Wheel Bearings - When to replace / repack

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No scoring or heat marks on the bearings, 170k on the truck, think this is the 2nd or 3rd repack. Hubs def. needed a repack, been too long. Also, we learned you can't do the trick where you put one of the spindle nuts back on the hub and yank the hub assembly off the spindle, popping the rear seal and inner bearing right off on a T100. Worked great for both of mine, but my friend's T that we were doing at the same time, it deformed both of the inner bearings. Amazingly O'Reillys had them in stock.
 
Just did mine last week. Got the parts from Sam at Toyota South in ATL. Great service. My only hang up was finding the 54mm socket then modifying it to work since the one I got wasn't deep enough. Couldn't have done it without info from this forum for sure. I was at 165k miles.

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Haha, yeah! It was just a tad too hot between the torch to flair out the pipe and welding it together. Good thing I got "a guy" that helps me out with stuff like this. I'm just now getting in to welding myself. He really got me out of a pickle while my truck was sitting on jack stands!
 
Get outside said:
Thanks, I was just about to call my snap-on guy to ask what they're charging for one of those! Probably way more than what I want to spend! Since that's the correct one I'm going with it!
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I just followed that Amazon link and bought one too!!! :)

One of the videos talked about a 2-1/8" SAE socket being interchangeable, but it still has to be pretty DEEP unless you want to do some cutting and welding!

Didn't seem worth the aggravation to risk it, and crazy Amazon is going to deliver it for free (Amazon Prime) on Sunday morning....


-G
 
For the record, I do try to give business to supporting vendors (and pay for my own membership to support IH8MUD.com as well).....

I put in a message to Cruiser Outfitters on Wednesday and never heard back. A few other site vendors I reached out to were VERY responsive and quick and have already gotten some business from me. :)

As a "newbie" around here it's hard to automatically know which vendors are "top tier" performers, but I've already found a few I enjoy working with!


-G
 
That's weird. I sent Cruiser Outfitters an email late last night and got a response first thing this morning. And in fact have been going back and forth with them on some parts a few times this morning. You may have caught them at a bad time.
 
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SmoothLC said:
That's weird. I sent Cruiser Outfitters an email late last night and got a response first thing this morning. And in fact have been going back and forth with them on some parts a few time this morning. You may have caught them at a bad time.
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Yeah, I don't take it personally.... people get busy and things drop through the cracks sometimes. :)

I'm sure eventually I will get a chance to work with all the vendors here for one project or another.


-G
 
That tool is definitely the way to go. I read so many different threads on wheel bearings for the Land Cruiser that I thought I originally needed a 35mm socket that I got from Autozone. It ended up being way to small and I got the 54mm from Nothern Tool. Long story short, with the Cruiser on jack stands and all torn apart, a quick ride to my buddy's house and he cut it and welded it. Either way, now I got it for next time. Good luck. You'll be glad you did the wheel bearings yourself!
 
dougc said:
That tool is definitely the way to go. I read so many different threads on wheel bearings for the Land Cruiser that I thought I originally needed a 35mm socket that I got from Autozone. It ended up being way to small and I got the 54mm from Nothern Tool. Long story short, with the Cruiser on jack stands and all torn apart, a quick ride to my buddy's house and he cut it and welded it. Either way, now I got it for next time. Good luck. You'll be glad you did the wheel bearings yourself!
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Yeah, I've watched a few different YouTube videos on the process and I feel pretty confident about the whole disassembly / reassembly steps.

The only thing that I'm still unclear on are the Snap Rings.... there are 6 different thicknesses available from Toyota (1.8mm -> 2.8mm) and I still can't figure out if they need to be swapped out as the vehicle wears to maintain some kind of backlash/end-gap for the outer stub axle??

Also, way deep inside the knuckle there seems to be a set of roller needle bearings (#90364-33011) and a bronze bushing (#90381-35001) which seem to support the outer stub axle as it passes through the knuckle. These are the ones that I believe you lubricate with the special Slee cap & zerk tool?? Anyway, I'm sure mine have never been serviced and based on the low-pitched howl in my front end, I'm pretty sure they are completely dry and galled-up.


Once I figure out the story on how to service those remaining items properly, I'm going to dig in!!! :)

-G
 
Snap rings can be reused, they are simply put in the groove to keep the axle from moving in and out. Unless it breaks when you pull it out, you can re-use the one that is there. Just my opinion of course.
 
pavieSD said:
Snap rings can be reused, they are simply put in the groove to keep the axle from moving in and out. Unless it breaks when you pull it out, you can re-use the one that is there. Just my opinion of course.
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I highly recommend using a new snap ring per the manual. These are easy to stretch out when removing. For the price it's not worth the risk. Buy 2 of each size to throw in your tool box.
 
Supra88 said:
I highly recommend using a new snap ring per the manual. These are easy to stretch out when removing. For the price it's not worth the risk. Buy 2 of each size to throw in your tool box.
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I use new ones, but only due to my ocd. I'd opine that if "they're easy to stretch out when removing", the same issue is possible or probable upon installation.

It does help to use a tool designed for the job, just like anything else. Correctly positioned, the sharper edge of the ring should face outward, i.e., away from the bearings...nothing special there, that's just the way snap rings should be installed.

Other than that, re-greasing the wheel bearings are no different on an LC or LX than any other vehicle. Clean, grease, set clearance on the tight side while you rotate the wheel and then back the adjusting nut back just a bit. Lock the setting in place, recheck by rotating the wheel, and go.

Steve
 
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