Wheel Bearings and Brakes 1st time (1 Viewer)

[70 FJ40]

I am going to be doing a brake job on my Cruiser. Front and rear. Will also be attempting to replace the front wheel bearings while I'm at it. My Cruiser has 162,000 miles. I bought it with 110,000 a little over 4 years ago from original owner. I have a very detailed maintenance history from Toyota because it was mostly dealer maintained as well as receipts from other places like a battery and a set of tires. I have not put new brakes on it and if I remember right from the receipts the last time it was done was around 90,000. I'll look when I get home to confirm that. The bearings we're done once at 62,000.

I've read through a few of the threads on bearing replacement and think I can handle it. But I see in one of them that someone mentioned @2001LC has a YouTube video detailing the process. Can someone direct me where I might find that? It would be a big help I'm sure.

Also. I have ordered brake pads and wheel bearings from Cruiser Outfitters. Should I plan on putting new rotors on it as well? They have never been replaced. However the truck has no symptoms of bad rotors like pulsating like I've dealt with on my Toyota pickup and my tundra. Wouldn't even know the brakes needed changing except when I took it in for an oil change they told me they were down to 3mm.

 

[Trunk Monkey]

Just search "100 series wheel bearings" on Youtube, you'll find the videos. Best one is from Jonesy, it includes the brakes, bearings, and rotors.

 

[bucfl]

Also search for ME MY

Here’s one. I subscribed to his channel. I’ll need it this year.

 

[70 FJ40]

Thanks guys.

 

[nissanh]

I got 233K miles and still oem bearings. Just inspect and if good, repack with a good grease. Toyota bearings run for a long time. If you do brakes stay with oem pads and rotors. An oem rotor is $65ish from Camelbacktoyota.

 

[FrankieJoe14]

If i hear a whirring sound for the first few hundred feet of driving in the morning should i be ordering wheel bearings or would a repack do?

 

[white_lx]

If i hear a whirring sound for the first few hundred feet of driving in the morning should i be ordering wheel bearings or would a repack do?

Could be transfer case whine. Only when cold?

See here: Whining on first drive

 

[nissanh]

Like white lx said, if you hear it only in the morning then iy is transfercase. If you plan to do rotors and brakes, you'll have to remove the hub and bearings. Before you buy bearings, just take it out and inspect. Never use aftermarket bearings as they fail very early. I think cruiserden or someone in the forum sells the oem bearing kit at a good price.

 

[bucfl]

Check with @spressomon for parts.

 

[spressomon]

Nope, not here. But there are plenty of good OEM Toyota parts suppliers on 'MUD.

 

[2001LC]

The "Jonesy" youtube video, is a nice overview. But should be a lessen in how to improperly use and rune tools, and how not to do a wheel bearing job. Just in first five minute I saw ~5 things not to do.

I've not put together a thread dedicated to wheel bearings, although I've posted in numerous threads on the subject. Factory recommends repacking front wheel bearings every 30K miles. Look in my master link (first link in my signature) under "wheel bearings" and you'll find some helpful info in the links under it. You'll also find some use info within my restore projects threads.

As for brakes. Unless some issue, factory recommends replacing pads once 1mm (minimum) of pad material remaining. I always like to have brake disk (rotors) machine "turned" when replacing pads. Factory also has a minimum brake disk thickness 30mm front, 16mm rears. If below the they can't be turned and must be replaced. By turning when installing new pads, you reduce the chance of issue and increase the life of the pad.

 

[wvrx]

Should be able to get away with repack only, especially considering the low mileage. Some people are extra-anal about things like that, but in reality these parts are pretty heavy-duty. Could make the argument of why do the job twice, but I’m sticking with if it ain’t broke then don’t fix it.

You’ll need a fishing scale and axle nut socket to properly torque the locking nut. I used a pipe wrench to take off the metal cap on the hub. Would give it a 3/10 difficulty rating, but for your first time it may take longer (I think it took me 1.5 hrs/side on the fronts)

 

[Trunk Monkey]

Curious as to what you see wrong with the Jonesy video. Also, turning on every brake job is totally unnecessary and wasting your rotors.

 

[bucfl]

My pads are at 1/4 inch. I think rotors are ‘warped’. Never turned. Can I turn and buy new pads? Or go with new rotor/pad combo?

 

[Trunk Monkey]

You think they're warped or they are? Pretty easy to tell if they are when you're braking. If they are and need to be turned, do it on vehicle. That takes into account any nuances with the axles/arms etc. specific to your truck.

 

[bucfl]

They are. I get a slight wobble when coming to a stop.

Also, I’ve always used new rotors/pads before. After I get them turned can I drive home with old pads on until I can swap new ones in?

 

[2001LC]

Curious as to what you see wrong with the Jonesy video. Also, turning on every brake job is totally unnecessary and wasting your rotors.

I'm sure if you've review the video, you'll see even more than I did. You may recall, I posted some of my concerns on this video before, in post # 99 Front Bearing Replacement

Turning brake disks/rotors on vehicle is a very good way to go, when not repacking front wheel bearings. But it general requires waiting for available shop time and leaving vehicle for a day at shop. If pulling front wheel bearings anyway, it's faster and cheaper to having a machine shop turn off vehicle. Rear, brake drums/disk just come off so are very easy to take to a machine shop anytime.

I would not agree it's "totally unnecessary" turning. If rotors look like new sure you can just pop in new pads.
But, I almost always find rotors' grooved by the time pads are down to a few mm. These grooves end up reducing life of new pads. Can also lead to uneven wear and pulling to one side.

I also find what looks like staining on disk surface. This "staining" is often where more pad materiel has deposited on rotors surface, generally caused by not beading properly. Also, a vehicle parked for extended period with wet/mud/grimy disk surface and pads, may lead to staining. This/these uneven deposited is often referred to as wrapped rotors as pulsation in peddle or even in steering wheel is felt. Turning corrects all these issues. Not turning while installing new pads will all too often end-up in brakes pulling or pulsating.

A brake job is just cleaner with fewer come backs and last long if turned.

Yes it will remove metal from rotor reducing life. I generally get three turns on fronts, which equates to 180K to 270K miles before replacement. But that's not all bad, especially for those in rust belt. We've seen more that one case in mud where the cooling finds between rotors disk failed from corrosion. Failed to the point where inner and out disk of rotor separated. So these rotor/brake disk IMHO are not meant to last forever.

 

[bucfl]

Thanks @2001LC my pads have about 1/4” left. I do feel a slight wobble when coming to a stop. My plan was to replace rotors/pads as I’ve never had rotors turned before. My plan is to do bearings and brakes in November. Getting the rotors turned will save cash.

 

[white_lx]

Thanks @2001LC my pads have about 1/4” left. I do feel a slight wobble when coming to a stop. My plan was to replace rotors/pads as I’ve never had rotors turned before. My plan is to do bearings and brakes in November. Getting the rotors turned will save cash.

It is very easy to measure the runout of the rotors. That way you can confirm first which rotors are bad (front, rear, L or R or both). Otherwise you are maybe replacing front rotors, while the rear are the culprits or vice versa. This way you are also sure that the wobble is from the brakes and not from suspension parts, bushings etc.

 

[Trunk Monkey]

Eh, guess if you're looking for faults, you'll find them. I don't see anything there that will "ruin" a tool or anything egregiously wrong with the process. Good vid to show someone what to expect if they are thinking about taking it on themselves.