Best Ford Dealer or truck mechanic in Bangkok

[thaisail]

Driving from Chiang Khan to Phuket when getting some noise from the left front wheel. The local garage says we can make it to Bangkok where we can get parts and service for our 2011 Wildtrak Ford Ranger. The mechanic says we have to change the front left wheel bearing. In America, this job can be done by any qualified mechanic and trying to find Ford dealer ready to do this job on a Saturday afternoon may be a challenge. We have to be in Phuket on Sunday night to avoid a 1000 baht per day fine for our boat overstay. Any suggestions or recommendations? We are planning to stop in Bangapi to see family this afternoon.

[tiocfaidh]

If the bearing has only just started making a noise it should be ok for a while.

Make sure it's not the tyres sawtoothing, stepping, toe and heel it's called many things but it's where the tyre wears unevenly and it gives the same sound as a worn wheel bearing.

Run your hand around the face of the tread of the tyre. If one way it's smooth and the other way it jags on your hand that is sawtoothing.

Strictly speaking the only way to check for a wheel bearing is to have the wheel off the ground grab top and bottom and see if there is any play by rocking the wheel backwards and forwards.

[thaisail]

When we arrived at Saraburi, I typed auto parts store in Google Maps and after stopping at the first one, we found out from them where the big auto parts shop was in town only 300 meters away. This shop was huge and they actually had two wheel bearings to choose from. One was a NSK generic bearing from Japan and the other was Ford brand made in Thailand. We chose the Ford one and paid 1400 baht just to be sure that it would fit perfect. The Ford dealer in Petchabun had given us the Ford part number and quoted us 1800 baht! Lucky they didn't have one in stock! The NSK bearing was 1200 baht but I just wanted to sure that it would be a perfect fit so I bought the Ford brand. The parts shop sent us around the corner to a Michelin tire shop and they quoted us 500 baht to change the bearing. Plus 300 baht to do the alignment. So the whole job was done for 2200 baht including the part and we had lost less than 90 minutes between the parts purchase and the repair. The really good news is that the terrible noise that Ford in Phuket had been telling me for one year was coming from a bearing in the differential was in fact coming from the bad wheel bearing in front! Lesson learned is don't trust the dealer because they hire hire these kids out school who just don't have the experience of the mechanics that work in these specialized front end shops! I feel like I am driving a new truck now!

[Bob A Kneale]

7 hours ago, thaisail said:

the terrible noise that Ford in Phuket had been telling me for one year was coming from a bearing in the differential was in fact coming from the bad wheel bearing in front! Lesson learned is don't trust the dealer

Well, don't trust that dealer, it is not representative of the entire dealer network.