Bad wheel bearing What to buy

[Schurkey]

1. Koyo, according to that link, bought the NEEDLE BEARING division from Timken, not the entire company. Truck hubs aren't made with needle rollers.

2. It is probably possible to replace the actual bearing assemblies inside SOME hubs. There are others that really are crimped/permanently assembled. For example, the ones on my Trailblazer are the same whether the vehicle is 2WD or 4WD, and the 2WD units don't have--and don't need--a CV shaft and bigass nut to hold the bearing together.

For those hub assemblies that theoretically could be serviced, the issue might be bearing free-play, and the spacer required to achieve the correct amount.

Go back to 1966--1978 model year Toronado and ElDorado. They used a non-sealed FWD hub assembly where the bearings were indeed serviceable. Especially the '69 to '78 hub assemblies used a pair of ordinary tapered-roller bearings which by themselves were dirt cheap. Problem was, you had to buy a pair of them AND a special select-fit spacer as a single part number, and the set was enormously more than the two bearings separately. The select-fit spacer was essentially unique to the two bearings in the kit, (those bearings were mass produced and had small individual differences) when the whole works was squeezed together in the hub, the spacer provided the correct free-play. Get the spacer thickness wrong, and either the bearing free-play was too huge or...

That sounds like a midwest farmer's Rancher's expression, which I know from experience

...the bearings would end up TIGHTER THAN A BULL'S A_SS IN FLY-SEASON.

'69--'78 Toro/ElDo Bearing assembly. Two rollers, two outer races, and a factory-select-fit spacer ring:

You must be registered for see images attach

The issue is that no-one sells a pair of bearings and the spacer for our truck hubs.

 

[Caman96]

Koyo, according to that link, bought the NEEDLE BEARING division from Timken, not the entire company.

As I noted, that’s an old article. KOYO has moved beyond just needle bearings. Also, look at much of the differential build kits, a ton of KOYO bearings. I’ve even read reviews on kits where buyers complain they ordered Timken and receive KOYO.
I’ve looked at a bunch of these kits and many are Timken, KOYO or Timken/KOYO combos.

You must be registered for see images attach

Another:

You must be registered for see images attach

GM 9.5 14 Bolt Semi Float- MASTER INSTALL KIT

This is a full set up kit to do the job right. It includes: Carrier bearings Pinion Bearings Pinion Nut Pinion Seal Crush Sleeve Pinion Shims Loctite Marking Compound Adjustable Differenti

eastcoastgearsupply.com

 

[movietvet]

1. Koyo, according to that link, bought the NEEDLE BEARING division from Timken, not the entire company. Truck hubs aren't made with needle rollers.

2. It is probably possible to replace the actual bearing assemblies inside SOME hubs. There are others that really are crimped/permanently assembled. For example, the ones on my Trailblazer are the same whether the vehicle is 2WD or 4WD, and the 2WD units don't have--and don't need--a CV shaft and bigass nut to hold the bearing together.

For those hub assemblies that theoretically could be serviced, the issue might be bearing free-play, and the spacer required to achieve the correct amount.

Go back to 1966--1978 model year Toronado and ElDorado. They used a non-sealed FWD hub assembly where the bearings were indeed serviceable. Especially the '69 to '78 hub assemblies used a pair of ordinary tapered-roller bearings which by themselves were dirt cheap. Problem was, you had to buy a pair of them AND a special select-fit spacer as a single part number, and the set was enormously more than the two bearings separately. The select-fit spacer was essentially unique to the two bearings in the kit, (those bearings were mass produced and had small individual differences) when the whole works was squeezed together in the hub, the spacer provided the correct free-play. Get the spacer thickness wrong, and either the bearing free-play was too huge or...


...the bearings would end up TIGHTER THAN A BULL'S A_SS IN FLY-SEASON.

'69--'78 Toro/ElDo Bearing assembly. Two rollers, two outer races, and a factory-select-fit spacer ring:

You must be registered for see images attach

The issue is that no-one sells a pair of bearings and the spacer for our truck hubs.

My girl's other vehicle is a 2002 TrailBlazer LS. She loves that vehicle. Only has 73k miles on it.

 

[SNCTMPL]

As I noted, that’s an old article. KOYO has moved beyond just needle bearings. Also, look at much of the differential build kits, a ton of KOYO bearings. I’ve even read reviews on kits where buyers complain they ordered Timken and receive KOYO.
I’ve looked at a bunch of these kits and many are Timken, KOYO or Timken/KOYO combos.

You must be registered for see images attach

Another:

You must be registered for see images attach

GM 9.5 14 Bolt Semi Float- MASTER INSTALL KIT

This is a full set up kit to do the job right. It includes: Carrier bearings Pinion Bearings Pinion Nut Pinion Seal Crush Sleeve Pinion Shims Loctite Marking Compound Adjustable Differenti

eastcoastgearsupply.com

I just used a Ratech kit on the sons 9.5”, it had Timken carrier bearings and Koyo pinion bearings.

 

[Scooterwrench]

Sealed ball bearings can be repacked too. You have to be careful popping the seals out so as to not cut the seal lip but once you get them out a good cleaning and packing with real grease will put them back into service as long as they're not loose. Once you get them cleaned and lubed pop the seals back in. Just recently I did that for the second time in my bench grinder. I've been using that grinder since 1988. Replaced the bearings once and have repacked them twice. It uses the same bearings as the front bearing in SI-10 alternators. Well pumps use that same bearing too.

 

[1989GMCSIERRA]

If I replace any hubs I try to see if Timken makes a replacement. If they don’t I get a factory one. Too many fake crappy parts out there. Hit the google world and find a online dealer who sells ACDelco. Make sure you get the right tier as ACDelco really watered down their quality and they have a crap, good, great tiered quality.

 

[Caman96]

Ok update, it got me wondering about the whole KOYO/Timken relationship so I called KOYO. They are affiliated but the tapered roller bearings we are discussing(you called it @Schurkey) are definitely not one and the same. But remember, there is USA manufactured Timken and China manufactured Timken. Same for KOYO(USA/Japan/China).
For instance, Timken 8 lug hub assemblies are US made, 6 lug are China made. My choice in order would be:
1- Timken USA manufactured
2-KOYO Japan manufactured
3- …starts getting fuzzy
I’m glad my recent install of NOS Timken 6 lug were USA manufactured.

 

[someotherguy]

This post from 2012 is from the “SilveradoSierra” forum. Never done it, but interesting.

“
You know on the more modern trucks they have unitized hubs on them? The hubs only have dust seals in them and enough grease to keep them running for a while but its set up to fail. Well, people think you cant pack them. Wrong. You can go to NAPA and buy their ...
chrome air blower with the rubber tip. All you really want is the tip. Unscrew it and put an 1/8" pipe coupler on it. Take the grease fitting off of your grease gun (hand pump grease gun not air) and thread the coupler/tip on to it. Now take your vehicle apart and pull the ABS sensor. Use Kendall Super Blue 427 grease. That looks like what is in every bearing I have taken apart. Dont mix another grease. When you get the sensor out, put the rubber tip in the sensor hole and start pumping. Now you have a seal on the inside and outside. that you need to watch for grease. Pump until you just see like a sweat coming out of the dust seal, not oozing out mind you, and stop pumping. You have to keep looking at both seals because one will let it out sooner than the other. As a rule of thumb, a 1500 takes about 32 to 36 pumps on an average, a 2500 takes anywhere from 65 to 80 pumps. Once you see the grease at the seals, Remove the rubber tip from the abs hole, rotate the hub one revolution and let the hub push out some grease thru the sensor hole. Now take a screwdriver and go in the hole, angle it so its going against the direction of rotation, till you hit the commutator inside. When you feel it, lift the screw driver up a little and rotate the hub so more grease comes up the screwdriver. Now finish cleaning the sensor hole by pulling as much grease out as you can and install the sensor. You have just packed your sealed hub. This works with any vehicle that has the abs sensor in the hub and any make. There are pictures available at”(link)

I deleted the link^^^as it doesn’t work anymore.

How to pack your sealed hubs

www.silveradosierra.com

Sounds like he's over-filling them, IMO. I don't know what the right amount of grease is, and I'll agree they probably put "just barely enough" at the factory - I've seen evidence of this in other applications. But there's certainly a line to be crossed of "too much."

Richard

 

[someotherguy]

Oh, and there's other modes of failure. Like the seal just gave up in this one, OEM GM, with about 100K on it. I knew the bearings had a little slop but they weren't making noise yet, so I was planning on the upcoming job soon. It came sooner than expected. Wife leaves the house (this is on her '06 Silverado SS) and calls me saying "Sounds like the wheel is gonna fall off, I'm coming right back" - yeah, bearing was ready to come apart. She's no gearhead but she can usually identify pretty quickly when something isn't acting as expected. I let her take my SS and threw a good used bearing in there (I had just replaced both on my truck and one was still good) took about half an hour, then promptly ordered two new ones for her truck.

You must be registered for see images attach

Those tapered rollers sure held up a long time under some grueling conditions. No grease, and plenty of outside debris allowed to enter. Ball bearings would have failed much quicker, pretty sure. In fact I know, as I've had them go bad very quickly in older trucks. It's hard to even get home once those let you know they're giving up!

By the way, these OEM GM bearings seemed to last in the neighborhood of 100K or so. I looked back on my records and the one that failed on my truck was at 120K. When you buy wheel bearings for a GMT800 there's a lot more choices based on original equipment, not sure what that's all about but the list is staggering. Both of these were on '06 Silverado SS's which came from factory with 20" wheels and presumably heavier-duty bearings for the extra unsprung weight.

Richard

 

[Caman96]

Sounds like he's over-filling them, IMO. I don't know what the right amount of grease is, and I'll agree they probably put "just barely enough" at the factory - I've seen evidence of this in other applications. But there's certainly a line to be crossed of "too much."

Richard

Totally agree on the over filling. I suppose if you could occasionally pump in 5-6 squirts while rotating might not be bad.