Wheel Bearing Replacement Yet Again

[corkey]

well, okay, let me chime in here,,

pay the money get the good ones,,

you may have seen my rig, if not click on the bottom, 35's and coilovers,,
i ran the expensive hubs and only ever changed one in the whole time i had my 96 xl,,
it had the Timkens in it when i bought it, and i put on well over 200,000 kilometers on one set, i did change one out, but ,, i thought it had a noise, but when i changed it the noise didn't go away, so it is still good, in fact , i keep it as a spare,

my 99 is new to me not that long ago , but i checked , it has Timkens too, and will stay that way,, even though they are even more expensive here in Canada than in the lower 48,, , get the good one,,

 

[KingTriEye]

I pulled the trigger on the cheaper ones. With riding season coming up i'll be out on the motorcycle a lot more if the weather is nice again this year. Didn't have the cash on hand for the timken's but would definately recommend that website to anyone looking for parts. Literally took 2 days to get here and free shipping. I was quite impressed. If these cheap ones get me another 50K i'll be happy. Still need to replace that parking brake though. state inspection is coming up soon!

Thanks for all the feedback guys. Love this forum.

 

[Blee1099]

Probably too late but how about we support a site sponsor.. 1Aauto.. $126 for a pair http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/member.php?u=106599

 

[xsportx]

AUTO EXTRA!!!!

 

[masospaghetti]

FYI, I pulled my front hubs out last week and I believe they are original parts from the factory, made by Timken. Just over 200,000 miles. No sign of failure, but I went ahead and put new Timkens in since I was rebuilding my front end.

I have full faith the new ones will last just as long.

In my experience, most of Timken's heavy parts (bearings and hubs, not the seals) are USA-made, as is Moog's (not all, but most). I make it a point to buy their products both because they are high-quality parts and because they've invested in keeping jobs here.

 

[1997mercury302]

Ive used autozone hubs on a full size dodge and they would only hold up 2-3 months.

 

[imp]

Romeoville: is that near Lockport imp

 

[RomeovilleIL]

Romeoville: is that near Lockport imp

Yeah I am close. My house used to be unincorporated Lockport, got annexed into Romeoville a few years ago.

 

[kevinspann]

FYI, I pulled my front hubs out last week and I believe they are original parts from the factory, made by Timken. Just over 200,000 miles. No sign of failure, but I went ahead and put new Timkens in since I was rebuilding my front end.

I have full faith the new ones will last just as long.

In my experience, most of Timken's heavy parts (bearings and hubs, not the seals) are USA-made, as is Moog's (not all, but most). I make it a point to buy their products both because they are high-quality parts and because they've invested in keeping jobs here.

I found the same thing when I did mine - no play, and seemed to still be in great shape. I kept them for spares.



The amazon link on the first page is a nice price on the Timken's - I think I paid $125 for mine. Remember these come with ABS sensors as well.

 

[Joe Dirt]

Just about all if not all- come with sensors now.

I didn't reply with my normal Timken support, since I knew this would end up being another one of these 95% for Timken vs. 5% for cheap bearings that "should" be ok, and the OP would buy the cheap ones even though they were replacing them "yet again"

 

[imp]

Yeah I am close. My house used to be unincorporated Lockport, got annexed into Romeoville a few years ago.

Where can a guy do much 4-wheelin' around there? Farther south, where the coal mines used to be maybe? When I was a kid, my older sister cut school (we lived outside Chicago), the high-schoolers drove down there to go skinny-dippin, really ticked off my dad!

When I left IL, I found 4-wheelin' was much more rugged and extensive out in the mountains, than flaty old IL.

imp

 

[RomeovilleIL]

Where can a guy do much 4-wheelin' around there? Farther south, where the coal mines used to be maybe? When I was a kid, my older sister cut school (we lived outside Chicago), the high-schoolers drove down there to go skinny-dippin, really ticked off my dad!

When I left IL, I found 4-wheelin' was much more rugged and extensive out in the mountains, than flaty old IL.

imp

Local wheelers like to look for the deepest mud they can find to get stuck in, mostly low areas near creeks or fields in a river floodplane. Not my cup of tea but if it makes people happy, have at it.

For the most part our trucks are work vehicles. 4wd is for regular farming/equestrian use along with hunting/fishing/camping trips. Gets used in winter snow if too sloppy for the cars. That much said I have covered a good number of trails in the mountains out west. Surprisingly my garmin actually showed the ones we used while elk hunting back in October. How 2 rocky ruts in the mountains can be call a service road by the forest service is still a mystery to me.

 

[alohamonte]

Couple questions on wheel bearings on the 4x4.

I had the front (auto) hubs replaced by a shop a couple years ago. Does the hub replacement include a wheel bearing replacement?

 

[Joe Dirt]

If it is a 4x4, yes. They are one unit.

 

[xsportx]

AUTO EXTRA!!!!

I take that back... Mine just craped out:fire:

 

[davemengel]

Learn from my mistakes. I bought the ebay cheap replacement parts so I could redo my entire front end at one time. I didn't have alot of cash on hand to but the appropriate quality parts. So now one at a time I am replacing tie rod ends ball joints and I am sure to be replacing hub bearings. To be honest I was excited when I got my hubs because I got a good price and they are marked Detroit Axle. But...nowhere on the box or seller description does it say Made in the United States. They look quality but I'm thinking I may only get about 15,000 miles out of them. Pay the extra money now or be sorry in the end...

 

[RomeovilleIL]

Learn from my mistakes. I bought the ebay cheap replacement parts so I could redo my entire front end at one time. I didn't have alot of cash on hand to but the appropriate quality parts. So now one at a time I am replacing tie rod ends ball joints and I am sure to be replacing hub bearings. To be honest I was excited when I got my hubs because I got a good price and they are marked Detroit Axle. But...nowhere on the box or seller description does it say Made in the United States. They look quality but I'm thinking I may only get about 15,000 miles out of them. Pay the extra money now or be sorry in the end...

FYI - Detroit Axle/Dearborn Axle is a reseller based in Michigan, not a manufacturer. The explorer hubs they sell are manufactured in Shanghia China by BICI.

We all know the vast majority of people do not service or repair their own vehicles. Did you ever notice how often folks complain about their cars needing the same repair over and over? Maybe it is not the car.

Most repair shops and do-it-yourselfers use the lowest cost parts they can find. More often than not house brand or white box items have very good fit and finish so trying to judge based on looks is tough. Just about everyone knows when first installed they appear to work fine. The problem is chances are they will give out and need to be replaced again much sooner than expected.

Experience has shown many non-OEM parts just do not hold up. Seems like 1 to 2 years is the lifespan of cheap tie rod ends, ball joints, and hubs compared to 5 or more years on the originals. I have heard the argument about lifetime warranties, but who thinks annual front end rebuilding is a good thing other than a shop charging labor? (Not to mention when these things wear your alignment goes out which messes up your tires, too.)

 

[drbenz]

There is an interesting article in the March 2012 edition of the Rock Auto Newsletter about wheel bearings/hubs:

Assuming the Repair is Always the Same

I recently had an enjoyable conversation with the owner of a parts store and garage in West Virginia. His business both installs parts and sells parts to other repair shops. He noticed one of his professional mechanic customers had made a lot of warranty claims on axle bearing and hub assemblies. He asked his customer about it. The customer said he had so much trouble with aftermarket hub assemblies that he stopped using them and now only bought OEM (original equipment manufacturer) hub assemblies from the car dealers. The business owner knew that the aftermarket and OEM hub assemblies being discussed were likely the same parts made by the same manufacturers. The only difference was the printing on the cardboard box. He quizzed his customer further to figure out what was actually happening.

The axle bearing and hub assemblies from the car dealers were expensive and they were “OEM” so the mechanic took the time to look up and use the OEM torque specifications when he installed the parts. The aftermarket hub assemblies were less expensive and “aftermarket” parts so they were bolted on using an impact wrench with a random torque setting. The mechanic often serviced big trucks like the Ford F-350 and was likely under-tightening rather than over-tightening the bolts with his impact wrench. The bearing and hub assemblies wobbled around and were damaged, the brakes pulsed, the brake pads wore unevenly, etc.

After my initial “aren’t some people funny” reaction, I thought a little more and sheepishly realized I have at least two reminders to take away from this story myself. The first reminder is that installation instructions in the box and/or repair manual, including torque specifications, are worth reading and following. Even if the repair is 99% the same as something I have already done, that 1% change could be the difference between success and failure or at least a tip worth knowing.

I never have thought a Timken, Moog, SKF, Raybestos, etc. bearing and hub assembly requires more careful attention if it is packaged in an OEM box. I am actually more likely to get too comfortable with the aftermarket name on the box and start assuming the repair is always the same on every vehicle. My thought process goes something like: “I have installed Standard Motor Products throttle position sensors on three Fords so I don’t need to look at the repair manual before I install a Standard Motor Products throttle position sensor on any other vehicle ever built.” I should have stopped thinking that way decades ago after trying to unthread the lug nuts on my ’68 Plymouth by turning them the wrong direction (‘60s Chryslers have reverse threaded lug nuts on one side). Every few years I just need a nudge to read the instructions.

The other reminder I gleaned from the W. Virginian’s experience is that torque specifications are not just there to keep me from breaking the heads off of bolts or cracking an aluminum flange on a “little” part. Torque specs for a major suspension or drivetrain part, especially on a large truck, can be quite high. Bolts mounting the hub assembly to the steering knuckle might require a hefty 95 Nm (70 ft lbs) on a car and an eye popping 180 Nm (133 ft lbs) on a large pickup truck. Rather than breaking the part, the worry is do I have enough oomph and a long enough torque wrench handle to get the parts tight. Under-torqued heavy parts are something to avoid as much as over-torqued little parts.


Tom Taylor,
RockAuto.com

Moral of the story is always use a touque wrench!

 

[Joe Dirt]

Buuut, what if members are torquing according to the instructions and the cheap units are still crapping out at 5,000 miles? <shrug>

 

[SoNic67]

Then probably those are eBay cheap/fake parts from China.

Real Timken hubs are identical with OE ones.