At 45,000 miles my 2004 Ford Ranger 4X4 had a failure of the front wheel bearings hub causing tire to lock up. Needed to be replaced. Was told by the repair shop there was very little grease in the unit.

- Ware, MA, USA

Component: Suspension:front:wheel bearing details: On April 26, 2008, a minor rhythmic squeaking sound was noticed from beneath vehicle while driving. On May 3, 2008, upon raising vehicle on lift, mechanic noticed that the entire right wheel assembly including brake rotor, ABS component and hub dropped from vehicle. An entire wheel assembly was needed (+$500). As an emt who responds to vehicular accidents in this rural state in all kinds of weather I was floored to think how close I was to driving the vehicle as the wheel assembly separated from the Ranger. Based upon other reports (ODI case number: 10155010) I consider myself fortunate, thank god.

- Shoreham, VT, USA

On March 06,06. Exactly 2 months after taking delivery of a "quality checked preowned " 2004 Ford Ranger pickup from a local dealership while driving to work at 4:30 am S/B on the I 15 suddenly, without warning the vehicle veered hard left slammed into the center gaurdrail then flipped and rolled causing vehicle to be a classified as a total loss by insurance co. After inspection of vehicle I was drawn to the fact that the front left wheel assembly including brake rotor and hub were detached from vehicle and after further inspection it appears that the wheel bearing retaining assembly is at fault. The spindle is flat on both top and bottom of the threaded tip where the where the axle nut threads should mesh and hold, but the threads of the nut are designed in such a manner as to not be continuous, but instead they are separated to where 2/4 S of the inside area is threaded and the other 2/4 S has no threads and are staggered in such a way as to allow the axle nut if allowed to spin at all even just 1/8 of a turn to pop off with little resistance except for the small looking cotter pin which came out in pieces maybe because the pressed metal castle nut wanna be which is of a loose fitting style could easily have worn the cotter pin with its rather sharp edges seemingly from just normal use and even more so if the wheel was not adjust perfectly or if the wheel seal was not seated perfectly which after some time would cause a more pronounced looseness in the whole assembly thus causing the aforementioned dangerous results. I was shocked when I saw the system used and I cannot for the life of me which I am lucky to still have understand how that design could be considered safe above other designs that are of solid materials with constant threads that would have to spin completely off many complete turns rater tan jus 1/8 to 1/4 of one turn. Please would you look into this before other trucks make unannounced turns for the worse. Thank you.

- Chino, CA, USA