Front hub brand?

[Mbrooks420]

Well

This is the OEM chinese one.service grade so-calledView attachment 423084

Not surprising. No one wants to pay any more for the labor than they have to. The quality is probably fine.

 

[hwydave]

I replaced the first hub with Timken around 60K miles on the original hub. That Timken last about 30k miles and got eaten up pretty bad with Mid-west winter salt. I replaced them with another pair of Timken. 30K miles in California weather and still doing fine. If I have to replace the hub again, I'll probably go with Motorcraft.

 

[J5hort]

I replaced the first hub with Timken around 60K miles on the original hub. That Timken last about 30k miles and got eaten up pretty bad with Mid-west winter salt. I replaced them with another pair of Timken. 30K miles in California weather and still doing fine. If I have to replace the hub again, I'll probably go with Motorcraft.

Guessing the climate may have a part in longevity. I'm in New England and replace my fair share of hubs. I'd have to look at my records, but I am on my 3rd set of fronts and second set of rears for my 2008 XLT. Caveat is that I tried some cheap hubs and changed within 6 months. It has about 210K miles, so about 70K miles out of the Moog front hubs. Maybe a quick poll from other forum members for hub brand, mileage on hubs and location to see if there is any correlation.

 

[Bazz270]

Be aware of both OEM and Service design hubs.



Hub29 - the oem spec one.Fomoco hub body casting.Timken bearing.made in USA
Hub6- cheaper service (aka low cost manufacturer approved aftermarket part) part.noname bearing brand.made in China.

Both are front Motorcraft made hubs.

 

[Bazz270]

Failed Motorcraft "service" front hub.chinese made with noname components.total junk

 

[Explorer_PL]

On my 06 I used either hub29 and hub67. Both fit. One was substantially cheaper OEM.

 

[Bazz270]

this one is HUB67

 

[ThunderbirdSport]

for the record China has some of THE BEST manufacturing in the world. People hear China and automatically assign it as a lessor part. You get what you pay for. If you buy a $75 wheel bearing, it’ll be a crap shoot no matter where it was made. If they can make an iPhone they can certainly make a bearing.

You are ****ing kidding, right? China may damned well have "decent" (and that is leaving the door open to being VERY subjective), but I wouldn't at all say they have some of the best, let alone THE best. At all. Now here's some personal first hand experiences; I put a cheap, house brand set of hubs (oreilly) on my '98 Explorer. They failed within 6 months. I then put on Moog units and they were good and are still good. That was in 2017.
You damned sure get what you pay for...you did get that part right. And BTW, if you like iphones, enjoy your chinese made ****. I'll pass. The phone I use is Malaysian.

Not surprising. No one wants to pay any more for the labor than they have to. The quality is probably fine.

This comes as a bit of hypocrisy from you. It's cheaper to make a bearing in china and send it here than it is to make that exact bearing here, and out of the same identical materials.

I WILL pay more for american made stuff that will last4, 5 times as long as chinese made stuff.

By your logic, you spend your money at wal mart and not at moom and pop stores that have better stuff, I'll bet.
Not trying to argue, but you're not gonna tell me that chinese stuff is both better AND cheaper than american made stuff because frankly, if you think this is true, well, sir....I'm glad you're not my mechanic. (and of course the last time I had a car in the shop was NOT to put on a freakin' hub..lol)

 

[07EddyB]

Report
ThunderbirdSport - I'm curious about where you are buying American made bearings? Do you think your Moog bearings were made in the USA?
Your Explorer is 15 years old now - do you think the OEM bearings that you can buy are still the one's that they originally put in your Explorer (that apparently don't last very long either)? Do you think that Moog doesn't use Chinese bearings?
If you can point me to a USA made bearing (maybe Timken, maybe not - it depends) then I would be happy to know that.
Yes - some can be better than others - but I've been around here long enough that it appears to be the luck of the draw - not the COO.

 

[Bazz270]

Anyway
The bottom line regarding this thread is the very low quality chinese made Gen4 motorcraft service kit bearings lol

 

[2010 Eddie Bauer]

I have had good luck so far with the set of TRQ hub assemblies I bought from 1AAuto.com. It's been about six months and 4,000 miles on the passenger side. I have not had to do the driver side yet. The lifetime warranty is what drew me this this brand. 1a Auto has great customer service and will continue to send me replacement bearings as long as I own the car if either of them go bad. For those who have had repeat failures of wheel bearings, have you torqued the axle nuts to spec when you installed the new hubs?

 

[Fbird]

late to the party but worth a read! I am chasing a noise in the right FRONT currently as when you are driving and veere LEFT you hear/feel a slight noise/vibration in the right front. (93k) so it might be steering unit or hub. Global manufacturing has certainly changed how BRANDING works anymore. Having been in the manufacturing industry for 25+ yrs as a Tool & Die & Mold maker ...yeah stuff comes from everywhere to everyone for everything.

 

[2010 Eddie Bauer]

late to the party but worth a read! I am chasing a noise in the right FRONT currently as when you are driving and veere LEFT you hear/feel a slight noise/vibration in the right front. (93k) so it might be steering unit or hub. Global manufacturing has certainly changed how BRANDING works anymore. Having been in the manufacturing industry for 25+ yrs as a Tool & Die & Mold maker ...yeah stuff comes from everywhere to everyone for everything.

My money would be on the wheel bearing/hub assembly being bad.

 

[Fbird]

yeah PO replaced 1 hub (not sure which...YET) so figured it was the hub...the slight vibration kinda says ..."LOOK AT ME"..

 

[Bazz270]

On 4wd vehicles could be the bad front CV joint too.

Dont forget to loctite or to replace the axle nut,and the hub bolts .make sure the bearings torqued to the specs without wheel assembly installed.

Always clean the knuckle-to-bearing contact surfaces prior to bearing install.
Antiseize should be used in salt roads operation condition.

 

[Bazz270]

I have had good luck so far with the set of TRQ hub assemblies I bought from 1AAuto.com. It's been about six months and 4,000 miles on the passenger side. I have not had to do the driver side yet. The lifetime warranty is what drew me this this brand. 1a Auto has great customer service and will continue to send me replacement bearings as long as I own the car if either of them go bad. For those who have had repeat failures of wheel bearings, have you torqued the axle nuts to spec when you installed the new hubs?

Front axle nut torque have nothing to do with the bearing service life.the only purpose of this nut in the front is to hold the halfshaft in place and to avoid halfshaft vibrations (similar to any other preloaded hub assembly awd/fwd vehicles)
You can even take the front halfshafts apart and still good to go.

Front hub it is complete preloaded unit.In RWD explorers you dont ever have the halfshafts to hold with this nut.

Anyways the failed one torqued to 250Nm...

 

[ThunderbirdSport]

Well, no idea where the bearings in the Moogs are made, but I CAN tell you without it being a lie that the Moogs were the last hubs I put in it, and I drove it probably close to 15K before I bought the '06. (The reaosn I stopped driving the 98 was due to lack of room, 4 kids, 2 adults. Needed the third row).

I'm actually seriously contemplating putting the 98 back on the road. Needs a new brake line and ball joints/tie rod ends. Perhaps I should go with the chinese stuff here, too? LOL......

 

[Bazz270]

Well,acc to the datasheet, moogs are probably equipped with National Bearing company bearings.
Timken and Ford OEM hubs are US made too,soo you dont have to use that chinese noname crap..

 

[Fbird]

i'll be going with Timken maybe in a couple weeks.....just had to buy windshield wipers !!! $70 ..jeez

 

[Bazz270]

i'll be going with Timken maybe in a couple weeks.....just had to buy windshield wipers !!! $70 ..jeez

Timkens are one of the best hub brands right now.good choice