Need Help- Bad Wheel Bearing

Brought truck in for minor service and had them check wheel bearings because my truck has had a humming noise that they assured me was due to bad tire wear a few months back. Long story short they said front driver wheel bearing is bad. Said they put it in gear on lift and then neutral and they tire slowed much faster than others and was making noise. Also put stethoscope on it and confirmed that bearing and did tire rock test.

Anyway they are quoting me $807 for new hub, bearing and labor. Said 3 hours labor which seems high to me. I know others have also said the OEM bearings are not the best.

1. Let me know if that price is stupid high

2. Also interested in what you guys have put in for replacement bearing and hub assemblies that are better than OEM and the cost for those parts

3. Lastly, I don’t have a garage at the moment because I just sold house and am renting until I get into another house. Looking for any guys in Charleston SC area that might have the tools and know how to help me put in new bearing/hub assembly. I would heavily compensate with beer and food might be able to take you out on a fishing trip also!

Thanks in advance!

Andy

 

Check out this video. Really well done. The labor cost is probably associated with the pressing procedures, if I had to guess.
As far as I know, theres nothing wrong with OEM bearings

Edit: its probably worth while doing the wheel slop & grinding sound checks yourself just to confirm. Then get it replaced asap if you think it needs it.

 

Hah I was going to post the same video. I'm going to use it when I need it too..

 

That price is stupid high.

A well equiped shop should be able to do it in 1 hour.

On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being an oil change and 10 being an engine overhaul, the difficulty level of installing already pressed wheel bearings from our TW guy, is about a 2.5

 

There is a member that does this here. Presses and replaces the bearing, all for a small fee,

Try the search feature...
from what I scanned he has bolt in hubs with new bearings, I think you send him your old ones....

 

....but the new OEM revised bearing is now the best. If you are going to keep the truck for a long time, offroad, etc. you may want to consider doing both as the other side is likely not far behind. If this were mine I would purchase the OEM from the least expensive online source and farm them out to an indy to do the work. Stay far, far away from Chicom bearings. Just saying....

 

Yeah I suspect they just want the money. I think I got a bit of time to figure it out. It isnt making really any grinding noise that I can hear at slow speeds with window down. Definite humming once you speed up, but a lot of that could be my tires. I got toyo open country AT IIs that have uneven tread blocks and making most of that noise I suspect. I will research the forum when I get time later tonight, was just looking for some input. I knew price sounded crazy high and I think I havea bit of wiggle room to do some research and get aftermarket stuff and do it with some help.

 

wow its harder than that but not a engine overhaul. Did both sides 2 weeks ago took me 2 days. also all seals need to be done or they wont last long. I've tested that theory and lost

 

Japanese, American, German, or Scandinavian bearings seem to be the best and strongest. Korean bearings are paper.

Dunno what OEM is, but the above list should help if you go that route.

 

What are the new OEM revised bearings? Won't be doing much offroad stuff, but am towing a good sized boat now and plan on keeping truck a good bit of time.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/wheel-bearings-hubs-press-service-4x4-prerunner-nsk.537080/

 

If it's a Dealership they will not be pressing the bearing out, they bolt a new assembly on.

 

Thanks for finding it. Couldn’t remember the link....so much stuff on here.

 

Oh really?

 

It is part number

$172 43570-04011 Axle Bearing Assembly, Front

43570-04011. It was revised to add one more roller on each half of the bearing (inner and outer) and all the rollers have been made a good bit longer. I've been calling it the heavy duty bearing for lack of anything better.

 

Wheel bearings are $89 at Anal Zone.
Get out of there now!

 

Andy,
Reach out to @05Taco4x4 and he'll set you up. I had never done mine and couldn't see paying what the stealership or local mechanic wanted to do the job. Took me about 3.5 hours on a Saturday to do both my fronts and that was taking a couple of breaks. Hardest part was getting the old ones off. Do yourself a favor and get a slide hammer from your local auto parts store (they rent them for free). Good luck.

 

Anal Zone lol

 

I can get that part online somewhere cheaper than dealer I’m assuming? Anyone else running these? Happy with them?

 

That part number is only the bearing. No outer seal, no bolts, no hub, not pressed together. Go to the link I posted above.