around in 4WD. :silly:

I did check the block ground for excessive voltage drop, despite the fact that it probably isn't the problem. No issues found.

RJMARRA, I hear ya. ;) I've advocated for Motorcraft parts to anyone that'll listen. Oh well. We do all the oil changes for this fleet, so we'll see how the new hubs are in a few months.

Nelson60, I'm not sure who is footing the bills for these hubs, to be honest. I know that the shop doesn't get their labor claims paid back for months, so they're eating the labor in the short term, at least.

MATT T - I overwrote your post with my reply, and I have absolutely no idea how. :blush: I'm very sorry sir. Was not intentional. Remind me not to post while hangry during my lunch break.

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3 years 2 months ago - 3 years 2 months ago #45762 by BreakerPoints
It would be nice to have a feedback on your findings about root cause of this problem. Interesting case. 8 bearings in 2 years.
Hard to believe it is driver problem damaging only bearings or ground problem without any electrical symptoms or ground going only through bearing hmm and doesn't damage other rotating parts.
Ready to believe it is bad quality parts.
I do believe bearing doesn't fit or sit properly, car was in front hit accident, hit hard something with front wheels and shifted driveline and suspension parts.
What kind of bearings are used, gen1, gen2? Any special tool required to press fit them in?
Last edit: 3 years 2 months ago by BreakerPoints.

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3 years 2 months ago - 3 years 2 months ago #45763 by Hardtopdr2
I agree with breakerpoints for the most part if truck had manual locking hubs it would not be hard to forget they were engaged. Other wise apparently i forgot to mention was a bent front axle shaft but that whould be accompanied with vibration felt and surely a toasted ujoint if bad enough. But alas we won't know

Also hubs bolt on no special tools (at least for the dana front axle) and if you have to do ball joints you will have to pull axles out and replace vacuum actuated locking hub seals when doing ball joints. Those suck the daylight out of your day.
Last edit: 3 years 2 months ago by Hardtopdr2.

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2 years 5 months ago #52019 by Elmerb
2012 F-250 here. I have constant wheel hub failures also. Mine are always the inner bearing that the 4x4 shaft rides in. Any conclusions on what actually fixed the issue would be great!

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2 years 5 months ago #52020 by Hardtopdr2
What brand of bearings you using?

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2 years 5 months ago #52023 by AJeep18
Funny you mention this... my buddy at work just put the 5th set of wheel bearings (yes both sides) in his 6.0 yesterday. The first 3 times he used NAPA bearings (they went out in a couple months) then gave up and went to Motorcraft. He was just barely able to get the second set warrantied this week as it has been just about two years (but not a lot of miles really). We were wondering the same thing. I know they were installed correctly, but we wondered if something was possible bent as well. But both sides?!?! Hoping the next set is better made I guess. Sidenote: the motorcraft bearings did not have any play in them but they sure were loud!!!

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2 years 5 months ago #52024 by Hardtopdr2
Are the wheel locks in the auto position or locked position? Some people have forgotten to unlock the hubs before returning to 2wd mode aka auto. This can cause it as well as out of balance tires or bad ball joints which can cause the death wobble.

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2 years 5 months ago #52026 by AJeep18
In my case:
Hub in Auto. Ball joints are Moog only a year old. Not sure on the balance but he is getting new tires soon so we will see how the new bearings fare. 

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2 years 5 months ago - 2 years 5 months ago #52027 by Hardtopdr2
What about ball joint on axle passenger side? There are five  ball joints for front end.
Last edit: 2 years 5 months ago by Hardtopdr2.

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2 years 5 months ago #52028 by AJeep18
Not sure on that. 

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2 years 5 months ago #52043 by Tyler

2012 F-250 here. I have constant wheel hub failures also. Mine are always the inner bearing that the 4x4 shaft rides in. Any conclusions on what actually fixed the issue would be great!
I'll check on Monday. :cheer: I know we've seen this truck at least once since I opened this thread.

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2 years 5 months ago #52191 by Tyler
I checked the service history on this truck. We've seen it twice since I started this thread, and hasn't had any more bearings put on it. 

The last set of bearings were Precision P/N 590435, if anyone is interested. That's the same part number that we'd put on previously, so I don't think there's anything special about that P/N. Either we just got lucky with the last set, or the bearings are smoked and no one caught it.

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3 months 3 weeks ago #63734 by Gordon273
Did you ever find out the cause of these repeated failures? I am just now going through this on a 2011 F250 w/ 6.7. I bought the truck new and right at 128k is started eating both front wheel bearings every 4500 miles. Any help is appreciated.

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3 months 3 weeks ago #63735 by Hardtopdr2
What brand are you using for bearings

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3 months 3 weeks ago #63736 by Gordon273
My first three replacement sets were Precision and the current set is motorcraft. I joints have been replaced after the second set.

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