Re: 99.5 PF SE 4WD and front hub wheel bearings

I can't explain it but this loose side to side movement is common after 3 years on the PF 99.5. It can be repaired at the time of a wheel alignment for an extra couple of dollars. The other thing that needs replacing after 4 years is the stabilizer link on the front shocks. I also put new tires on last fall and the Pathpuppy rides like new.

Thanks for the explain. They're telling me that the race(s) is/are a bit loose. Enough to grabe the tire at 12 and six and move the entire wheel at a castor/camber axis. I'm assuming that the races can be removed and the races for the new bearings can be pressed in? or do you have to buy the the hub and bearings with races pre-pressed in ?

It's not side to side as in toe-in/out. It's on the castor/camber axis. I gave up on the people who originally put the new Michelin M/S LTX tires on. They couldn't balance the wheels. The tried several times but something is wrong with their machine. I took the freshly balanced wheels to a Goodyear shop that has a Hunter Road Force 9700 balancer. That machine showed each wheel to be out of balance by as much as five friggin ounces ! After they balanced the wheels and a slight toe adjust, the shimmy at 65 mph was gone. I have an outer CV boot that has a hole in it and I'm just going to replace the entire shaft. Costs less than a reboot and the shaft has a lifetime warranty. And it's on the side where the bearing race is loose. Two birds with one stone.

At 38K a Niss dealer looked it over and mentioned nothing about any bearing problem. I had it there because I had a front brake job done by a non Niss repair place and afterwards I had a creaking sound when I came to a stop. I was told that the nut that holds the hub on was about 2 turns loose. The Niss tech showed me the play by grabbing the wheel at 12 and 16 and he was able to move the wheel. So by this I understand there really isn't any adjustment. Either it's correctly tightend or it isn't. I took the PF in @ 43K to have the alignment redone (had it to another place that had a computer controlled machine a while back) and to balance the wheels.

8K miles ago I had new tires installed and the tire dealer could never get them balanced even though the machine they used said they were. So this is why I took the PF to the place that told me the bearing race was loose. They did balance the wheels. Their Hunter Road Force 9700 showed each wheel to be at least 2 ounces out and one was 5. What I will probably do one day soon is jack the PF up, pull the wheel off and inspect it myself. I really didn't want to mess with it. Back in the days when i didn't have the money to pay for repairs, I did them myself. I've dropped a 4 banger and transaxle out of an import, replaced the clutch, pulled the head and took it in for a rebuild. Also have rebooted front shafts on my Dodge 4x4. So I know what I'm doing.