its time to replace front wheel bearings

K

kolelt

New member
Going to need to replace both front wheel bearings. They sound like shit. I'm curious, as to which seals to replace also. Looking at the diagram of the assembly on toyota Dallas , it shows 2 seals. Looks like one inner and one outer but says only wheel bearing seal. Difference is in price. Can anyone guide me as to which seals to get and their part # ? Its a 97 4wd.
 
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kolelt said:
Going to need to replace both front wheel bearings. They sound like shit. I'm curious, as to which seals to replace also. Looking at the diagram of the assembly on toyota Dallas , it shows 2 seals. Looks like one inner and one outer but says only wheel bearing seal. Difference is in price. Can anyone guide me as to which seals to get and their part # ? Its a 97 4wd.
Click to expand...

At a bare minimum you'll probably have to replace the outer hub seal (the more expensive one), as it usually gets ruined while pressing the hub and old bearing out. If you can afford it, might as well replace the inner one too.

Part numbers as shown from the sticky BrianSD_42 brought up are:

Inner Oil Seal: 90312-95001
Outer Oil Seal: 90316-69001
 
If you're pressing the bearings yourself, I'm curious of your press setup. I'd like to be more confident I can press these out the next go around.
 
I will be doing mine this weekend with the parts kit I mentioned. I have 220K and they are making typical bad bearings sounds. I will take pics and document how things go. Hopefully smooth!

How I generally do bearings like this is right on the vehicle. However I have NOT done a bearing this large in this manner.
- First, loosen everything enough so that you can pull the axle out of the bearing
- I have a large slide hammer that will yank the hub out of the bearing
- I have a specialty bearing tool that literally presses the bearing out of the assembly right on the car. This same tool is also used to draw in the new bearing and also will draw in the hub into the bearing
- I use a silicone based lube on all metal surfaces while doing the job to make things slide easily. The stuff I use is CRC chute lube. It is a very light / fine lube that you can barely tell is there unless you touch the metal surface. Slippery as hell. Use the same stuff on the suspension of my mountain bike.


If these bearings prove to be a monster and I cannot slide hammer the hubs out OR if my slide hammer hub attachment does not fit the 6 lug pattern, I also have a 20T press which will make short work of the job.

At the same time, I also have tundra brakes and front suspension to do. Yaaah me. Will let the OP know if I run into anything abnormal but doubt it.
 
Jhelms said:
I will be doing mine this weekend with the parts kit I mentioned. I have 220K and they are making typical bad bearings sounds. I will take pics and document how things go. Hopefully smooth!

How I generally do bearings like this is right on the vehicle. However I have NOT done a bearing this large in this manner.
- First, loosen everything enough so that you can pull the axle out of the bearing
- I have a large slide hammer that will yank the hub out of the bearing
- I have a specialty bearing tool that literally presses the bearing out of the assembly right on the car. This same tool is also used to draw in the new bearing and also will draw in the hub into the bearing
- I use a silicone based lube on all metal surfaces while doing the job to make things slide easily. The stuff I use is CRC chute lube. It is a very light / fine lube that you can barely tell is there unless you touch the metal surface. Slippery as hell. Use the same stuff on the suspension of my mountain bike.


If these bearings prove to be a monster and I cannot slide hammer the hubs out OR if my slide hammer hub attachment does not fit the 6 lug pattern, I also have a 20T press which will make short work of the job.

At the same time, I also have tundra brakes and front suspension to do. Yaaah me. Will let the OP know if I run into anything abnormal but doubt it.
Click to expand...



I would highly reccomend that you remove the whole knuckle and just press out the hub, this way you don't risk bending the hub surface and give it excessive runout. Some people might disagree, but that's how I would do it if a press is available. It will also reduce the chance that you will pull apart the bearing race and leave part of it on the hub for you to cut/chisel off later.

Also, there is a large snap ring on the back of the bearing to keep it retained, it may be rusty as heck. I usually strike these with a punch downward to break any rust free, and then tap the snap ring holes in one direction or the other to loosen it off with penetrating oil. Clean the snap ring seat after. DONT break the snap ring, cause it gets pretty fun if you do...
 
New hubs are not required but I always install them anyways. Not all that expensive. That way I do not have to cut off the bearing race, which I always seem to have to do which can be a pain in the ass depending on how close the race is to the hub wall. Also, you get new wheel studs ready to go. And... I do not have to worry about damaging the original in removal :reddance:

I am in Arizona, we do not rust much here which is the reason I usually just do the job quickly on the car. Everything goes pretty smooth. But again, I have not done a bearing of this size in this way. So will be able to give a thumbs up or down when I do it. And as stated... we do not rust here so that is the majority of the battle.


If you want to do the job without hubs, they sell just the bearings and seals for $179 shipped (the toyota branded prices listed above are actually cheaper by $10 if purchasing without hubs just to note). Koyo are the OEM bearings as is Aisin to toyota water pumps, and 10K other toyota oem parts.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1996-2002-Toyota-4Runner-4WD-Front-Wheel-Hub-OEM-KOYO-Bearing-Seals-PAIR-/151448728638?fits=Year%3A1996|Model%3A4Runner&hash=item23430c343e
 
Last edited:
Jhelms said:
New hubs are not required but I always install them anyways. Not all that expensive. That way I do not have to cut off the bearing race, which I always seem to have to do which can be a pain in the ass depending on how close the race is to the hub wall. Also, you get new wheel studs ready to go. And... I do not have to worry about damaging the original in removal :reddance:

I am in Arizona, we do not rust much here which is the reason I usually just do the job quickly on the car. Everything goes pretty smooth. But again, I have not done a bearing of this size in this way. So will be able to give a thumbs up or down when I do it. And as stated... we do not rust here so that is the majority of the battle.


If you want to do the job without hubs, they sell just the bearings and seals for $179 shipped (the toyota branded prices listed above are actually cheaper by $10 if purchasing without hubs just to note). Koyo are the OEM bearings as is Aisin to toyota water pumps, and 10K other toyota oem parts.
1996 2002 Toyota 4Runner 4WD Front Wheel Hub OEM Koyo Bearing Seals Pair | eBay
Click to expand...

So those are OEM basically but cheaper ? How do you think the seals are compared to OEM ?
 
They are a cheaper combo only if you buy the hubs with the combo. Otherwise, slightly cheaper just to go OEM from the above link for bearings and seals only
 
OP, you can re-use the seals if you are careful about removing them. I re-used all of mine. With that kit though, I'd just go for that, unless the seals have come down in price since I did it.

Paperjam said:
I would highly reccomend that you remove the whole knuckle and just press out the hub, this way you don't risk bending the hub surface and give it excessive runout. Some people might disagree, but that's how I would do it if a press is available. It will also reduce the chance that you will pull apart the bearing race and leave part of it on the hub for you to cut/chisel off later.

Also, there is a large snap ring on the back of the bearing to keep it retained, it may be rusty as heck. I usually strike these with a punch downward to break any rust free, and then tap the snap ring holes in one direction or the other to loosen it off with penetrating oil. Clean the snap ring seat after. DONT break the snap ring, cause it gets pretty fun if you do...
Click to expand...

Agree 100%. My hubs were gigantic PITA to get out, even with the 12T press. Definitely take them off and go for the press. It is not that much more work to take the hubs off and the whole thing will be so much easier if you use the press.
 
Jhelms said:
They are a cheaper combo only if you buy the hubs with the combo. Otherwise, slightly cheaper just to go OEM from the above link for bearings and seals only
Click to expand...

Its $260 with shipping from OEM dealer site. I think I'll go with eBay , just bearings and seals. And you say their seals are little different ? How so
 
Jhelms said:
They are a cheaper combo only if you buy the hubs with the combo. Otherwise, slightly cheaper just to go OEM from the above link for bearings and seals only
Click to expand...

K I really don't want to hijack this thread,

Since I rebuilt my whole rear end in the winter, Ive been looking to rebuild my whole front end, but heres the problem, one of the studs broke on the spindle when I was changing my Driver side CV axle, so since I was gonna change UBJ,LBJ and Tie Rod ends anyways, I was going to buy a separate spindle and put all the new parts to the spare spindle. The thing is I have the tundra brakes in front, If I buy the spindle and assemble the bearings and all the other components to it, can I just take out the existing spindle with the old hub, and Ball Joints and directly replace the new one back? or is there another process? Im trying to save as much money as I can, because who knows how long it will take to take the stud out, rather than buying all new hardware and just bolting it right in.
 
I ended up buying the eBay set. I'm not trying to spend $300...almost. I don't know if the wheel bearings are original or not, body of car has 200k+, so I don't know the shape of seals. I feel like its just better and safer to get the seals JUST INCASE !
 
Likely original bearings at that mileage. Front bearings on these gunners are pretty tough compared to say my subaru's which need new bearings every 75-80K it seems HA!


Are you just talking about a wheel stud?
 
Tomorrow, new CV axles with all pro Offroad bushings both sides are going in, both wheel bearings and built right UCA.
 
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