Hey guys,
I've been having some issues with my wheel bearings, so I'm planning on replacing those. Also, my tie rods and u-joints are worn so I'll be replacing those as well. Does anyone have recomendations for brands of these parts I should invest in? I'm not really worried about cost, because if I want to put a lot of money into something to ensure it's safe, my truck is it. If anyone can help me from what you've heard or experienced, please do. Thank you in advance.

 

Moog is pretty much top of the line when it comes to components like tire rods and ball joints. I'm never been disappointed with their fitment or quality.

As far as the hub assemblies go, I found the selection to be pretty slim. In fact, I think the only place in town that had one in stock was o'reillys, and it was their house brand. But I haven't had an issue with it (5,000 miles on it or so) and I actually just replaced the other side with the same brand.


Last time I did u joints I went cheap and just got autozone brand ones. Haven't had an issue with them, but I'm sure there are better options

 

Good to know, thank you Jimmyspy. When I looked into hub assemblies, O'Reilly's was the only real contender. And Moog was the highest rated for ball joints and tie rods. It's good to know I was on the right track.

 

just make sure you replace the INNER and OUTER tie rods

most people make the mistake of just replacing the outer tie rods and wonder why their steering is still sloppy.

the inner tie rods should be replaced the same time as the outer tie rods

 

I recently ordered new wheel bearing hub assemblies, lower ball joints, upper ball joints and control arms, and inner and outer tie rods for both sides of the front end of my truck. I picked up some tools today and I'll be putting everything in soon. School is finishing up now so I need to get through finals then I'll be working on it.

 

Last Monday, from 8 in the morning to 1:30 the next morning, me and two of my buddies replaced my front end. Everything we did on one side, we did on the other. Upper control arms, upper and lower ball joints, shocks, tie rod ends, wheel bearing(hub assemblies), rotors, brake pads, and lug nuts. The wheel bearings were from Detroit Axle, the pads and rotors were BrakeBest Select, the shocks were Monroe: Monro-Matic, and everything else was ACDelco. A few notables:

-The lug nuts we needed to replace because the previous ones had caps on them and were a pain in the *** to get off, either the caps broke off or the lugs got stripped. We used a blowtorch for a few of them. It took us an hour to get the front wheels off, fun fun. Then we needed to put the new ones on a lathe to reduce the trim because my wheels have recessed pockets.
-We learned after the first side to keep the old shock attached while replacing the upper control arm so that the lower control arm did not fall away from where we needed it.
-The knuckle was tough to disconnect from the lower ball joint(even after we cut the castle nut and bolt off). We used a wedge an hammer to separate the two pieces.
-One of the shocks was missing some hardware in the packaging, so we used the old pieces. The knucklehead at O'Reilly's gave me a hard time to get the missing parts. He stated that he couldn't give me them from another package because then they would be missing for the next guy to buy the shock...let that sink in. I finally got them and will replace them tomorrow.

If anyone has any questions about the parts or processes or anything, just reply or PM me.

 

ac delco professional grade

they utilize the SPICER joints