Wheel bearing brands

I am running Falken Wildpeak 265/70 on my 2014 and Man has the drone gotten loud. I have 260k. I am beginning to think it's the bearings. Is this the same symptom you experienced? I jacked it up and tried to shake the tires for any play but couldn't feel anything odd.

 

It's incredibly unlikely you'd feel any play until they've started to disintegrate. I had no amount of perceptible movement. All I know is that it went from loud droning where my ears would ring after any longer period of highway driving to a damn near silent cab in comparison after changing them. Changing them one at a time and taking a drive between was kinda neat. First one took 80+ percent of the extra noise away, and the other the rest. One was obviously far worse.

 

Thanks Ryan. Looks like I'll be ordering a set ASAP!

 

I only wish I had done it a year or two sooner!! lol.

 

Bought the same ones, I could have gotten dorman's allot cheaper but from my research they're barely adequate for stock setups and the tend to require replacement much sooner then the OEM bearings. Considering the effects of larger/heavier wheels and increased offsets (both of which significantly increase lateral bearing stresses) choosing a quality bearing was a no brainer for me.

Sound was also the sign they needed replaced for me, no perceptible play. I suggest doing both at the same time, the other bearing isn't far behind the bad one. Typically doing two wheels at one time is faster for most people that rarely do the job compared to doing them separately at different times.

 

One of the things you may want to consider is OEM as Toy quietly introduced upgraded wheel bearings for the Taco in early 2014. I write about this here: https://www.toyotanation.com/thread...g-improved-oem-bearing-now-available.1227529/

I do not know if the aftermarket bearings followed suit as I have not taken one apart.

 

Yep. After doing brakes I spun them and heard a grinding. Figured it was new pads or something, I don’t know. Tires didn’t have any play but they were indeed shot.

 

How long can bad ones run? I know it’s dangerous but man I had mine like they were for a long time before I changed them.

 

I have no idea. I had bought E rated Duratracs and I had heard they get loud as they wear. I figured the growing noise was that. Was probably already there a bit before, just not as noticeable. It wasn't til I was on a trip with a very long sweeping corner with a 55mph speed limit where all of a sudden the noise was gone. At that moment I knew it was a bearing. It was 2 years after putting on the E loads that I finally changed the bearings. And in those two years I was almost always hauling the camper. Seems like catastrophic failure is unlikely before the noise gets too grating. But who knows?