2000 F250 Wheel Hubs

I have a 2000 F250 4x4, 7.3L diesel. Whenever I turn the wheels almost or all the way in either direction, there is some popping as the truck goes through the turn. The Ford dealer checked it out and said the bearings needed to be replaced. (It has 85K miles on it by the way.) But Ford does not sell bearings; they and everyone else just sell a "hub assembly," which I believe contains the bearings. I bought the Ford service manuals off E-bay, which states that two O-rings must be replaced everytime the hub is removed or else there is a chance of losing four wheel drive. One O-ring in\s internal to the hub, and the other is inside that black hub lock that you can turn. The hub assembly, however, does not come with the O-rings, whether I buy it from Ford or anyone else. And the Ford parts people in Pensacola, Florida say they've never sold an O-ring for it. So here are my questions:

Do the O-rings have to be replaced everytime? If so, where can I get them? Is the hub replacement easy; it does not look too hard from the manual's instructions?

Any advice would be appreciated. TIA.

Reply to
Robert C. Denny
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I'd confirm the popping noise is the bearing and not actually a partially hung up auto locking hub. My hubs do this all the time and the way I can tell is noise and feel of the steering wheel when making tight turns. (These trucks are known for hub problems.)

Matt

99 V-10 Super Duty, Super Cab 4x4
Reply to
Matt Mead

I agree with Matt (go figure), the knuckle U-joint will bind a little bit at full lock if the hubs are engaged whether by malfunction or by choice.

Reply to
Matt Macchiarolo

Thanks Matt. I checked my hubs and they were in the locked position. I turned them to the unlocked position and the popping went away. Any thoughs on what kind of damage my be caused by driving with the hubs locked? Also, any thoughts on how to get the hubock off. I removed the retainer ring and pulled out, but it would not budge. My maintenance manual says to just pull outwards. I want to replace th hublock because an inner rubber ring is coming out of the hublock. The hublock is very hard to turn and it's because an interior rubber ring somehow got loose and is poking out in between the rotating part and the stationary part. Anybody got any thoughts on how to get the hublock off?

Reply to
Robert C. Denny

My truck had Auto hubs. They were either in "Locked" or "Auto". Make sure yours are not these "Autos" or all you did was move them to the vacuum position. The seal on the vacuum setup eventually went out on mine. I opted for Warn 1 ton manual hubs on my 350. Less than $200 and ten minutes to install.

Reply to
Jeepers

Assuming you did not have the transfer case in 4wd, you should experience no damage per se but you may have caused a little extra wear to front drivetrain components, but nothing to lose sleep over.

Reply to
Matt Macchiarolo

Yup.

It's interesting though that of the many 4x4s I've owned in the past, this is the first one I've owned where when the hubs are locked (and the T-case isn't engaged), you can get popping noises and the amount of ratcheting in the wheel that is present in these trucks. Just the design I guess as I've seen no ill effects in 80K+ miles.

Matt

99 V-10 Super Duty, Super Cab 4x4
Reply to
Matt Mead

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