2004 4x4 silverado 2500 HD wheel bearing failure

33566 Views 13 Replies 13 Participants Last post by Pikey, May 10, 2013

buenavida

Discussion Starter · Jan 29, 2008

At 56000 miles, I lost my left front wheel bearing. Now, at 106,000 I have lost my right front wheel bearing.

I have always owned ford diesel trucks. This is my first chevy. It LOOKS like it will very well be my last.

I don't understand... out of the 20 or so ford pick-ups my family has owned over the past 50 years, this has never happened, wheel bearing failure.

Fortunately, warranty covered the cost of the first wheel bearing that went bad. Dealer says he or General Motors will not cover lost of 2nd wheel bearing because it is a wear item. (I laughed outloud declaring it never a wear item on the FORDs I have owned or anyother Ford).

Supposedly, I was told by the chevy dealer parts department that the part has been redesigned because the old part was designed improperly. Yet, the dealer or GM will not warranty the defective wheel hub.

DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEAS OR HAVE ANY USEFUL KNOWLEDGE OF HOW TO HANDLE THIS PROBLEM?

(another problem I had with this truck that the dealer would not fix was a defective weld in the driver door hinge which did not allow for the door to close properly. This occured at 30,000 miles)

Thank you for your replys,
buenavida

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dwill3015

· #2 · Jan 29, 2008

Welcome to the site.
Sorry to hear of your problems. Mine has only 18K on it and no hiccups yeat so i'm not sure what advice to give you but there are many long-time GM truck owners here that may be able to help you out.
Good luck and don't lose faith in GM (if you can help it):neutral:

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84fiero123

· #3 · Jan 29, 2008

The door hinge can be a safety item and as such should be covered under warranty up to 50,000 I think. I hated it when they went from the bolted hinges on the old style to these welded hinges. Worst mistake they ever made.

I am a professional welder and I don’t think I would even attempt to fix that one. Mainly because I would hate to get the alignment wrong.

Sorry to here about your problems but wheel bearings on these frt. wheel, 4 wheel drive systems have been a problem for GM for years, I just replaced a set for one of my wife’s interns a couple of years ago on 01 Impala. The aren’t that bad to replace, but really should last longer.

You can try checking here to see if they have list the bearings or hinges as recalls or defects.

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/recalls/recallsearch.cfm

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KKtrucking

· #4 · Jul 16, 2008

GM wheel bearings

Another first in GM customer satisfaction. Mine were both shot at 60K with 1/2inch of play you can't feel in the steering wheel. My son just lost his left one on an 03 with 52K. All not warranty items because of time or mileage limits. I replaced mine in Jan 08 for $440 for parts. I just ordered a left one for his truck for $250, prices have risen. They offer no explanation or excuse for this premature failure, they should be ashamed of the failure rate because they cut cost by going to this design rather than staying with cup and cone which as we all know last forever. I've always had Fords, but they too are having problems with the new diesels which necessitates nose and cab removal, which is a story by itself!!! Maybe next time Toyota but NEVER A DODGE

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dwill3015

· #5 · Jul 16, 2008

Welcome to the site!

I traded a Toyota in when I bought my Silverado. All trucks have design flaws. My Chevy still rocks the house and wheel bearing issue or not, I will never grow tired of her. Even if I did buy a Ford, a design flaw would surface sooner or later. But depending on how much I like the truck in general, would determine keeping it or not.

Sorry to hear the dealer is not helping you out with the second bearing. My Dad has a rear bearing going out on his 2005 HD and plans on taking it in for the warranty service so we'll see if they help him or not.

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ukrkoz

· #6 · Jul 20, 2008

well, apperently we all are enjoying "like a rock" truck. with like a rock solid problems. no worry, GM gives rat's ass about your problems, some of their truck issues been going on for around 20 years without redesign or going for better quality. welcome to corporate america.

anyways, i have replaced my driver side hub about 4 mths ago. it was $170 schucks part, plus virtually 20 minute labor. so it's not the end of the world.

i, personally, and everyone i know, will never buy a ford. i had 2 and it was 2 too many. everyone i know with F150 hates those because of their terrible reliability. i, personally, would not have even ever considred a domestic, after happily owning many japanese makes, except that i got it dirt cheap and am being paid for biz mileage, so i don't give..... but no, though it fits my build very nicely, i will never again buy a domestic truck or any other car. in year of ownership, i had more repairs done to it than i had on 3 mitsubishes, 2 hondas, a toyota, scion, and lexus combined. and i am not lying.

just out of curiosity - what is gay.com banner doing in truck forum? i always thought VW rabbit and mazda miata were gay. chevy silverado??

arty:

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Rumpamuro

· #7 · Jul 20, 2008

buenavida said:
At 56000 miles, I lost my left front wheel bearing. Now, at 106,000 I have lost my right front wheel bearing.

I have always owned ford diesel trucks. This is my first chevy. It LOOKS like it will very well be my last.

I don't understand... out of the 20 or so ford pick-ups my family has owned over the past 50 years, this has never happened, wheel bearing failure.

Fortunately, warranty covered the cost of the first wheel bearing that went bad. Dealer says he or General Motors will not cover lost of 2nd wheel bearing because it is a wear item. (I laughed outloud declaring it never a wear item on the FORDs I have owned or anyother Ford).

Supposedly, I was told by the chevy dealer parts department that the part has been redesigned because the old part was designed improperly. Yet, the dealer or GM will not warranty the defective wheel hub.

DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEAS OR HAVE ANY USEFUL KNOWLEDGE OF HOW TO HANDLE THIS PROBLEM?

(another problem I had with this truck that the dealer would not fix was a defective weld in the driver door hinge which did not allow for the door to close properly. This occured at 30,000 miles)

Thank you for your replys,
buenavida

Im a 90% GM guy, and ill tell you straight up, the previous ford diesel trucks you owned were better, hands down no questions asked, thats because they were international 7.3L powerstrokes, and thats the other 10% of me is a 7.3 diesel, but i mean i bet you cant remember how many times you replaced your center drag link, or even ball joints. Try getting in to one of the newer fords 6.0 diesels, yea right good luck youll have a rental more than the truck cus itlll be at ford all day, oil pumps, torque converters, oh and the best turbos at 20xxxkms. even the brand new 6.4l twin turbo diesels, i havent worked on them enough yet but theyre not looking to good. So yes you may have owned more reliable ford diesels in the past, but try it now, go back to ford and see how fast youll come back to just a wheel bearing.

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Indy2500

· #8 · Jul 30, 2008

I've had great success by contacting the regional GM customer service rep. I learned that keeping a cool head and not bashing GM in my conversations with them probably helped.

Both times they worked with me to resolve my problems. They covered 50% of an engine rebuild for me even though it was over 15K miles past the warranty.

In my cases, they wanted to see documented history of interval service and maintenance work to make sure the vehicles had been properly maintained.

Might be worth a try. Good luck.

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GMWaugh

· #9 · Feb 23, 2010

Front Hub Bearing _POOR DESIGN

My 05 HD 4X4 went through both front hub assemblies after 37,000 miles and were replaced. At 69K they are about to be replaced again. The poor quality bearings combined with the poor integrated design and the lack of part knowledge of the design team is going to spend some time in a repair shop or garage replacing the integrated one-piece hub assembly (DUMB!!)

Don't know who the design engineer that created this integrated one-piece hub assembly for a heavy duty pickup, but that individual and the approving design team should either be shot or forced to drive and service the vehicle their ineptness foisted on the public. What bunch of FOOLS at GM. Hopefully, those inexperienced people are no longer on the GM truck design team.

Dynatrac has a Dana 60 straight axle replacement kit for the truck that would eliminate this stupid design. Otherwise your only option is buy a Ford (go Mulally) or a Ram. The GM 4X4 front suspension is a poor design and will not last the life of the truck.

GW:grrrrrr:

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Johnspissed

· #10 · Mar 30, 2013

Well could be worse, both went out on a truck that has never been abused at 61000 and the dealer just [email protected]&$!ed me for 1400+ to replace. The ironic thing is the new one have a life time warranty.

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RAV52202

· #11 · May 10, 2013

I have owned three 2002 gm trucks. first one traded in at 95,000 had factory wheel bearings. I was hard on the front end of this truck. next truck had to change both wheel bearings cause i drove through a flood and got water in them. replaced them at about 70,000.
The truck im running now, the third one has 166,000 and i have only changed an upper ball joint. The rest of the front end is factory. I have had to change a few wheel bearings on the diesel trucks and were all between 40,000 to 60,000. the first two trucks were 1/2 tons and the third one is a 3/4 ton. Just my two cents.

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shibby2oo8

· #12 · May 10, 2013

Ok a bad wheel bearing, if you did buy a ford you would have already replaced the hub from their stupid vacuum diaphram 4x4 hubs anyway. Or if you bought a 3 valver you would be removeing the cab to remove the head just to get the damn plugs out. Every truck has flaws so whoopdy doo a wheel bearing went out. I worked in a shop til my health went and from what i saw from our rough ne ohio weather the silverados hold up best and i bought one. 7 years later on a 12 yr old truck would still keep it and i plan to. Honestly i wouldnt buy anything 03'-06' just from the quality dip across the board for all makes. Yea IFS sucks but the consumers wanted it from bitching that trucks have a rough ride so thats why everyone uses it even on HDs. Buy a warranty bearing and forget it or buy a $40 one from ebay and bitch about replacing them. I also bet you beat the piss out of your truck nailing every pot hole and jumping every rail road track. So go ahead buy your ford and go bitch on their forums about quality or any other manufacturer bc its gonna happen either way.

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paracutin

· #13 · May 10, 2013

buenavida said:
At 56000 miles, I lost my left front wheel bearing. Now, at 106,000 I have lost my right front wheel bearing.

I have always owned ford diesel trucks. This is my first chevy. It LOOKS like it will very well be my last.

I don't understand... out of the 20 or so ford pick-ups my family has owned over the past 50 years, this has never happened, wheel bearing failure.

Fortunately, warranty covered the cost of the first wheel bearing that went bad. Dealer says he or General Motors will not cover lost of 2nd wheel bearing because it is a wear item. (I laughed outloud declaring it never a wear item on the FORDs I have owned or anyother Ford).

Supposedly, I was told by the chevy dealer parts department that the part has been redesigned because the old part was designed improperly. Yet, the dealer or GM will not warranty the defective wheel hub.

DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEAS OR HAVE ANY USEFUL KNOWLEDGE OF HOW TO HANDLE THIS PROBLEM?

(another problem I had with this truck that the dealer would not fix was a defective weld in the driver door hinge which did not allow for the door to close properly. This occured at 30,000 miles)

Thank you for your replys,
buenavida

My 2004 2500HD has 82,000 miles and still has the factory wheel bearings. Only thing I have had to do to her was replace the water pump at about 72,000. One of the rubber o-ring seals between the pump and block started leaking. The pump itself was fine but I figured I may as well replace it if I had to remove it to get to the o-ring.
I had an 2004 F250 Lariat that went thru two left upper ball joints and two sets of brake rotors in the 50,000 miles that I had it. I really liked the looks and stance of that truck but the 5.4 was anemic and the solid axle front suspension made the truck ride like a buck board wagon.
Bottom line is that ALL vehicles have problems. If a wheel bearing is all it takes for you to abandon Chevy then you seem to be a pretty shallow person.

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Pikey

· #14 · May 10, 2013

Wow! A 5 year old thread brought back to life! Bottom line, you drive the truck 100,000 miles now you have to spend $200 for a bearing..Big deal. Did you change the oil, new brake pads, tires during that time? I bet you did. It is the cost of owning a vehicle. If people can't understand that then they should just walk or ride a bike everywhere. But, then complaints would come because they have to buy parts for the bike or new shoes. Like everyone said, every vehicle has issues, at least this one is not a $5000 issue. Would you complain if the bearing went bad at 150,000?

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