Just noticed something today. On my driver side when when I grab the tire and rock the vehicle back and forth I can feel a slight constant knock. I feel it while holding the tire. I got the 33's and lift on a couple weeks ago and am curious what this is. Doesnt do it on the passenger side. Im wondering if the wheels are under torqued or the wheel bearings are shot. The truck only has 18000 k on it

The truck is on the ground when doing this.. not lifted up

Thanks guy
Steve

 

k not undertorqued wheels. They feel plenty tight

 

probably bearings.

 

could be a tie rod end or a upper or lower ball joint. if you can feel the knock it more likely a bearing or a TRE.

 

Whats the cost/simplicity of replacing wheel bearings or tie rod ends. Im so surprised that any of these would go after 18000k and very light wheeling

 

tie rod ends are cheep under $20 per. and easy to instal by your self.

 

last time i replaced my wheel bearing/hub it cost me $170 than the time before that it cost me about $220 it was easy to do

 

Your 2WD has adjustable tapered roller bearings up front. Whoever did the recent spindle lift should have adjusted the bearings correctly then. Check them soon and readjust as necessary according to the shop manual procedure.

With the 33's and [presumably] non-stock wheel offset, you should check the bearings regularly for zero play. Loose wheel bearings will beat themselves to death. Fortunately for you, when they do need replacement, the 2WD bearings are far cheaper than the 4x4 hub units.

 

i have 32s on my 2wd edge and i had a knock after i changed the brakes....just so happened that i undertorqued the nut on the end of the bearing.....easy fix just tighten it up and see if you have any play....i believe the manual said torque to 25ft lbs but id check first to make sure

 

25 lb-ft on the spindle nut is way too much preload for tapered roller wheel bearings.

Actually, the Ranger manual says to torque the spindle nut to 21 lb-ft to "set" the bearing, then back it off about a half turn and then retorque to 17 lb-in while rotating the hub/rotor.

[Note that this final torque spec is given in pound-inches, not pound-feet. 17 lb-in is roughly 1.4 lb-ft but torque wrenches typically do not have markings near zero because offset error becomes much more significant at very low settings . The correct lb-in torque wrench must be used for accuracy.]

 

I use "finger tight" for my final adjustment. As for them going out early, my stock bearings went out around 20K, cause they got water in them, but the replacements have been going for 80K now.

 

i would say check the wheel bearings.

they are cheap to replace on a 2wd but a pain in the *** to press the old races out and the new ones in