Which hub should I buy?

[johnwartjr]

My Wife's 96 Limited 4WD Explorer appears to have bad wheel bearing(s) on the drivers front corner.

At around town speeds, no problems whatsoever, but when we get up to interstate speeds, the noise will run you out of the cab. It's deafening.

Back in 2008, I had the hub replaced on the same corner - and at that point, it wasn't making any noise, the repair shop that was working on other parts of the front end indicated it needed replaced.

So, after thinking it over, and talking with a trusted mechanic friend, it sounds like the problem is the wheel bearing on the drivers front corner. The drivers front mirror also vibrates a bit.

I checked at Napa, Advance and Autozone. Advance and Autozone have hubs in stock, Napa I'm not sure.

Advance has a MOOG with a 3 year warranty that would be $106.99
Autozone has a Timken with a 3 year warranty that would be $170.99
Autozone also has a Duralast with a 1 year warranty that is $108.99

All 3 of these prices include ABS sensors; I have an ABS code pointing at the sensor in the front left hub, so I guess that will get cleared up at the same time!

Of those 3, which would you buy, and why?

 

[jbowden718]

The majority of the guys here will tell you to go with Timken but Autozone is a little pricey. Check Rockauto.com or Partsgeek.com. The ABS Sensor just went on my driver's side hub so I opted to replace the whole hub given the price diferrence in the sensor and the entire assembly was only about $40. I bought mine from Napa and can honestly say that their parts haven't given me a problem to date. I've used Napa parts on 4 different vehicles. They also have a 20% coupon for the month of September which I used.

 

[obie]

Timken hubs from RockAuto.com would be your best bet. Wheel bearings aren't something to skimp on to get cheaper. Also, the Timken wheel hubs are American made, if that means anything to you. Also, I highly recommend replacing both sides rather than just one.

 

[Blee1099]

Since two of them offer both 3 year warranties go with what you feel comfortable buying. Unless your running 32s or larger tires I don't see going to Timkens will honestly make a difference. Moog does make a good quality suspension components.

 

[johnwartjr]

American Made is important to me, that's part of the reason I'm still patching a 96 Exporer back together time and time again

As much as I'd like to change both of them, I think I am going to have to do one now and plan to do the other in a month or so.

Interestingly enough, both hubs were changed in 2002 or 2003 on this truck.

The drivers side was changed again in 2008

Now, the drivers side is going bad again!

 

[Blee1099]

Don't forget to try our vendor 1AAuto. I believe they had a special running for two hub assemblies.. Not sure if they were Moog or Timkens but its worth reaching out for them.

 

[obie]

That's fine, one month difference won't harm anything. Its mostly preventative to change both, since one usually follows the other. There is a thread somewhere on this board that has a great write-up on second gen wheel hub replacement. One of the biggest things to increase the lifespan and for ease of future repairs is using anti-sieze where the stationary race of the hub goes into the knuckle.

I will add one small piece of advice from doing mine. Those little M6 bolts on the knuckle for the ABS wire are very easy to break, and nearly impossible to extract. Use some good penetrant, like AeroKroil. PB Blaster at the very least, WD40 isn't good enough for rust belt repairs.

 

[johnwartjr]

Thanks for the advice, everyone

And thanks for serving, obie.

 

[Turdle]

http://www.amazon.com/Timken-SP4502...-22&keywords=1996+ford+explorer+wheel+bearing

 

[johnwartjr]

UPDATE

Took the Explorer to my mechanic buddy yesterday and had him install new front hubs for me.

I went ahead and scrounged up the dough to get them both and replace them both.

Have a new problem that may be related, though.

After replacing the hubs, I drove around a bit, and hit the local interstate. At 65-70 MPH, the steering wheel 'vibrates' a bit. What I mean by that is, the wheel starts rapidly pulling left and right. Like, it goes left a little, right a little, left a little, right a little, etc. Once I hit 70 MPH or so, it stops. If I let off the accelerator, sometimes it moves around like that again. I'm not sure if that's a 'shimmy' or what.

The mechanic thinks the tires could need balanced. I guess that's possible, I've not had it done in awhile.

But, it seems kinda odd that we wouldn't have noticed that before.

Could the worn bearings have been so worn that they were 'absorbing' the tires being so far out of balance? Could the tires just be a little bit out of balance, and the fact that they turn so fast at 65 MPH be making a tiny amount of out of balance seem like a ton?

I gotta say, this truck has not driven this quietly in years!

And, to get rid of the ABS light, do I need to clear the codes in the computer myself? Or, will it clear itself?

 

[RomeovilleIL]

Vibration is air in the steering, very common issue when front end work is done. Just slowly turn the wheel lock to lock 5 or 6 times while idling in park will usually clear it out.

ABS does a system check at start up and self clears if no issue is found. Since you light is on, you'll need to get the code read again to determine the issue.

 

[my98nnj]

I put a Duralast hub in over 2 years ago and a Timken on the other side just over a year ago.

Guess which hub failed prematurely? (hint it begins with a T)

 

[johnwartjr]

Got the tires balanced and rotated today. Vibration is fixed!

The truck has not been this quiet in years!

 

[shadowless127]

I'm running a prostop hub from pepboys on my front pass side and I've put over 20K on it and it's still tight as... well, you get the idea.

I put a crappy ebay hub on the driver said and it started howling after a measly 1000mi but my mechanic said it was still good, but would need to be replaced eventually.

 

[1Aauto]

I'm running a prostop hub from pepboys on my front pass side and I've put over 20K on it and it's still tight as... well, you get the idea.

I put a crappy ebay hub on the driver said and it started howling after a measly 1000mi but my mechanic said it was still good, but would need to be replaced eventually.

I replaced the hubs in my 04 Jeep Grand with Timkens and I also replaced the hubs in my 97 Grand with the economy ones that we carry, so far both have worked out great. Our economy ones are very tight too.

We run as many parts as we can over here on our own vehicles to source out the better parts for you guys. I'm not very gentle on my Jeeps either...lol

 

[5.0L V8]

I JUST did both my front hubs in my '97 5.0. Fairly easy job. No real big speedbumps, I'd suggest soaking the hub bolts and caliper bracket bolts the night before with a good penetrating oil (PB Blaster is my drug of choice).

I went with the timkens from Rockauto. $105.00 a piece or something. Awesome quality, I can absolutely tell a difference in my free wheeling momentum. Here's a timelapse of me actually doing the job.
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheJeepWheeler?feature=mhee

Only takes about 3-4 hours for both if you had no idea what you were doing like me

 

[rizzjc]

I need to do my hubs .... AGAIN, and was debating what to get this time. I don't want to have to do them again in a year, but when I read the fine print they pretty much ALL have only a 12-month warranty on hub assemblies. Moog says "Limited Lifetime" ... except for hubs. 180k on the first pair of hubs, and now I can barely get 10k out of them.

Sounds like everyone likes Timken though, so I guess that's my best bet at this point. One more set, and I coulda just gotten Ford replacements (not that their replacement parts last as long either though).

 

[shadowless127]

I need to do my hubs .... AGAIN, and was debating what to get this time. I don't want to have to do them again in a year, but when I read the fine print they pretty much ALL have only a 12-month warranty on hub assemblies. Moog says "Limited Lifetime" ... except for hubs. 180k on the first pair of hubs, and now I can barely get 10k out of them.

Sounds like everyone likes Timken though, so I guess that's my best bet at this point. One more set, and I coulda just gotten Ford replacements (not that their replacement parts last as long either though).

I'd never get ford replacement parts for brakes or suspension when even some of the 3rd party OE replacements are IMO better quality. The only time I'll go motorcraft over 3rd party is engine/t-case/tranny related.

 

[rizzjc]

I ordered a pair of Timken hubs from Rock Auto, with free shipping. Fingers crossed that these last.