how did hubcaps cause your symptoms?

for anyone who did a search and came up with this thread, i will relate my experiences with wheel bearings on my 7&1/4" axle:

a failed wheel bearing on my axle (an already existing problem when i bought the car) manifested itself not as a squeak, but as a steady grinding noise that increased in sound level, not pitch, as my road speed increased. imagine driving on smooth silky new asphalt and then transitioning to old asphalt where the stones in the mix are raised: the road noise increases. well, that's what this sounded like. just loud road noise.

when i investigated, i found a line of axle oil coming from the axle shaft seal, and about 1/16" of radial play when moving the axle shaft up and down. i used a slide hammer as recommended by chrysler when removing the axle shaft, after unbolting the flange from the backing plate.

when i removed the remnants of the bearing, i found that the inner race had worn down the shaft surface in that area. rather than trying to locate another axle shaft, i repaired this one. i took it to north american hard chrome to be spray-welded and remachined to the correct thickness. they used the other shaft as a reference. they had to observe the seal diameter, and the press-fit diameter where the bearing resides, as well as where these diameters transition to each other for maximum performance of the bearing and seal. total cost was $90 and turnaround time was 2 business days.

a more cost-effective solution to spray-welding could be using an advanced repair polymer such as belzona, and i am experimenting with that on a front hub. stay tuned to the suspension and brakes section for updates on that project.

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I've been calling it as i see it for my entire life and that's not about to change. Take it or leave it.