Front Bearing Replacement (7 Viewers)

[aging fleet]

2nd q: I found USA-made Timken bearings inside my hub, and blue-green grease. I don’t think Uncle T shipped USA-made bearings in 1999, so I’m assuming someone replaced OEM with good quality parts. 144k miles today, stock, truck has has a sedate suburban life.

Over the weekend I pulled made in USA Timken's out of my 2006. I've been driving it for 11 years and am confident the original owner I bought it from never replaced the bearings. That said, I've serviced the hubs every 30,000 miles and the bearings still looked really good. I was doing brakes so decided at 170k miles, the bearings were probably ready too.

Probably could've run them for another 5+ years.

 

[fussychicken]

Thanks for the response @2001LC. All points make sense. I'm still confused about why there are circular scores on the spindle. I guess that is if the preload isn't tight enough.

Want to give a shout out to Cruiser Teq. After ordering all parts from Toyota Marietta during this latest sale, they emailed back to say the inner bearing was on national backorder. I did a little more homework and found some threads that talk about the suppliers for the OEM bearings and the difference between the Koyo and Timken. Seems like there really isn't much difference and both are good.

Much to my happiness, Cruiser Teq had their Koyo bearing kit in stock for prices cheaper than even the sale price from the SE dealers. Thanks guys!

Also credit to Matt at Marietta Toyota. Super chill about the situation and was happy to cancel the order.

 

[Aracobuilt]

Thanks for the response @2001LC. All points make sense. I'm still confused about why there are circular scores on the spindle. I guess that is if the preload isn't tight enough.

Want to give a shout out to Cruiser Teq. After ordering all parts from Toyota Marietta during this latest sale, they emailed back to say the inner bearing was on national backorder. I did a little more homework and found some threads that talk about the suppliers for the OEM bearings and the difference between the Koyo and Timken. Seems like there really isn't much difference and both are good.

Much to my happiness, Cruiser Teq had their Koyo bearing kit in stock for prices cheaper than even the sale price from the SE dealers. Thanks guys!

Also credit to Matt at Marietta Toyota. Super chill about the situation and was happy to cancel the order.

Yes, Cruiser Teq and a few other shops offer kits for certain repairs making things so much easier and cost effective.

 

[Super77]

• Do not mix up races & bearing. They are match sets.

Yes and no. Timken officially state that they “recommend” matched installs. In reality, that applies mostly to high-critical industrial applications, according to their customer support. They view consumer automotive to be a lower bar, which is why they sell the bearings and races separately. With lower-quality bearings made to looser specs, it’s probably a bigger deal, but you’d have no way to tell whether you’re getting a matched set unless marked, which they’re usually not. Proper lubrication and preload are bigger factors than a matched set.

What you should not do is mix brands, that’s more likely to cause premature wear if the bearing’s not seated perfectly in the race.

 

[kjsmiff]

Yes, use the same grease.

 

[2001LC]

Yes and no. Timken officially state that they “recommend” matched installs. In reality, that applies mostly to high-critical industrial applications, according to their customer support. They view consumer automotive to be a lower bar, which is why they sell the bearings and races separately. With lower-quality bearings made to looser specs, it’s probably a bigger deal, but you’d have no way to tell whether you’re getting a matched set unless marked, which they’re usually not. Proper lubrication and preload are bigger factors than a matched set.

What you should not do is mix brands, that’s more likely to cause premature wear if the bearing’s not seated perfectly in the race.

Follow Timken's official recommendation. It is, best practice!

I just had a wheel bearing service. It was a re-due of a local shops' work. They had just replaced the front roller bearings, leaving old race in place. The bearings, had less than 2K miles on them. They were trashed.

If you'd like to get, 250K miles or more:

1. Never mix races and bearing from side to side, during service.
2. When R&R bearings. Always replace bearings and races, as a set.
3. Service every 30K miles.
4. Set breakaway preload.
5. Replace lock washer, damaged hub flange gasket and grease cap.
6. Use a good grease, and keep assembly clean.

 

[Super77]

So I’m just wrapping up this job and need an idiot-check:

- new Timken inner and outer bearings/races and Timken-branded (red) bearing grease. New Timken rear seal. New nuts and washers.
- stock truck, 140K miles, hub and spindle in good shape, no unusual wear or damage.
- correcting a loose wheel condition where the vehicle’s PO had a too-loose install. Lots of wear and a deep groove on the claw washer. The drive flange had been hammered in, presumably because 2 gaskets were used

IDIOT CHECK:
1) I too am finding that the low FSM-advised initial torque gives nowhere near the right fish-scale pull. I start to approach 10+ lbs at the fish scale when I’m 40+ ft/lb on the first nut (assembling as dry as possible). Reading over all the threads here and favoring @2001LC’s exhaustive research over the years, I’m prioritizing the fish scale as the quality-check, not the nut torque. Is there a torque that is “too high” though?

2) unclear on how much grease to pack into the center of the hub, between the two races. I built up a layer about 1/4” thick. When I remove the outer bearing and peek inside, the grease is not touching the center portion of the spindle between the bearings. Should this space be fully packed or have a little air? The bearings themselves are nicely packed.

 

[Nardulli]

Getting ready to repack my bearings today. Can some one help me to better understand what I am doing when measuring the Preload? What am I attaching the scale to? You screw on a lug nut at the 12 o'clock position, attach the scale to said lug nut, and just pull out? Then rotate around in the direction of travel? Is that it? Thanks!

Torque the adjusting nut to 43 Ft Pounds.
Turn the hub in both directions several times
Loosen the adjusting nut to finger tight
Torque the nut to between 38 to 57 inch pounds - there should be no looseness in the bearing
Attach a spring tension scale to the topmost stud, it should take between 9 and 15 foot pounds to rotate the hub
Torque lock nut to 47 Foot Pounds
Don't forget to bend one of the lock washer teeth in and another outward

 

[Rhetoric]

A dealer did new bearings / races on my truck about 60k miles ago.

I had a shop do a repack for me 30k ago. I just did another and the claw washer was grooved pretty good, indicating to me that adjusting nut was too loose. I had anticipated this, so installed new during my service.

As a reference point for this thread, I was up in the 70-75 ft/lb range on my adjusting nut to get about 12lb breakaway.

 

[2001LC]

So I’m just wrapping up this job and need an idiot-check:

- new Timken inner and outer bearings/races and Timken-branded (red) bearing grease. New Timken rear seal. New nuts and washers.
- stock truck, 140K miles, hub and spindle in good shape, no unusual wear or damage.
- correcting a loose wheel condition where the vehicle’s PO had a too-loose install. Lots of wear and a deep groove on the claw washer. The drive flange had been hammered in, presumably because 2 gaskets were used

IDIOT CHECK:
1) I too am finding that the low FSM-advised initial torque gives nowhere near the right fish-scale pull. I start to approach 10+ lbs at the fish scale when I’m 40+ ft/lb on the first nut (assembling as dry as possible). Reading over all the threads here and favoring @2001LC’s exhaustive research over the years, I’m prioritizing the fish scale as the quality-check, not the nut torque. Is there a torque that is “too high” though?

2) unclear on how much grease to pack into the center of the hub, between the two races. I built up a layer about 1/4” thick. When I remove the outer bearing and peek inside, the grease is not touching the center portion of the spindle between the bearings. Should this space be fully packed or have a little air? The bearings themselves are nicely packed.

Breakaway preload, is the goal. We tighten adjuster nut, until 9 to 15lb (12.5LB is my target on stock, 15LB on built rigs) pull on spring scale, before wheel hub turns

Best to have a "little" air gap. No air gap bearings run a bit hot.
Wheel hub grease, needs to be just over outer edge, of inner and outer roller bearings. So that centrifugal force, works to force hub grease into bearings. To little grease in wheel hub. Centrifugal force, force grease out of bearings. Bearing without grease, burn up.

 

[Super77]

Torque the adjusting nut to 43 Ft Pounds.
Turn the hub in both directions several times
Loosen the adjusting nut to finger tight
Torque the nut to between 38 to 57 inch pounds - there should be no looseness in the bearing
Attach a spring tension scale to the topmost stud, it should take between 9 and 15 foot pounds to rotate the hub
Torque lock nut to 47 Foot Pounds
Don't forget to bend one of the lock washer teeth in and another outward

Yeah those are the FSM instructions. Consensus here seems to be that 38-57 in/lb nut ≠ 9-15 lb preload. Nut torque needs to be MUCH higher. I’m asking what’s a good upper limit to keep I’m mind.

With 47 ft/lb at the initial adjusting nut (not the secondary lock nut), I’m getting 8-9 lb. preload measured with my fish scale. When I back off the adjusting nut to 57 in/lb, the preload goes down to 1-2 lb. after a few spins.

I even calibrated the fish scale against a known weight.

 

[Super77]

One more follow-up q: I used a syringe to squirt a little of the bearing grease into the annular gap between the hub spindle and the axle shaft. I mistakenly thought I was lubing the bronze axle bearing and this was how to do it Yeah I was tired and not thinking straight.

So if I understand how the axle and spindle work, there’s a bronze bearing and seal (in red below) near the base of the spindle (blue), and about 8” of axle (green) spinning inside the spindle, ending with the splines that hold the drive flange.

So should that gap between axle shaft and inner spindle (outboard of the bronze seal) be dry? Does it matter? Can anything inside that gap travel back to the seal and bearing?

Mine is oozing old brown grease plus the bit I mistakenly pumped in. Trying to figure out if I should rinse it all out with Brakleen before I finish the job. I can just get the straw into that gap.

 

[Nardulli]

One more follow-up q: I used a syringe to squirt a little of the bearing grease into the annular gap between the hub spindle and the axle shaft. I mistakenly thought I was lubing the bronze axle bearing and this was how to do it Yeah I was tired and not thinking straight.

So if I understand how the axle and spindle work, there’s a bronze bearing and seal (in red below) near the base of the spindle (blue), and about 8” of axle (green) spinning inside the spindle, ending with the splines that hold the drive flange.

View attachment 4004683
So should that gap between axle shaft and inner spindle (outboard of the bronze seal) be dry? Does it matter? Can anything inside that gap travel back to the seal and bearing?

Mine is oozing old brown grease plus the bit I mistakenly pumped in. Trying to figure out if I should rinse it all out with Brakleen before I finish the job. I can just get the straw into that gap.

There is a 54 mm adapter with a zirk fitting that is used for filling the needle bearing and bronze bushing with wheel bearing grease. It is the only way I know of to grease that. And it MUST be greased. Here is a link: SLEE - Spindle Grease Tool - Slee Off Road - https://sleeoffroad.com/products/sok1037/ BTW, great drawing…

 

[Super77]

There is a 54 mm adapter with a zirk fitting that is used for filling the needle bearing and bronze bushing with wheel bearing grease. It is the only way I know of to grease that. And it MUST be greased. Here is a link: SLEE - Spindle Grease Tool - Slee Off Road - https://sleeoffroad.com/products/sok1037/ BTW, great drawing…

Interesting. That at least suggests that the gap between the axle and the spindle interior is not supposed to be dry.

But, if (as the Slee video shows) part of the process of using that tool is to push in the axle and expose the bearing by unseating the CV joint (to wipe the old grease that’s pushed out…

…why not just grease the bearing from the back when it’s exposed? Apply some moly with a syringe and let the axle shoulder push it into the bearing when you re-seat the CV joint on the back of the knuckle.

 

[Nardulli]

Interesting. That at least suggests that the gap between the axle and the spindle interior is not supposed to be dry.

But, if (as the Slee video shows) part of the process of using that tool is to push in the axle and expose the bearing by unseating the CV joint (to wipe the old grease that’s pushed out…

…why not just grease the bearing from the back when it’s exposed? Apply some moly with a syringe and let the axle shoulder push it into the bearing when you re-seat the CV joint on the back of the knuckle.

I don’t think that that method would fully pack the bearing and bush. Tool is only $45 so not egregious.