A sense of accomplishment!

John Pollman

Member
Messages
1,332
Location
Rochester Hills, MI
Hi folks!

Hope things are going well for all of you out there. It's been a very trying week for me. On Tuesday morning I had to make a run to a supply house to get some parts to fix a problem for my neighbor. Getting on the expressway, I noticed a strange sound coming from the right front side of my truck. At first I thought it was just road/tire noise because the road I was on is brand new and just completed a few months ago. I thought it was just the grooves in the pavement. But I noticed that it didn't go away when I got off of the expressway. Later that day it dawned on me, it sounded like a bearing problem. I've got a 2003 GMC Sonoma Crew Cab 4x4. Four wheel drive is nice, but it can get expensive. The next morning I took it to the shop I used to work for when I was in high school and talked to one of the mechanics there. He took it for a drive and confirmed that it did sound like a bad bearing. He gave me a price of $268 to replace the right side. I wish I could have just said to go ahead and do it, but money is real tight for me right now. Besides the fact, I really would rather replace both sides and I surely don't have and extra $500+ right now to do the job. And that was for just the new hubs.

I checked local supply stores and found that I could buy the parts for about $400 if I did the brakes too. (they were just about due anyway) I was just about to bite the bullet and buy the parts and get busy. But I decided to check some online sources. I ended up buying two new hubs, top quality Bendix ceramic pads, and a new set of rotors for about $350! It took me about six hours of labor, but I saved myself a ton of money by doing it myself. It wasn't that difficult, just time consuming because I did it out in the driveway with a floor jack and jack stands. It would have been much easier with a lift but I did get it done.

I'm currently dealing with some pretty serious health issues that are starting to limit how much I can actually do. If I were 100%, could have probably done the job in about 3-4 hours instead of the 6 that it ended up taking me. But I really don't care about the little extra time. I saved a ton of coin and just got back from a short test drive. The noise is gone and the truck stops great!

hubs.JPG
 
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Had to do them on my 2006 silverado a few years back. Didn't need to do the brakes but had the same grinding noise. Firestone quoted it at $700 to do just the one side. I think the replacement cost me around $130 and had to buy the 34mm(?) socket for the nut also.
 
Yeah, I had to spend $17 for the 35mm socket, but that's not so bad. I probably saved at least $500 in labor. The local parts stores wanted $138 each for Timken hubs. I bought the same Timken hubs through partsgeek.com for $101 each with free shipping. Also ordered Bendix ceramic pads through them and they were only $35. I was planning on reusing the rotors, but when I got to O'Reilly to buy the socket, I decided to price rotors too. They were only $32 each so I picked up a pair. So now I've got two brand new hubs, new rotors, and Bendix ceramic pads installed for roughly $350.

After I ordered the parts online, I called the GMC dealer to price the hubs. They wanted $322 each for just the parts! That's highway robbery.
 
yeah, they are proud of them. Had to do the bearings on my wife's Isuzu a while back. The local parts store wanted $80 per side for the bearings, races, and seals. I used their on-line store to get the Timken part numbers and cross referenced them. Got all bearings & races for $45 from a bearing dealer on-line, then bought the seals local.
 
Well done. Just for a frame of reference; if I was doing that job at 110% it would take me all weekend . . . . and the truck might not stop. Way to go :thumb:
 
Well done, John. :thumb: I'm with Glenn. If I tried to replace the hubs and brakes on my 4x4 pickup myself, it'd cost me for the parts, plus the mechanic would probably charge me double to fix everything I'd messed up.
 
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