Front Wheel Bearings - failed after 5000 miles

[belldarr]

Hi - Just thought I would ask if anyone else has had premature wheel bearing failure on hubs purchased from JEEPCHRYSLERPARTS in London?

I bought a pair of hubs in November 2010 and had my garage fit them, I noticed that there was a bearing noise starting to increase in March 2011 and had the garage test drive it and it was put down to tyre noise (as new hubs had been fitted 4 months previous). The noise has steadily increased over last few months and when I took it back for the annual service to the garage last week they agreed that a bearing seemed to have started to wear. They took the nearside bearing off and it had indeed started to sieze and could barely be turned by hand, checked the offside and it was the same. Spoke to JEEPCHRYSLERPARTS and they stated that they had sold over 400 units and only had 1 failure due to an ABS sensor fault - I was out of the 12 months warranty period but as the car has barely covered 5000 miles in that time they offered me a small discount on the replacements.

So I have either been incredibly unlucky to get 2 naff bearings or there has been a quality problem with these hubs and depending on the feedback on here I am going to take this up with the company if this proves to be the case.

Darren

 

[fingers21]

Not hubs, but I bought some front droplinks about 2 weeks ago, fitted them the day they arrived and they've failed already! 2 weeks for a set of droplinks can't be good.

 

[belldarr]

Oh dear! was that the same company?

Darren

 

[fingers21]

Yeah, sure was, came from there ebay store

 

[Joe Dirt]

What brand are the hubs?

 

[Ilikemice]

I bought a Timken hub (at great expense) for mine... The wubwubwubwub noise started again a month or so later and the hub itself looked like it'd been submerged in water for months. It was really rusty.

I had doubts over the Ebay hubs, but I've only heard good things about them, until now of course

 

[belldarr]

Yes my first set came from their ebay store.

Can't tell what brand they are as the packaging is plain white box with no stampings on the hubs.

 

[belldarr]

Lol, yes that wubwubwub noise has driven me crazy each time I drove it. Got it back today and it is back to normal and I enjoy driving it again. I have saved the 2 scrap hubs and removed the ABS sensors as they are ok, I will be keeping a close eye (or ear!) on these ones as it costs about £320 to replace them with the garage labour and parts.

Darren

I bought a Timken hub (at great expense) for mine... The wubwubwubwub noise started again a month or so later and the hub itself looked like it'd been submerged in water for months. It was really rusty.

I had doubts over the Ebay hubs, but I've only heard good things about them, until now of course

 

[jcasey007]

on my first front end rebuild, I had both top arms, lower ball joints and drop links from them.

20,000 miles later I had to replace the whole lot (all worn) I put this down to it was the normal life span.

I replaced the whole front end again with bits from Rock Auto and they were still good after 65,000 later.

I guess GCP could say that premeture wear was due to your garage not touqueing up the hub nuts correctly?

 

[belldarr]

Yes I take your point on the supplier suggesting that the garage was maybe to blame through incorrect fitting (tightened up too much), which is why I am asking the question to see if other people have used their hubs and had the same issue.

If I have any issues with these new ones I will be straight back down there for a refund and then will source from Rock, cheers for the pointer.

Darren

 

[p3rryn]

I replace mine last year with Timkens (from memory ~£250 delivered from RockAuto) on the basis these are what Ford puts on the car. 4k later and touch wood still seem fine! As others have said getting the correct torque is really important, I even went back a couple of weeks later and re-did them, once they'd had a chance to bed in.

 

[belldarr]

Thank you for the pointer - I may re-check the torque just to be sure, can anyone tell me what it should be?

Darren

I replace mine last year with Timkens (from memory ~£250 delivered from RockAuto) on the basis these are what Ford puts on the car. 4k later and touch wood still seem fine! As others have said getting the correct torque is really important, I even went back a couple of weeks later and re-did them, once they'd had a chance to bed in.

 

[p3rryn]

157 to 213 Ft-lbs according to Haynes

 

[rich uk]

brought a couple part's from them ..

Have a unbranded white boxed hub on mine 2 years no problems

and an upper control arm from them 1 yr all good later

my guess is you have another issue that caused this wear ,

is your tracking ok ?

 

[belldarr]

Hi - Tracking is fine, it has been checked and the tyres have no uneven wear. I have done a google search and found that a lot of Chrysler 300 owners have had the same problems with hubs from these guys but as the units are unbranded it's difficult to prove these are all made by the same company.

Darren

brought a couple part's from them ..

Have a unbranded white boxed hub on mine 2 years no problems

and an upper control arm from them 1 yr all good later

my guess is you have another issue that caused this wear ,

is your tracking ok ?

 

[ihpj]

I would be looking to use Consumer legislation to get JCP to replace the bearing, goods have to be 'fit for purpose' and after 5K miles for it to fail, I suggest is unacceptable.

I appreciate it is warranted for 1 year, but thats your supplier warranty, you also have statutory protections under the Sales of Goods Act. I wouldn't put up with it myself.