Front left wheel bearing...toast at 63,000mi
- Thread starter ILMRunner
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eddiebx
New member
Jack up suspected corner, and wiggle the entire wheel/tire to see if there is any play at the hub. A good bearing should feel solid and zero play.
[MENTION=65109]ILMRunner[/MENTION] I wouldn't jump to any conclusion too much at this point; defects happen, and who knows maybe you impacted that bearing just right while hitting a pot hole? Good luck on the fix though!
After driving for a couple of miles I could hear a faint "growl" from the front of the vehicle. I could also feel a distinct vibration in the steering wheel. I put the truck on a lift and spun both front wheels. I could feel the same vibration in the spring on the left side.
jca21
New member
Sometimes a bad wheel bearing can't be detected by wiggling or rotating the wheel by hand.
Try paying attention to what happens to the noise/vibration during a turn. If you have a bad left wheel bearing, it will often make more noise during a right hand turn (more load on bearing) and get quiet during a left hand turn (less load).
Try paying attention to what happens to the noise/vibration during a turn. If you have a bad left wheel bearing, it will often make more noise during a right hand turn (more load on bearing) and get quiet during a left hand turn (less load).
SOcalTRAIL
New member
Are you running big tires or wheel spacers? My buddy who runs a stadium truck swears up and down that my Spidertrax will be the death of my wheel bearings, I cant understand why?
He's right. The extra leverage is hard on the bearings.
BS.. the leverage is minimal and is no different the a wheel with different backspacing. WEROCK and UROC rigs run spacers all the time and they beat the living shit out of their rigs.... I don't think anyone on here (I could be wrong) runs their 4r that hard.
1engineer
Moderator
Your buddy is right to a point. They WILL cause premature failure, depending on the design and loading life of the bearing. Now, is it a matter of months or years earlier nobody except the Toyota engineer can say with absolute confidence.
Yeah now we have to talk about moments and force vectors and everyone's eyes glaze over lol.
No BS Stifler. Define minimal lol. Toyota recommends a specific wheel with a specific backspacing FOR A REASON. They have a design life and any change to the loading will shorten the life. How long? Read above.
it is BS.... every "mod" done to suspension or drivetrain has an affect but the wheel spacer nazis kill me. Factory wheels with factory sized E rated mud terrain tires are going to add stress too..... if you dont want to "roll the dice" then dont play.... spacers are tried and true. most anti spacer weenies ar rocking with after market wheels that have the same affect...
With the exception of LTX M/S2's and 5100's my 5th gen is bone stock. Never been in standing water and only light 4wd use.
I prefer the term physics nazi.
eddiebx
New member
They probably also have to maintain the living crap out of their rigs too...I don't think anyone here is suggesting that spacers will cause catastrophic failure the second it touches your hubs, but it's certainly plausible that it's going to wear out various components faster than stock, so I don't know if it's really fair to just dismiss it as an urban myth without any hard facts that proves otherwise.
no more than big heavy tires....
end the end it's still a nazi
1engineer
Moderator
Again, not picking on you and just to make sure facts are correct for the new guys here. It is not BS. Stifler, I can prove bearing life will be shortened by the addition of a wheel spacer. Can you prove it won't?
With that said, and in the interest of practicality, how will it affect the average driver over time? Probably not much in the long term. There is obviously a safety factor built in to the wheel bearings and the additional load caused by adding wheel spacers is not going to cause it to fail tomorrow or next week. I can tell you though that if the bearings are ran to their normal cycle the ones with spacers will fail before the ones without. Might be 10 years vs 10 years and one month but it will still fail earlier.
Wheel spacer or Physics Nazi? No, not at all. How about just the truth and facts for a change.
