Wheel Bearings - When to replace / repack (1 Viewer)

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BMC5150

Joined
Mar 23, 2015
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Hello,
First post here. Recently purchased a 2000 Land Cruiser and am in the process of catching up on past maintenance.

I have a few questions regarding front wheel bearings, after doing some reading on the board. Currently there is no play in the wheels, however, the car has 100,000 miles on it and I'm about to get the rotors and pads replaced with the PowerStop kit. The bearings have never been replaced or repacked, from what I can tell.

- Waste of money to repack or replace if they're not loose and there are no other symptoms? Or good preventative while rotors are off?
- What would be a reasonable estimate of additional time / labor cost if rotors and pads are already off to replace or repack bearings?
- If I was to replace rather than repack, what parts would be required? OEM Timkin / Koyo bearings and seals from CruiserDan? Anything other small parts?

Thanks in advance
 
@cruiseroutfit sells a kit with everything you need to replace. (You probably don't need to replace everything though) http://cruiseroutfitters.com

You can repack them yourself without too much trouble. It's a great DIY job if you have the confidence and a few tools. If they've never been done, it's definitely time. I believe Toyota recommends every 30k. Sooner if you do a lot of water crossings.

I think it's a good idea to have everything on hand (parts-wise) before you start into this job. If you get in there and find a bad part, then you have to wait to have it shipped or buy it from your local Toyota shop. You'll need a new gasket, oil seal, star washer and lock washer. The bearings and races are probably fine. You'll also need a 54mm hub nut socket, snap ring pliers, brass drift or hammer and a 14mm for the flange nuts. You can actually get by without some of those tools, but they make life easier. Obviously wheel bearing grease is pretty important too. You might as well grease the spindle bushing while you're in there. There are some DIY threads on here for that.

I bet shops will charge at least $300+ per side not including any parts. You can save some nice coin by doing it yourself. This forum is a great resource if you get stuck. Post a pic and it'll get figured out pretty quick.
 
Just did this job on my 06 with 235k on it.
Bearings were fine but they were in my hand so I replaced them....
Parts total was 196.00 to the house via Beno (cruiser head here who sells parts)

Job tool couple hours and is pretty straight forward.
 
Clutchee said:
Just did this job on my 06 with 235k on it.
Bearings were fine but they were in my hand so I replaced them....
Parts total was 196.00 to the house via Beno (cruiser head here who sells parts)

Job tool couple hours and is pretty straight forward.
Click to expand...

What do you guys use for grease? I've got a few tubes of the Mobil-1 synthetic grease in my garage already (it's kind of a reddish-purple color) and I've had good luck with it on my other projects. It would be convenient if I could use it on the LC as well for bearings, drive shafts, etc.

-G
 
GregLCA said:
What do you guys use for grease? I've got a few tubes of the Mobil-1 synthetic grease in my garage already (it's kind of a reddish-purple color) and I've had good luck with it on my other projects. It would be convenient if I could use it on the LC as well for bearings, drive shafts, etc.

-G
Click to expand...
This is what I use.
 
Repack/regrease every 30k and replace as needed. I've got the kit Kurt sells and am doing the job this weekend. If you're just repacking, it's more than you need as it includes both bearings and races. There's a vid Jonesy/Duiser put on Youtube that shows replacing rotors on the 100, but also includes everything in disassembling the hub as well. For the money you're spending in labor you could buy the tools to DIY and have them when you're done.

edit, found the vid

 
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I use a high-temp wheel bearing grease from NAPA. I have a light and a dark color and I actually alternate between the two each time I repack. Even after you clean the bearings you'll see a little of the old grease push out. Just my way of doing it.
 
Do not forget the inner spindle bearing on each side, while you're in there. FSM says NGLI #1 grease, I get mine from an Amsoil guy. Slee makes a sweet tool for the job.

Steve
 
Great advise above. The only thing I would add is that you're going to have to play a bit on your torque setting, especially if you replace the bearings. I ended up at 15 lbs on the fish scale. The FSM is way light on the required torque.
 
I know TMC says 30k, but I just do them when I need front brakes, so they don't have to turn rotors on car (not as good IMO).
 
Wow ... great advice in these responses. Thanks everyone.

I'm highly considering doing the job myself after watching that video and reading through the above. I need to start stocking up on tools / jack / jackstands anyhow, so now might be a good time.

My main concern would be torqueing everything correctly when putting back together. Just follow the FSM torque settings and use a torque wrench?

When you guys refer to the factory service manual, are you using a Haynes / Chilton type book or the actual OEM Toyota FSM. I saw the PDF of the 2004 Factory Service Manual when searching the board, would that be sufficient or would you recommend I go OEM year specific or some other aftermarket book?
 
Interesting that you'd bring that up txlx, I was planning on pulling my rotors and taking them in to be turned when I did the hubs, I've got a little bit of pedal pulsing. Buddy that's a Toy tech said he'd disown me as a friend if I didn't have them turned on truck or if not that, replace the rotors completely. He said that they'd see vehicles back in for pedal feel much sooner than those turned on car.
 
Trunk Monkey said:
Interesting that you'd bring that up txlx, I was planning on pulling my rotors and taking them in to be turned when I did the hubs, I've got a little bit of pedal pulsing. Buddy that's a Toy tech said he'd disown me as a friend if I didn't have them turned on truck or if not that, replace the rotors completely. He said that they'd see vehicles back in for pedal feel much sooner than those turned on car.
Click to expand...

Interesting. I just don't like seeing my vehicle bouncing up and down on a lift when they are being turned on the car. Seems like if the fixed lathe (not on car lathe)is properly aligned, turning rotors off the car would be more accurate.

Maybe I'm missing something, it just seems offhand there are more variables when turning on car... Perhaps there are less if some have seen better results on-car resurfacing.
 
BMC5150 said:
Wow ... great advice in these responses. Thanks everyone.

I'm highly considering doing the job myself after watching that video and reading through the above. I need to start stocking up on tools / jack / jackstands anyhow, so now might be a good time.

My main concern would be torqueing everything correctly when putting back together. Just follow the FSM torque settings and use a torque wrench?

When you guys refer to the factory service manual, are you using a Haynes / Chilton type book or the actual OEM Toyota FSM. I saw the PDF of the 2004 Factory Service Manual when searching the board, would that be sufficient or would you recommend I go OEM year specific or some other aftermarket book?
Click to expand...
It really is a straight forward job and there is a degree of satisfaction in doing it yourself. The e FSM in the stickies is all you need, pages SA11 thru 17. Print them and place in plastic doc protectors cause they'll get greasy when you refer back to them, use a highlighter pen and go through and mark the units you are using so as to not get confused between metric, ft and inch pounds. A couple of things I noted from the last time I did mine. I had no 12 o'clock/6 o'clock play, nothing to indicate loose bearings or light preload apart from 40k miles yet on opening up each side I could only measure 0.1 and 0.2 pounds of loading using a formally pristine clean electronic baggage scale. Point being your bearings maybe under loaded and not yet show any overt signs. Buy lots of degreaser, buy some more degreaser. Decent duck bill snap ring pliers are a must, not the flimsy ones with interchangeable heads, but pliers with a fixed, flat head, $14 from autozone. As SteveH mentioned, do the spindle bearings too, these are the red headed step children - often overlooked. You can purchase Slees excellent tool or improvise (I did) by pushing the axle in and squirting grease into the now open inner gap, search landcruiserphil's method for a better explanation and pic. You'll need a grease needle and an M8x1.25 ( or was it 1.5?) bolt about 75 to 100mm long to screw into the axle so you can pull it back out. You can find suitable bolts to temporarily borrow from under the hood or buy a couple next time you're at Ace/HD etc. I use #2 M1 synthetic on both spindle and wheel bearings, yep I know the FSM says use #1 on the spindles. I do the first degreasing wash with a quart of lawnmower fuel and a bloody big pickle jar. Put your bearings in there and shake really hard. Why a glass jar? Cause when the wash settles you can eyeball the result for metal swarf, with perfectly serviceable bearings that have lots of life left you'll probably see the tiniest glint of metal fleck, you don't want to see chips, shavings or splinters. With your preloved bearings expect to see smooth polished surfaces, no roughness, flat spots, chips, gouges or spots that have an obviously different finish or sheen to them. You don't want to see any overheating evidence like bluing. You'll use lots of cloth and degreaser to clean things up. Put it all back together as per the fsm, pay attention to free turning the hub both ways to bed in and evenly distribute your new grease, follow the recommended torques or freelance and tighten the adjuster nut till you feel turning resistance as you spin the hub, then back off a bit. You want firm, not stiff and that should fall in the 10-15 lb preload range, I'm sure there will be differing opinions! I could only get 12lbs max on both sides with original bearings, third time repacked at 130k miles. I'll replace them, maybe, when I do my 180k big service. Hope this helps. Ps take the pickles and juice out of the jar before you put the bearings and lawnmower fuel in.
 
I just had my front brakes redone (I provided the parts) at my Lexus dealer. They also repacked the bearings for a total of about $525 which was cheaper than my indie shop (which is booked solid for a few weeks) and cheaper than what Yota wanted.

I talked with the service manager and asked why it was so cheap and he explained that because they have to pull the front end apart, that they just repack them while they're in there.
 
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I've never needed the bolt in the axle method for pulling the axle back into place. Just grab it from behind the hub and pull it towards you.
 
Well that was fun. Probably didn't need to replace the bearings and races, but they're in the kit.


20150404_115837.jpg
 
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