Front wheel bearings shot after 1 month.

K

kolelt

New member
Alright. So, while back. About In November my front wheel bearings got replaced along with OEM seals. 3-4 months they both went to shit. Just about a month ago my friend replaced my wheel bearings for me again. And today, i felt something strange. So I got out and grabbed the front wheels and started pulling on it and whole 9 nine yards. Something felt odd. Drove it to my friends house for him to check it. He’s a mechanic and does know his stuff. Turns out my wheel bearings are very loose. Again, these has been on my truck for 1 month. And I have not even went off roading ! So I came back home and got my torque wrench out. Tested it at 175 and it was tight. Then I went to 218ftlbs and tighten both sides. The driver side seems to be good and solid now. But the passenger side is SHOT. It has play all over! I’m really pissed of and lost. Why would wheel bearings go bad so fast ? I am running 285/75/16 load E. I see people run 35” and not complain so WTF.

I’m leaning towards a bad wheel hub ?
 
Register to hide this ad
Like the person above me, it sounds like an improper install. In addition to getting everything torqued properly, did the installer make sure to press the bearing in on the outer race ONLY? I could see the bearing failing early if they pressed on the center to get it in.

Also, what brand bearing? Many people's OEM bearings are lasting the life of the vehicle but even a cheap-o brand should get you more than a month.
 
If the person that replaced them has half a brain, they pressed them in correctly. That said, I have also had bearings fail- after a month- when installed by a reputable machine shop. It was on a Jetta I had, but same concept.
I brought them back, threw a fit, and they pressed new ones on for free. I accused them of pressing them on incorrectly, and he argued "there is no way any of his guys would have done that". I can't say they did, but why else would a quality bearing go bad so quickly? The replacement had no issues.
What bearings were used?
 
Pretty sure it’s a Koyo bearing. I have assisted my friend in the wheel bearing replacement. We bang it out with a hammer. Then we use the old bearing cup to press the new one into the spindle. Then we proceeded to press the hub. It’s pretry straight forward I’m not sure how we could mess it up. Although this time I wasn’t able to assist because of my work schedule.

I just don’t understand. If we use the old bearing to press the new one. It’s not being pressed on the inner part of the bearing ? Does 175ft lbs sounds normal ? I though I heard that these wheel bearings needs to be torqued at 218ft lbs or something.

Could a bad wheel hub causes this issue or something with a CV ?
 
Since you are going to have to do you this job again, check the bearings to make sure they were seated flush. Then I would check the knuckles. I take it all new equipment was used (snap ring, etc)?

No need for 218ft/lbs.
 
kolelt said:
Pretty sure it’s a Koyo bearing. I have assisted my friend in the wheel bearing replacement. We bang it out with a hammer. Then we use the old bearing cup to press the new one into the spindle. Then we proceeded to press the hub. It’s pretry straight forward I’m not sure how we could mess it up. Although this time I wasn’t able to assist because of my work schedule.

I just don’t understand. If we use the old bearing to press the new one. It’s not being pressed on the inner part of the bearing ? Does 175ft lbs sounds normal ? I though I heard that these wheel bearings needs to be torqued at 218ft lbs or something.

Could a bad wheel hub causes this issue or something with a CV ?
Click to expand...

174 ft/lb is in the FSM, it also has a step by step process for doing the bearing replacement.

your not running spacers are you? something has to be misaligned someplace because these bearings should last @ least 100K miles and more. unless your driving tons of miles in super muddy/deep water conditions without seals and regularly bash off stumps and rocks?

<a href="https://imgur.com/oeOA3HO"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/oeOA3HOl.png" title="source:
imgur.com" /></a>
 
When pressing the hub into the bearing, you have to support the inner bearing race on the back side. When making the video below, [MENTION=148218]JZiggy[/MENTION] and i screwed up but got lucky that we didn't destroy his bearings. In the video, I show what we did wrong and then go on to explain how we should have done it. Start watching at 22:49.

I guess according to [MENTION=116470]Tyler James Inc[/MENTION], I have less than a half of a brain. But hey, lots of tards live kickass lives (if you can name the movie I pulled that line from you get big points) In our own defense, we are usually learning as we go when making these videos because it's the first time we've done it. I guess the important thing is we caught our mistake and made sure we didn't pass on an improper technique to the viewer.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TZ2sOfVrnhU" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
I’ll definitely check out the video.

The snap ring is like 3 months old. So no, it was reused. Only new bearing. And new seals.

I’m not running spacers in the front. The front knuckles should be good. They also have a total chaos gusset on them.

Haven’t wheeled the truck in good 5 months. Last time I wheeled was AOAA and it wasn’t anything crazy. The wheel bearings prior to this went to shit to. Wasn’t sure why.

Not going to lie. I’m probably right now on my 4-5th set of wheel bearings. Getting tired.
 
Last edited:
kolelt said:
I’ll definitely check out the video.

The snap ring is like 3 months old. So no, it was reused. Only new bearing. And new seals.

I’m not running spacers in the front. The front knuckles should be good. They also have a total chaos gusset on them.

Haven’t wheeled the truck in good 5 months. Last time I wheeled was AOAA and it wasn’t anything crazy. The wheel bearings prior to this went to shit to. Wasn’t sure why.

Not going to lie. I’m probably right now on my 4-5th set of wheel bearings. Getting tired.
Click to expand...

I had koyos (oem quality) fail on my talon. Bought oem from dealer and been in there for over 8 years.
 
if your going through bearings that fast, something is wrong with the install

just for grins, what brand torque wrench.....harbor freight....we used to call the harbor freight torque wrenches breaker bars, they were not accurate, maybe over the years they have gotten better
 
mtbtim said:
When pressing the hub into the bearing, you have to support the inner bearing race on the back side. When making the video below, [MENTION=148218]JZiggy[/MENTION] and i screwed up but got lucky that we didn't destroy his bearings. In the video, I show what we did wrong and then go on to explain how we should have done it. Start watching at 22:49.



I guess according to [MENTION=116470]Tyler James Inc[/MENTION], I have less than a half of a brain. But hey, lots of tards live kickass lives (if you can name the movie I pulled that line from you get big points) In our own defense, we are usually learning as we go when making these videos because it's the first time we've done it. I guess the important thing is we caught our mistake and made sure we didn't pass on an improper technique to the viewer.



<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TZ2sOfVrnhU" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Click to expand...

[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]
I guess I should have said "if your mechanic knows anything at all about pressing bearings".
The inner race not being supported when pressing the hub in could definitely be what caused the failure [MENTION=99565]kolelt[/MENTION].
 
I have a whole collection of pipes and sockets for bearing and seal jobs. I have yet to brake down and buy a press. Work has a huge press and a arbor press for the tuff stuff.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
19963.4lsr5 said:
I have a whole collection of pipes and sockets for bearing and seal jobs. I have yet to brake down and buy a press. Work has a huge press and a arbor press for the tuff stuff.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Yeah, press work is one of those things that people McGyver all kinds of ingenious ways to get the job done. But, a Harbor Freight 20 Ton Press is really affordable so why not get one? With their constant sales and 20% off coupons, you could probably pick one up for around $150. I gotten a shit ton of use out of mine. It's definitely money well spent if you like to do your own automotive work.
 
This reminds me of when my brother changed out a friend's bearing on his daughter's Corolla. They used a Koyo bearing and the thing died after about a year. So they went to the dealer for a new one, and while my brother was working at Eaton, he had access to crazy accurate measuring calipers. They measured the Koyo and OEM. Turned out that the Koyo's diameter was just a little smaller, my brother thinks it wasn't discernible to the naked eye, than the OEM bearing. With even a small amount of play, well, that was all for the bearing.
 
Either the KOYO bearing is manufactured not to toyota specs. And the actually TOYOTA BEARING ( pretty sure it’s KOYO ) is manufactured slightly different ? I mean FML. Going through wheel bearings like a person through shoes. Either we are installing it wrong or something is messed up. The way we do it. When I lend him a hand. Is we bang out the hub from the wheel bearing with hammers. Then the wheel bearing. When we press in the new bearing into the knuckle. We use the old bearing cup right on the new one. So it’s even force on the outside cup. Then we press the hub.

I’m telling you guys. These wheel bearings that are in right now. Are 1 month old. NEVER SEEN DIRT OR WATER. Passanger side has so much play. You’d think all the joints are shot. The driver side feels tight after torquing to 218ftlbs. But that seems to much !

I have a husky from Home Depot wrench. My friend has a Snap-On.

Can a bad hub cause issues? Or maybe just go with bearing from dealer ?
 
mtbtim said:
Yeah, press work is one of those things that people McGyver all kinds of ingenious ways to get the job done. But, a Harbor Freight 20 Ton Press is really affordable so why not get one? With their constant sales and 20% off coupons, you could probably pick one up for around $150. I gotten a shit ton of use out of mine. It's definitely money well spent if you like to do your own automotive work.
Click to expand...



I'm with you. Just haven't pulled the trigger. It a piece of machinery that if you are not using it, it takes up space. Like my three engine stands and a cherry picker.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Don't let the tools be the crutch for the problem. Don't tighten to 218, fix the problem. Get some new OEM bearings and go from there.

If you are using hammers, I personally would stop, find $150 and go to HF for the press. If you go that route take a pic or two of the knuckles with everything out. Or pay a machine shop to do the work.
 
LittleCaesar said:
Don't let the tools be the crutch for the problem. Don't tighten to 218, fix the problem. Get some new OEM bearings and go from there.

If you are using hammers, I personally would stop, find $150 and go to HF for the press. If you go that route take a pic or two of the knuckles with everything out. Or pay a machine shop to do the work.
Click to expand...

I don’t see a problem in removing the old bearing with hammer.... everything else is getting pressed back in. But I agree. Tighten them to 218 is a cover up.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Members online

Total: 615 (members: 2, guests: 613)

Forum statistics

Threads
278,316
Messages
3,554,107
Members
248,016
Latest member
Advally Service

Share this page

Trending content

Back
Top