Front Wheel bearings destroyed and "welded to hubs"....

So ive somehow managed to obliterate the front wheel bearings and essentially weld them to the hubs.. due to friction and heat. The dealership cant press them out so im getting all new hubs and bearings! i havent been wheeling in awhile and havent tweaked the truck bad at all i do have 94,000 miles on my tacoma though. thoughts on how i may have destroyed them?

Working on pics if that helps any opinions would be apperciated as ive never broken this before..







itll be on the lift until tuesday at the soonest...

 

I'm going to bet on dealership incompetence.

 

yeah i go in and have everything checked every 5,000 miles or so when i do the oil and rotation of the tires and major services done.

 

I think he means did you ever have the bearings pulled and re-packed with grease.

I can tell you right now I won't. Replace or bust.

 

id bet ive heard some pretty bad stories of dealership incompetence. im just glad everything is warrentied though. i just am confused as to how it happened espically since i maintain my truck extremely well. ive had them greased that done at the 30k 60k and 90k services so i repack them about every 30k

 

about every 30k or so

 

im not too sure i am running spidertrax and 285/75/r16 KM2's right now. ive also added the best pics i could get sorry if they're not too good they were taken off an evo

 

If they really wanted they could get them off. I've replaced 3 front bearings on friends trucks that were welded on from the heat. Just pry the old bearing apart, then cut the inner part most of the way and you can crack the brittle steel and slide it off.

 

im just trying to figure out what can cause a properly maintained bearing to fail all of the sudden with no tweaks or hardhits to the front end. i think they techs dont want to do all the work of prying the bearing out so theyre just replacing the wntire thing on them hub included due to my warrenty.

 

Well the truck has 94k miles, thats not a bad life for a wheel bearing on a rig with oversize wheels/tires. Some go longer sure, but I hear of a lot only lasting around 60-70k so by that measure you've done pretty well on original bearings. At least its not that expensive of a part.

 

I would like to know how you packed these every 30k??? The bearing is a complete assembly pressed in and are a non-reusable part if removed. You would have to at a minimum remove it to repack any grease right?? Just curious, these are a sealed for life type bearing to my knowledge.

 

Water could have seeped in and destroyed the grease.

 

Thats what i thought it could be but these are a totally sealed bearing right? im not sure how theyve been packed as ive had the dealer do this. But im only 4k after my last service (90k service) and had the bearing repacked, so i was just trying to get an idea as to how i broke them and "welded" them to the hub as id prefer not to leave my taco at a dealership for a week and a half...

 

Do you actually have a receipt being charged for packing wheel bearings?? If you do they charged you for doing absolutely nothing. Or if they included in your 30 60 90k they may have checked it off on a sheet but the didn't do anything. No worries though because there is nothing to do, they last as long as they last.

 

The Bearings are sealed they cannot be taken apart and repacked.

 

If the attachment nut is overtightened or there is some other issue like a bent shaft (possible) that could accelerate the failure.

I would guess the nut was overtighteneded by some tech with an air impact wrench.

 

They had a good life at 90k especially with oversized tires and wheel spacers. They wear out, the truck isn't new anymore, don't worry about it. Mine did not last that long. I replaced mine around 75k. And people are correct in telling you the bearings are sealed and not one you repack. Run it till they die and put new ones in.

 

If you look at your old work orders for 30, 60, and 90 I would bet it says inspected and greased prop shaft. If it says greased front wheel bearings I would be talking to Toyota USA, as others have said they are sealed and not serviceable.

 

I think once they are on the truck they are no longer accessible, however, when they're new they do come apart.

 

X2

No shop is pulling sealed bearings and packing them with grease. Those are lubed for life. The only thing that's greaseable on these trucks is the u joints on the 4x4 driveshafts.

It's really common to buy this type of bearing already pressed into the hubs. The mechanic might not be able to get them out of the hub, he might not feel like dealing with it, or they might not be able to get the bearing seperately without a lot of hassle or going to aftermarket suppliers.

If I had to guess, they didn't even try to press them out and just ordered the full assemblies. My dealer doesn't seem to stock anything other than filters and spark plugs. Had they been thinking of you and your need for transportation, they could have simply given the wheels a shake, declared the bearings to be bad, then let you drive the truck for the weekend and come back on Tuesday. No need to disassemble to come to this conclusion.