Dorman Wheel Bearing Hub Assembly Good?

Correct. Too many people believe that a bearing is a bearing is a bearing, so all bearings are indeed the same. After all of my years in manufacturing, I can tell you war stories about how corners are cut to save money by unscrupulous manufacturers. Most OEMs don't tolerate that crap.

 

I already know that "secret".

What I mean is does anyone know a good or easy way to tell if a part is part to OEM Toyota standards, I know Toyota doesnt make the alternator transmission etc, not what im asking though.
A good way to tell if a part is made to OEM standards or close to it.
Also I went with Dorman wheel bearing hub bearing setup so well how long they go.

 

No easy way, but a sign it’s potentially the oe manufactor is the studs will have markings on the ends. Typically beck arnley (for the Toyota bolt on hubs in cars) are indeed selling oe manufactured parts. To what quality I don’t know, but I have used them in the past on peoples cars with no issues.


That being said parts store brands? I’ve had 4 bad within a week.

 

Not really. Some parts you have absolutely no idea, while others you can maybe somewhat get an idea by say visual cues (i.e. same casting marks/stamps/features, material thickness, finish, etc.). But in all reality, for most parts unless you're holding their engineering drawings side-by-side for comparison you have no real way to verify with absolute certainty they're the same or close to it.

Also, thanks for the update on your bearing situation. Welcome to the Dorman Wheel Bearing Hub Assembly Club of Mediocrity...we're glad you could join us!

 

Unfortunately, there is no visual way to confirm that a part is indeed manufactured to OEM standards. That in fact is why so many people think all parts are the same quality.

 

Without reading all the replies in here, there are several comments that I agree with and some that I disagree with.

1st, the warranty is not AutoZones. I have the Dorman hub/bearing assemblies on both sides of my truck. One was purchased from AutoZone and the other on Amazon for significantly cheaper. Both had the same 12 month / 12,000 mile warranty and the one on Amazon was not sold by Autozone.

While I used to think Dorman was (in general) an "okay" quality OEM replacement, I have since changed my tune. I think Dorman is a brand you would use if you were trying to replace parts cheaply in preparation to list a vehicle for sale. They will be great for a few months and then start to wear out. As of right now, I think these Dorman bearing and hub assemblies may be the exception to that.

I installed my first one on 10/8/2018 at 124k miles and the second on 3/16/2019 at 137,903 miles. Today, my truck is somewhere in the neighborhood of 168k miles. While that mileage isn't phenomenal, they are still going strong as far as I can tell. While my truck doesn't live offroad, it isn't a pavement princess either. Those ~31 and 43k miles have not been polite to the wheel bearings. In fact, if I had to change them tomorrow, I'd consider using the same ones because I would have expected any wheel bearing to need to be replaced after a few of the trails that I've run.

That said, there is a member on here from Hawaii who makes OEM quality assembled bearings and hubs. I can never remember his username, but I'll edit this post if I find it. He may have already been mentioned in the last 2 pages. I'd probably give him first nod and look at the Dorman again as a second choice.

Edit: @05Taco4x4

 

Agree...generally. I think people today are generally lazy and want to take the easy road 90% of the time. There is that other small percentage that wants to do it right but doesn't have the space/tools/time. I went with the Dorman pre-assembled because of ease of purchase and install. Plus, I don't have a press. If I lived closer to you, I'd be over at your shop with some beer in hand when I needed to perform that kind of work.

You have an onlyfans? Where do I sign up?

 

working on new “content” now, link will be sent out soon with TW discount

 

You should do the other side as well.

 

Glad you asked @TacoBell07. Today I just replaced the second Dorman wheel bearing on my truck.

I installed both L and R Dorman bearings about 25K miles ago. One Dorman bearing assembly was still good but the other was not. I replaced both with NSK bearings, National seals, OEM bolts and generic hubs. Since I already had a $70 bearing tool set I assembled them myself.

The one bad Dorman bearing I just dis-assembled this evening. It had no markings indicating who the bearing manufacturer was. The hub had Dorman markings and the bearing cage was plastic which I assume is standard. There was an excess of green grease all over the outside of the bearing. The NSK bearings have minimal white grease.

Not knowing what I learned today I might use the Dorman assembly again. Since I do know better now I'll never buy Dorman bearing assembly's again.

 

The other side failed about a 2weeks before the doorman I put on . When it failed it was during the week and I was on mand. OT at my job and had ZERO time to fix it (and I didn’t know how to change it at that time and I needed some of the tools also required to do the job ) so I took it to a local shop and paid $740ish to have it repaired . The shop told me the other side was going at the time so I got the parts , got the big socket and borrowed a torque wrench and followed the diy here on TW and I did it myself for $120 (said doorman unit )

I would of actually liked to use Oem

 

If the warranty is not Autozone's, then who's is it? If you click the Autozone link in OP's original post you'll see within that the "1 Year Warranty" icon/link which explicitly says "AUTOZONE'S LIMITED WARRANTY" when you open it. Additionally, there is nothing mentioned about a 12k mile warranty, so I don't see how the Autozone and Amazon warranties are the same.

 

Beats me, but I'm 90%+ positive that the warranty is Dorman's.

Here's the one I purchased:

$125 Dorman 950-001 Pre-Pressed Hub Assembly - Front Compatible with Select Lexus / Toyota Models (OE FIX)

https://www.amazon.com/Dorman-950-0...rman+tacoma+hub+bearing&qid=1632308829&sr=8-3

The "Warranty and Support" section on Amazon just shows that you can contact the mfg for warranty info. I know it said 12 mo / 12k miles when I purchased it, but I don't see that listed anywhere. I then checked several other websites including Dorman, AdvanceAutoParts, carid and SummitRacing. The first ones just say that there is a warranty and list a phone number to call. Summit shows this:

 

Here's the thread to the member here who makes them. https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/wheel-bearings-hubs-press-service-oe-nsk.541565/

 

One has to wonder what kind of manufacturer would fail to identify their parts. That shows a complete lack of pride in what you build / sell. For that and many more reasons, you won't ever find anything from Dorman in any of my vehicles.

 

For your reference, here are the links to AutoZone and Dorman:

https://www.autozone.com/suspension...50-004/772180_1035181_22589?searchText=950004

https://www.autozone.com/lp/termsAndConditions#warranties

https://www.dormanproducts.com/pages/products/warranty/index.aspx?origin=footer#warranty

From the AutoZone link, here are a couple key excerpts under AutoZone's Limited Warranty:

This limited warranty represents the total liability of AutoZone, for any part or product.

All of AutoZone's parts, except those mentioned above, are covered by our Limited Warranty. The length of AutoZone's Limited Warranty varies with each part. To determine the length of the Warranty on your part, please look-up or search for and is listed with the product description.

For the Dorman link provided the bearing hub assembly falls under the "All Other Products" category where it has a "Limited Lifetime Warranty" duration. Since I have a vested interest here by currently running Dorman bearing hub assemblies on my truck I took the liberty to give Dorman a quick call to confirm their warranty policy, which they verified is a limited lifetime warranty.

So...NO, their warranties are NOT the same. As I originally stated, AutoZone (1 year) and Dorman (lifetime) are their own separate warranties.

 

Why then would AutoZone not offer the same limited lifetime warranty, or at least alert the customer to the fact that a part they sell could be warrantied for the life of the part? Seems like they'd be losing out on sales. They advertise the Dorman LCA as having a lifetime warranty. Why wouldn't they do the same for the hub/bearing assemblies?

I also have these hub bearings on my truck, so if they have a lifetime warranty, SCORE!!! They have held up better than expected in my case.

 

The issue with the "lifetime warranty" on most lower tier auto parts is the need to use it - frequently in some cases. Sure, one could say that although you have to replace a given part much more often than OEM, it's free! But what if that "free replacement" part fails while you're in the middle of nowhere? What if the labor to replace that part is 5x the cost of the part? What if the part failing causes a crash? Something to think about.

Funny you should mention Dorman LCAs. They have a particularly bad reputation due to very poor quality rubber bushings.

 

TRUTH.

Just to restate my earlier position, I used to think that Dorman was a "quality" replacement part. Something that you could expect "near OEM" replacement intervals. When my OEM LBJ went out right before I had to move, I opted to get the Dorman LCA with lifetime warranty for both sides. I tend to follow the rule that if a wearable part has failed on one side, the other is probably not far behind. Those types of parts should be replaced in pairs. Well, 12 months later, my truck sounded terrible and made an awful creaking noise every time I pressed the brakes. Couldn't figure it out. Surely it wasn't the LCA/LBJ....well, sure enough, it was. So I replaced them both. 12 months later...you guessed it. That awful sound was back. I've read that the Moog isn't much better, so I forked out the coin for the OEM ones. Warranty or not, 12 months is too short of a service interval for something like a LCA/LBJ.

Everything on my truck that has been replaced with parts bought at an auto parts store (usually AutoZone) either has or will be replaced with OEM when the time comes.


That said, these Hub and Bearing assemblies have served me well so far. That's why I said earlier that they might be the exception in Dorman quality.

As for the warranty, both AutoZone and Amazon said 12 month or 12,000 miles. Seems odd that two different sellers would have the same warranty if it wasn't the manufacturers warranty. So if the Dorman in fact has a lifetime warranty, then that is just an added bonus.

 

Just looked up my Amazon order from 2/7/2019. Part was sold by "PartsHawk" and I paid $121.20 shipped.

A tip for the OP, or anyone replacing these. Get the hub puller if this is the first time they are being replaced. I wouldn't have been able to get mine off without it and they can be rented for free from AutoZone. Put some grease on the splines of the axle before you re-insert it so that it doesn't stick when you need to replace them again.