Average life of wheel bearings

Concerns have been expressed by technicians regarding the use of the new supersessions and whether the Gen III hubs will properly fit the vehicles being serviced, especially because of visual and functional differences (splines). This bulletin has been developed to address those concerns.

I've also read somewhere on another forum, that the hubs tend to fail relatively quickly if you remove the front axle shafts and then drive around, but I'm not sure why that would be...

Car bearingnoise

Important: Only the new part numbers referenced in this bulletin are interchangeable between the 4x2 and 4x4 applications with the exception of P/N 15719007 (Not Shown). Under no circumstances should any other 4x4 hub be used in a 4x2 application.

Front wheelbearingnoise symptoms

General Motors Vehicle Engineering has introduced a new design Gen III front wheel hub for the above listed vehicles that replaces the Gen II product.

Car bearingsymptoms

GM did revise the hub design to use the 4x4 hub on 2wd trucks for the HD applications This was done back about 2008-2009. See the bolded bits below. The chart didn't copy correct, but 1999-2007 8 lug SRW 4x2 and 4x4 trucks are serviced with one hub assembly, 15946732.

The only hub that is not back serviceable is P/N 15719007 (not pictured) for 1999-2000 C25 applications due to a different hub flange to bearing flange offset.

Oh ok so your 3500 did have the splines even though it wasent 4x4 correct? Also my truck is a 1500HD has the frame of a 2500LD but the knuckles,rotors and things of the like are the same as the 2500HD's

My truck has the original wheel hub assemblies wich dont have the opening for the CV Axels, two auto parts stores told me they would work, but I also read online is that the CV axel is what provides support and would fail very quickly if used on a 2WD. So my question is has anybody changed them out on their truck? They should be the same for 2WD 2500HDs.

Car Bearingprice

And on rockauto, most of the hubs have the splines and are listed as rwd/4wd or don't specify, only a couple appear to either not have the splines or have the splines covered up.

Carwheelbearing

Please refer to the table below for information on the Gen III replacement part for each Gen II application. At the end of the bulletin you will find an illustrated “Hub Gallery” with graphic depictions of both Gen II and replacement style Gen III parts. Using these illustrations you should be able to identify both the Gen II and Gen III wheel hubs.

Wheelbearingreplacement cost

My '04 3500 came with wheel hubs that had the hole/splines for 4wd, even though it was a 2wd. I cleaned out/greased the splines, had to force the axles into them the first time, but now they slide in and out pretty easily (I upgraded the truck to 4wd).

That's correct, it was a 2wd truck, with splines in the wheel hubs for 4wd. And I've seen other trucks like mine (3500 cab&chassis, GMT800 but not sure of the specific year) that also have the splines, never seen one without them.

Car bearingreplacement

When replacing an older Gen II design 4x2 hub with a new 4x2/4x4 common Gen III hub, it is acceptable to have a bearing with splines on it for a 4x2 application that previously did not. However, the older Gen II design 4x4 hubs should NOT be used on a 4x2 vehicle. The Gen II 4x4 hub relies on the tension of the wheel drive shaft joint to hold everything together. The roll form feature on the inboard side of the new 4x2/4x4 Gen III hub eliminates this concern.

These Gen II 4x2 and 4x4 applications that were previously serviced by seven part numbers are now serviced by three Gen III part numbers.

Oh ok so your 3500 did have the splines even though it wasent 4x4 correct? Also my truck is a 1500HD has the frame of a 2500LD but the knuckles,rotors and things of the like are the same as the 2500HD's

Warning: If replacing wheel studs, please refer to the GM Parts Catalog for the correct stud part number for each application. Different types of studs are used depending on the wheel hub application.

Ok thanks for the info, if it fails quickly I will take them back because my truck is a 2wd and I went to two different autozones and napa and they both showed me the same ones. Mabey GM decided to just upgrade them and make them interchangable so they dont have to make two different sets.

GM did revise the hub design to use the 4x4 hub on 2wd trucks for the HD applications This was done back about 2008-2009. See the bolded bits below. The chart didn't copy correct, but 1999-2007 8 lug SRW 4x2 and 4x4 trucks are serviced with one hub assembly, 15946732.

I wouldn't expect 2500 wheel hub assemblies to be the same as 1500 ones. 2500 and 3500 are the same, I believe (at least for GMT-800s).