What is the best way to check front wheel bearings on a 97 Caravan. What kind of job is it to change them. Ive used a 3 hook puller to change them on other cars. Do they change easily? Mine have 135k and there seems to be a roaring noise coming from that area. Thanks for any help
Check them by listening and by raising the wheel and checking for play. They are easy to remove.
Glenn Beasley Chrysler tech
If the vehicle can be run with both wheels off the ground, simply grab the steering knuckle where the bearing mounts with it running in gear, and you will feel which one is noisy. They don't have to be terribly bad to be evident.
Grab the steering knuckle with it running in gear? hmm, doesn't sound like a good idea to me
You also don't want to run without a load on the axles/cv joints etc and with the wheels off the ground you are increasing the angle of the half shafts beyond normal spec which is also not a good thing.I agree with you maxpower, it's a bad idea .
You are not running beyond the fully extended suspension angle and will NOT cause any damage to the U-Joints at this angle. You are NOT running at high speed. No load on the CV joints? No problem. Happens ALL the time at coast. I've checked front bearings that way since front drive first became common in the early 80s, and rear bearings long before that. Do you need to be carefull? Yes, but like I say about power tools, if it's of any use at all, it's dangerous. Just use some common sense and be carefull. Knowing the danger is well over half the battle.
It's okay, I don't think he could actually reach the steering knuckle from the driver's seat, anyway... ;)
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