Untouched wheel bearings at 135,000.

[IdahoDoug]

The 97 I recently bought has a slight wander to it on the freeway and on rutted roads. So I pulled the drive plates for a look see this evening to see if I'd be needing wheel bearings ordered for the birf job.

Incredibly, the wheel bearings had never been touched. The black paint was intact on the cone washer bolts, and the grease cap had never been touched. Remarkably, the wheel bearings were fine, and I recognized the factory clear yellow grease though it had notably firmed up. Still plenty in the cavity between bearings.

Says a lot about the quality of componentry on these beasts. Designed to handle a pounding and rough life, these wheel bearings easily handled all those miles of benign US roads with zero service. Hopefully the spindles are fine as well, but that's for another day.

I tightened them each by about 1/2 inch of rotational movement, then rechecked front end slack by yanking on the tires. Some still there, so must be the knuckle bearings (trunions). Haven't driven it to see any change, but I removed only about half the slack..

DougM

 

[RavenTai]

hmm that means unturned original rotors also, or if they were turned they were tunred on the truck

 

[Riley]

turning is for the but given the same rotors, that's cool.

 

[Cruiserdrew]

I think I can beat that. When I bought my FJ60 it had about 170k on it. One of the first jobs I did was to repack the wheel bearings and they had never been done! I felt more like an archeologist than a mechanic, a perfect time capsule from 1984. The grease in the cavity was clean and clear, but had dried to the point it looked like a dry lake bed with cracks. One bearing was good, the other was iffy and I resued it anyway. 10k miles I got the wander and the iffy one had gone to rapid wear mode and I replaced both sides with new Koyos at that point. My original rotors and knuckle bearings(trashed) had made it that far as well. These are seriously well made trucks.

 

[Landpimp]

I was shocked at out 90 fj62, the front end had never been touched(orignal rotors and all) at 250K, one bearing was a wee bit loose but they had never been apart, not a single leak on the front axle.

I think I can beat that. When I bought my FJ60 it had about 170k on it. One of the first jobs I did was to repack the wheel bearings and they had never been done! I felt more like an archeologist than a mechanic, a perfect time capsule from 1984. The grease in the cavity was clean and clear, but had dried to the point it looked like a dry lake bed with cracks. One bearing was good, the other was iffy and I resued it anyway. 10k miles I got the wander and the iffy one had gone to rapid wear mode and I replaced both sides with new Koyos at that point. My original rotors and knuckle bearings(trashed) had made it that far as well. These are seriously well made trucks.

 

[IdahoDoug]

Wow, I had no idea there were other untouched high mile trucks like that. This thing's driving completely different today. I've been on the freeway 4 times and other errand driving around town and the slight wander is gone. The slight slack I'm able to feel/hear when I wiggle the truck very hard side to side is still there, but I guess as mentioned it's the knuckle bearings, but with 3000lb of downforce on them they really don't let the truck wander like a wheel bearing will.

Yeah, never thought about the brake rotors being original. Remarkable. The birfs are not leaking, and removing the square plugs shows they're full. Not a sound out of them, either which pisses me off since my 93 with my own care (synthetics, etc) has been clicking slightly since 100k. Wonder if there was a material upgrade or some tolerances tightened along the way.

250k, Pimp that's incredible...

DougM

 

[landtank]

who knows Doug, next you might realize the unwarrented process of rotating the tires.

BFG AT/Kos, never rotated, 90k on them and back on for another summer.

 

[JAPFPE]

What's the scoop ?

So what's the scoop with tire rotation ? I have always typically rotated my tires even though I wasn't religious about the frequency. I just picked up a CPO BMW and the service manager stated during "Orientation" that they don't typically rotate tires but would if the customer wished. So the tire rotation thing is a thing of the past ?

 

[landtank]

Kind of an inside joke. In my oppinion rotating tires on a all wheel drive vehicle like the LC is not needed. They just wear evenly. I've gone as far as measuring the circumferance and found almost zero difference after 10s of thousands of miles. Of course once these tires wear enough the spare becomes useless as a long term replacement do to it's larger size from not being in the rotation.

My original Michelins wore evenly as well as my BFG Ats and farely new X-Terrains. However keeping your front axle in top notch shape plays a big role in individual success.

Any 2 wheel drive vehicle has to have the tires rotated due to driving only 2 of the tires which take all the wear.

 

[Arya Ebrahimi]

I rotate my tires on the cruiser because the fronts tend to cup a little due to the hard cornering my cruiser experiences... Helps keep them worn evenly.