We're in Murfreesboro, TN. Today the guys took the kids to park while the women folk went and spent our money. When I was pulling into the parking lot, I heard a kind of squeaky/scraping noise. There was a fellow standing there, and it he said it sounded like my wheel bearings were bad...the sound was coming from the driver's side front.

My question is, this: Is it dangerous for me to be driving this truck home tomorrow? We're supposed to be leaving for home tomorrow.

You may not be able to do much now, due to lack of tools/parts, but here's what you can do:

Jack up that wheel and give it some spins by hand and check it's end-play. If it has a lot of slop, maybe you might be able to tighten up the hub and re-check. Also check to see if it's a dragging brake instead of a bearing.

Unfortunately, I wouldn't recommend driving on it, especially with your family in the truck. You may sadly end up with the biggest regret of your life. Either check it out yourself and solicit more info or get a professional to look at it.

Not the front brake pads is it?

Ya ... better safe than sorry.

One way to be sure it's the wheel bearings is to get out on the highway and take it up to about 80 mph ... if the wheel flies off and goes past you then you know you've got a problem that you need to fix ... before adding friends or family to the equation.

If the wheel turns bright red, all you can smell is burning rubber, and all you can see is smoke ... that just means your not driving fast enough to keep the bearing free rolling ... so tromp that pedal.

If I remember right ... bad things can happen when a bearing seizes up at Hwy speed ... (or was that calipers?) ... anyways ... B smart ... play safe.

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jack the wheel up and turn it, if it squeels back and forth it might be a bent piece of metal touching the rotor. I drove on a loose bearing for 600 miles that week before fixing it. Surprisingly, there was no damage at all. Its all luck of the draw I suppose.

But yea, do a little investigating before listening to some guy off the street. I have a feeling if something bad would of happened on your drive from Ohio to Tennessee, it would of happened already.
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Since he's already in Tennessee, I think your comment is completely accurate....... but I believe it's the trip home that now concerns him. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Frank <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

I second this, the brake shields behind the discs don't take much to get bent out of shape and they are hell to straighten out.

Personally I would be concerned about driving around if they are truly that far gone, especially with family in the car, but I don't want to be the one to call wolf just because of some guy in a parking lot.

If they are so shot that they are making a grinding nose then they are far gone. Best way to find out is to pull them out and inspect them, either by yourself or at a shop. Second best would be at least to take of the wheel and turn the hub to see how it feels and how much front to back play it had.

On my 93 I went through a lot of wheel bearings before I figured out that the seals were shot and that the truck didn't like so much water. Before they would get real bad they would get a lot of play where I could pull the hub front and back. Scary! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" />

Other culprits? Lost brake pad... stuck brake slider... possibly shot spindle bearing (that CV turns all the time unless you have manual hubs). <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

Well, I got up early this morning, and we couldn't hear any noise coming from it at all. Being Easter Sunday, nothing was open, so we prayed about it and hit the road. I stopped every so often, and I still wasn't getting any noise, and the wheels weren't hot...so I just kept going. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" /> I was worried about it the whole way home, and was SOOOOO thankful when we pulled in our driveway. I'll be ordering some bearings (and seals if they don't come together) tomorrow from MBParts.net...think I'll get the lower ball joints too...seemed to have some play in them.

Thanks guys. I learned a valuable lesson about checking things out more closely BEFORE leaving town...and I'm super grateful I didn't have to learn it the HARD way.

Don't waste the money right away. Get a good bearing packing tool and clean and repack them, adjust them to factory specs.

If they are bad replace them, but they may be fine and that would be a waste of $$$! You need to replace them in sets... IE two bearings two races. It isn't super expensive but it adds up.