Front tires making awful noise, told it was the bearings. How do I change the bearings? Dodge pickup 1999 4x4?

The noise it is making is a high pitched sound that sounds like a squeaky wheel. Gets worse in 4x4.How do I change the bearings or do I have to take the truck to the shop. I can do most basic repairs and have access to most tools needed. ThanksFront tires making awful noise, told it was the bearings. How do I change the bearings? Dodge pickup 1999 4x4?
As a bear minimum you would need a book telling you what the thing looks like inside or the experience of having done the job before. I have been a shade tree mechanic for over 40 years, I have a fairly well equipped shop and am willing to buy special tools. That said, I would think twice before I tackled this job, I would probably try but I would be ready to have the truck down for several days just to be on the safe side. I have done several jobs on front hubs and no two are alike except that they always seem to be harder and more time consuming than I had anticipated.



Unless you consider yourself capable of changing an engine or something else of that level I would suggest a shop.Front tires making awful noise, told it was the bearings. How do I change the bearings? Dodge pickup 1999 4x4?
I would take it to the shop, but I would buy bearings online, so you won't get ripped off on the bearings. Try going to http://mibearings.com, and fill out the form on the right. They will look-up bearings for you. Once you buy the bearings, take them to your local shop (if you can't replace them yourself) and have them install it.

One special tool you will need for this replacement is a torque wrench. You will also need a jack (obviously), and a couple hours of fun time.

I hope this helps!

Good luck with the repairs!
You are looking around $200 dollars each side, if you change them yourself. They're called the hub assembly and the bearings already come pressed in them. When you take your wheel off, brake calipers, and the rotor, you will see the hub assembly. It usually has 3 bolts to remove. Disconnect th drive shaft from the front differential and exchange it for the new one. That's it! Good luck, TJ
If it was 2wd I would say you could probably do it yourself. However, the locking hub assemblies on 4wd need special tools and are a lot more complex than a standard truck front hub. This is definitely a shop job. Also it may not be the bearings themselves but the front driveaxles may have some problems. Ask a shop to verify exactly what is wrong first. Good luck.
First take the wheel off, and see if it is the bearing that's causing the annoying noise. If it is the bearing, proceed with taking off the center hub nut cap. You can pull that off by wedging a flat head screwdriver between the hub and the cap. After that, you will need to pull out the cotter pin that prevents the nut from backing off with a pair of needle nose pliers. Then take off the nut and pull the hub off. Inside the hub is a bearing. Take it out and inspect it. If it's bad replace it.



If it's still in good condition, Remove the old grease and re-grease it with wheel grease. Make sure you put tons of grease on it. Put everything back together the same way you took it off, but don't over-tighten the hub nut when you put it back on. If it's too tight you could possibly burn out the bearing. Good luck.
For this I would take it to a shop, it is not too hard as it comes as a hub assembly with the bearing inside, the bearing itself is expensive though around $200 per side. You get a warranty this way....
you may want to take it to a dodge dealer, the bearings are with the wheel and axel, and not to be mean, i mean no offense to this, but you probably cannot fix this yourself.