Need a wheel bearing, are these crap?

[DieselD24]

$377.85 for a NAPA bearing for my truck!?

OK jshmohr tell me how the 4WD cost $265.85 and a 2WD hub that does not have the splines for the front axle so 1/3 the manufacturing time but costs over a hundred dollars more!?

Sorry SKF bearing or not no way I can pay $377.90 for a hub assembly, the guy at the store told me it's because they don't sell as many,being it's a 2WD not 4WD. Just does not make since to me.

Don

I got that same exact hub/bearing your talking about last week. It comes with an integrated ABS sensor. Mine was the same price for the same brand. After everything was said and done, I paid $180 for it. Made for installing it way much easier, and took only about 15 minutes then slappin the brakes and wheel on right after.

[jshmohr]

Yeh I don't know why some bearings cost more but alot of it has to do with popularity:shrug: But one thing I can say is why so many guys will shop twenty differnt places to get the cheapest wheel bearings and put them on their $15,000 to $50,000 truck not including the $1,000's in aftermarket parts I just don't get it do you buy the cheapest injectors, turbos, torque converters, exc I thought their was something to be said for quallity:thumb1:

[Mopar1973Man]

Now that is a good point, our trucks are a little front end heavy .

My truck on the scale this year at 4,460# for the front axle divide by 2 and 2,230# per bearing...

[Perrysburg Dodgeboy]

Yeh I don't know why some bearings cost more but alot of it has to do with popularity:shrug: But one thing I can say is why so many guys will shop twenty differnt places to get the cheapest wheel bearings and put them on their $15,000 to $50,000 truck not including the $1,000's in aftermarket parts I just don't get it do you buy the cheapest injectors, turbos, torque converters, exc I thought their was something to be said for quallity:thumb1:

Well the total cost for the imported bearing with shipping was $114.99 now tell me again how can NAPA charge $377.90 for a hub with a SKF bearing. The only difference between the two is the bearing, I work for Chrysler and if the hub was not bad (I can move the wheel about 1/8" total) I would just get a Timken bearing and replace the bearing only. In fact that is what I'm going to do with the hub I remove. Then I'll put it on the left side and do the same thing to the left hub assembly and keep it for a spare. I will let you know what the bearing only costs me and I bet it is less the $70. As far as quality goes does SKF even have a bearing plant here in the States anymore, I believe their manufacturing went to China some years ago. Then add the fact my truck has SKF on it now (OE is SKF) and given it went out with only 118K on it, nope they don't impress me any. Don

[Wild and Free]

I just had one fail on my 02 yesterday and I will be getting one from Napa today at $246 just for time reasons as I nned it on the road but I noticed the other one has not much life left and I will be ordering a cheap one from this web site and I will then disassemble the hubs and find replacement bearings and rebuild mine for spares. We will see how the 246 dollar stacks up against the 99 dollar part over time.

[Mopar1973Man]

I think the whole problem of these bearing is the lubricant they use in them and how much. That is the only thing I hate about those bearing is there fact there is no way to pump more grease into them as a maintenance thing.

[Perrysburg Dodgeboy]

Man on man took me an hour and half to get the POS hub to pop out along with three soakings with Kroil and heating it with map gas . Ended up beating up the dust cover a tad but nothing a ball peen hammer and a 2x4 wont fix. Did find the left bearing has a little slop in it so I'm just going to order another hub and replace both at the same time. BTW my hub had Timken bearings in it not SKF and they don't look to be replaceable for what I can tell. I'll call a buddy at the local Timken bearing warehouse and see if they are or not.After beating on the wheel flange I got to thinking, what if I bolted the wheel back on the hub with three bolts that way I would have a lot more leverage to pop the hub out. What do you guys think? Don

[dually]

Why didnt you press them out with the power steering?

--- Update to the previous post...

I just had one fail on my 02 yesterday and I will be getting one from Napa today at $246 just for time reasons as I nned it on the road but I noticed the other one has not much life left and I will be ordering a cheap one from this web site and I will then disassemble the hubs and find replacement bearings and rebuild mine for spares. We will see how the 246 dollar stacks up against the 99 dollar part over time.

I have a few thousand miles on my 99.$$.I talked with another guy who has 25k on his.

[Bugman123]

I have bought water pumps from Kragen in the past that were GMB and they had a lifetime warranty. I put these on a Datsun B210 and a Honda accord and they all went bad in a year. The bushing on the shaft worn out and the pumps started leaking. I put 2 on the Datsun and 3 on the honda and after the same thing was happen to them each time i finally told them to give my money back and i bought a rebuilt pump from them and had no other problems with the water pump on both car anymore. I WILL NOT BUY ANYTHING "GMB"

[Perrysburg Dodgeboy]

I usually try to buy American however having been laid off for eight months and just being called back two weeks ago I have little choice as to how much I can spend. I did find the 4x2 hub with Timken bearings at an internet store for $256.98 at http://www.usautoparts.net/?uapcoupon=SAVE&apwcid=UAP20110502CM19&om_u=Ng55PP&om_i=_BNvshMB8acj$qLThat's the same price EO else is selling the 4x4 hubs for, still expensive but not as bad as $377!Bugman how do you press it out with the power steering? I need to do the other side and am getting ready to start. If you or someone else can enlighten me I sure would appreciate it. I'm going out to pull the wheel, caliper assembly and bolts and will check back in about 1/2 hour. Thx DonYep 30 minuets and this side is just as stubborn as the other side .

[Mopar1973Man]

Here you go... I went to the Tag cloud and checked out the wheel bearing link. http://forum.mopar1973man.com/threads/2963-Wheel-bearings-4x4-3500 Here is the other wheel bearing threads... http://forum.mopar1973man.com/tags.php?tag=wheel+bearings

[DieselD24]

I usually try to buy American however having been laid off for eight months and just being called back two weeks ago I have little choice as to how much I can spend. I did find the 4x2 hub with Timken bearings at an internet store for $256.98 at http://www.usautoparts.net/?uapcoupon=SAVE&apwcid=UAP20110502CM19&om_u=Ng55PP&om_i=_BNvshMB8acj$qL

That's the same price EO else is selling the 4x4 hubs for, still expensive but not as bad as $377!

Bugman how do you press it out with the power steering? I need to do the other side and am getting ready to start. If you or someone else can enlighten me I sure would appreciate it. I'm going out to pull the wheel, caliper assembly and bolts and will check back in about 1/2 hour. Thx

Don

Yep 30 minuets and this side is just as stubborn as the other side .

I used a 1/2" drive extension with the 14mm 12 point socket on the bolt. The trick is to take off the bolts and use one with the extension and socket of course to wedge it against the frame as you turn the wheel. Wedge the extension slightly by giving it slight tugs in order to break it free. Do this by swapping out the bolt to every threaded hole of the hub for every 1/4 of a tug as it's starting to slowly come out.

I made the mistake of only backing out the bolts halfway and leaving them on there as I wedged the extension each time. My dad noticed them on there and said "stop what you're doing, your gonna stretch out those threads". If it weren't for him, I would have probably damaged those bolts. I completely forgot about them.

Once you start to drive it out as your wedging it out it'll come out very easily. Hope this helps.

--- Update to the previous post...

How is the repair going?

[Perrysburg Dodgeboy]

OK I could not figure out how to get the extension to the frame even with my 15" extension. But what I did do was take the two (one from each side) long top bolts and run them in until I saw the threaded portion coming out of the hub. Then I heated the bearing with map gas, sprayed it down with Kroil, then hit the bolts back and forth until it came out. I received the GMB hub today and have to say the machining appears to top notch, surface finish is good bearing feels tight and smooth so only time will tell. BTW the warranty states "These parts are warrantyed by the seller for as long as you own the vehicle. This warranty does not transfer to the next owner. The warranty is strictly limited to replacement of the parts. Shipping, labor and any additional costs are not covered. This document is your proof of warranty. A copy of this document must be included with any warranty claim." So even if I only get 50K per bearing I'm only out the shipping cost. Don

[flagmanruss]

That's cool.

[DieselD24]

That's good to hear man. Glad you were able to take them out. Hope they last you a long time!

[Mopar1973Man]

I'll keep that in mind when mine fail again...

[Perrysburg Dodgeboy]

DieselD24 and Dully with the links Mopar supplied I see now what you where talking about as to the extension:duh: . But my truck is a 2WD so I can't do it that way, for us 2WD boys and girls I think the use of the two long bolts installed into the lower bolt holes threaded in until you see the end of the bolt coming out of the hub. This way you will not damage the threads. Also a nice torch set would be nice but if your like me and do not have one then map gas will do the trick. It just takes a lot longer to get the heat up. I also wounder if some of the failures of replacement hubs could be attributed to not getting the bore and mounting face completely clean? a small piece of dirt or rust not removed from the face could tweak the bearing enough to harm the bearing.Maybe I'll take some pics of just how bad my steering knuckle was and why you should use Never-Seez during your assembly.

[DieselD24]

DieselD24 and Dully with the links Mopar supplied I see now what you where talking about as to the extension:duh: . But my truck is a 2WD so I can't do it that way, for us 2WD boys and girls I think the use of the two long bolts installed into the lower bolt holes threaded in until you see the end of the bolt coming out of the hub. This way you will not damage the threads. Also a nice torch set would be nice but if your like me and do not have one then map gas will do the trick. It just takes a lot longer to get the heat up. I also wounder if some of the failures of replacement hubs could be attributed to not getting the bore and mounting face completely clean? a small piece of dirt or rust not removed from the face could tweak the bearing enough to harm the bearing. Maybe I'll take some pics of just how bad my steering knuckle was and why you should use Never-Seez during your assembly.

The hub/bearing have been replaced before? there was anti-seize on them?

[Perrysburg Dodgeboy]

Nope the ones I pulled out are factory with 118,000 miles on them. but to look at the junk in the bore after I removed them was very enlightening. I'll get some before and after pics and post them should have them up Wednesday unless I work on it tonight.

Don

Here are some pics of the steering knuckle left side after the hub removal note the build up of rest and crud on the in side.

here is a pic of the two long bolts along with a sort one for reference. It should be noted that the heads

where a little dis-formed from being hit with the hammer. Nothing a little grinding didn't remove.

I know I'm a bad photographer, I'll retake them on the right side when the part comes in. Sorry

Finally the new hub installed with the dust shield installed. I was going to take the shield into the plant and

glass bead it then prime and pant it black with heat temp paint but then I thought that might be to anal.

[ramchrger32348]

Couple of comments.. I had to replace both bearings in my 3500 at 135000 miles because the axle ujoint went out. The bearing were ok,but pulled apart pulling them. The abs sensor should be removed before pulling the bearing and it can be used again. There is no adjustment on my 04.5, Actually, I pushed one bearing back together, bought a new sensor $69 at NAPA and its been working fine. If you don't have the tools or expertise and rely on someone else/shop you might want to get a good bearing. I also believe the bad rep these bearings get are do to improper installment. I was in the light truck business for twenty yrs. and I was repairing ball joints and axle ujoints let alone bearings on 4x4's with a lot less than 135000 miles. It's relative.