Bad wheel bearings... after 10k miles?

Have you all seen this on these tacos before?

I had a shop replace my wheel bearings 10,000 miles ago and just got new tires put on. Tire shop said they couldn't do the alignment because the bearings were shot.

The took me to the lift and grabbed the tires from top and bottom and indeed there seemed to be play.

Could bearings have gone bad this quickly? The original shop that did the bearing work assured me that they put on "the most premium after-market bearings available".

I've also replaced the CV axles with quality ones from CVJ prior to doing the bearings.

Your input is appreciated!

My Taco the last few weeks:

 

Typical alignment shop trick.

 

Yet could not give you a brand name for the bearing .

Sure it was not ball joints?

 

Here's the part of the invoice of the completed work done 10,000 miles ago that has the bearings billed:


So yes, I'm sure that the bearings were replaced in the past.

 

After reading some of the threads on here they need to make sure the axle nut was tourqued properly, the seal on the backside of the steering knuckle needs to be replaced Otherwise crud gets back into the new bearing/hub assembly.
If the whole hub/bearing is shiny and new they might have just picked up a complete cheap hub and bolted it on.

 

On my taco, the spindle needs to be removed and pressed directly into it. Wish it were possible to do a bolt-on assembly, if it were I would do it myself.

 

For sure, I bought my hubs from here, @05Taco4x4 , oem bearings used, looks really good
Hope you figure it out

 

The wheel bearings aren't particularly problematic, I have 414,000 miles on mine.

 

If they installed aftermarket made in China wheel bearings then yes, very plausible they have failed.
If they installed aftermarket but quality name brand like Timken or Koyo then it would be unusual for them to have failed this early.

 

Interesting they went from showing you play in the wheel to wheel bearings to replacing a ball joint. Wonder where the play really was? I can tell you this it is a serious pain to just replace bearings when for close to the same price you can replace the entire assembly in 1/10 the time. Even cheap bearings will last more than any 10K. The bearing assembly is actually two bearings in one housing opposing each other. Did they show you the old parts?

 

The above photo was from 10,000 miles ago when I replaced them the first time, not from this tire shop.

I haven't yet replaced these; took it to a known mechanic here locally to get his opinion.

With my model year, I don't see how they can be done in 1/10th of the time by replacing the entire assembly. They are pressed directly into the spindle. Can I buy a new spindle with them already pressed in?

 

Remove wheel, remove brake rotor, remove axle nut, remove 4 bolts, remove entire assembly hub, bearing and housing. To just replace the bearing means the wheel hub has to be pressed out of the bearing first (no easy task because of design) press the old bearing out of the housing press the inner bearing off the wheel hub because it will be stuck, press the new bearing in, press the wheel hub into the new bearing then notice the 4 bolts on the floor they can not be put in with the hub pressed in, remove then reassemble. The replacement assembly in its entirety runs anywhere from $120 to $165, Remove wheel remove axle nut,rotor, remove 4 bolts. Reverse procedure drive away. I have a $20 bill that says I can replace both in an hour or less.

 

Looks like they played the old okie-doke on you. Everything you say tells me it was the ball joints.

 

Still not sure we're talking about the same vehicle...

Here's the diagram of what mine looks like:

 

Ok thats an earlier one I kind of remember doing them with a slide hammer even easier.

 

The bearing part# is BCA, The ball joint part # is genuine Toyota. It should be decent stuff

 

Doesn't sound like a wheel bearing issue to me at all...

 

I think you owe him a $20

 

It’s also possible the mechanic struggled and it’s actually not done properly. Replacing those bearings is a big time pain in the ass. Maybe the preload nut ain’t tight or they aren’t pressed in completely. I’m not bashing the guy, just tossing it out there

 

There is a difference between 1st gen and 2nd gen front wheel bearings and how to change them