GMC Motorhome 1-Ton Wheel Bearing

[@wraithconscience]

Hi There, Great job! Explanations calm and logical. Enjoyable to watch and nice to know how to change a wheel bearing on a GMC RV. Well done!

[@MrGMCMotorhome]

Thanks for the comment!

[@groovy1937]

Nice job! This video is a great way to memorialize all the torque specs etc. for future replacement jobs or anyone needing the information in the future.

[@MrGMCMotorhome]

Yes! I sometimes go back and watch my own videos to remind myself how to do something or of torq specs. I hope I don't need to do this again very soon.

[@brucehislop8860]

FYI, Some info on the one-ton front end you might not know. The tapers in the one-ton knuckle for the tie-rod end and upper ball joint are slightly different from the OEM motorhome. A reamer was used to correct this, but its not perfect. So once a year I remove the cotter pins and check the knuckle mounting nut on each to be sure it is tight. The lower ball joint is the actual one-ton part, so it is not a concern.

[@MrGMCMotorhome]

Thanks for the tip! I'll keep this in mind.

[@rickdenney5772]

I’ve boookmarked this one. My ‘73 also has Manny’s one-ton kit, mostly in my case to get a more robust lower control arm. The ‘73 arms are a known issue.

[@bjnz4328]

Does the spacer put additional stress on the bearing?

[@rustyjones3175]

yes so plan on replacing a few of them

[@MrGMCMotorhome]

Yes it does and normally that would be a major concern. However, in this case, the wheel bearing was designed for spacers like this that were used on some 4wd trucks with dual rear wheels in the 1980's. It's needed on the 1-ton front end for the GMC Motorhome to make room for the larger disk brakes.

[@brucehislop8860]

The spacer compensates for the dually wheel offset and puts the tire in the same place as a single wheel rim would be. The same knuckle and bearing assembly is used on single wheel trucks. The spacer allows the dually wheels to be used on the front. There is no more stress on the bearing than if you were using a single wheel without the spacer. Using spacers on the OEM motorhome knuckle and hub assembly does put the wheel further out than what the OEM design was. So in that case there would be additional stress on the OEM bearing assembly.

[@harnoisable]

I'd choose this job all day vs the original front wheel bearing replacement procedure .

[@MrGMCMotorhome]

Great information, I didn't think about the offset of the wheel being different. I would expect the bearing to last 60k+ miles so I'm not sure why this one failed so early but maybe it was defective or there was an installation error.