Front outside wheel bearing already?!

Just bought an 07 Taco. Had CO's on it. Added UCA's. Took in for alignment. Said fr. outside wheel bearing was going and going fast. It only has 70,000 on it. When I questioned how could that have happened w/ only that many miles they say there is no rhyme or reason. Is there a possible reason? I only know it's a sealed bearing.

 

x2 plus original bearings have lithium POS grease in them, plus they have plastic cage in them, plus nobody tightens them

 

Mine did the same at about 85k. But mine sees A lot of off roading

 

Talked to mech. that said he sees these quite a bit at around 60 to 80k. Mine did have a pinch of damage from water. The ridge on the front rotors was very pitted from excessive water. He thinks, if there is any reason that it could be the size of the wheels and tire set ups and obviously how much abbuse they might get during Off-Road use. Wider the tire, faster they go. Just his opinion.
Not that I'm trying to make a point on the tire issue but I have an 82 Toy truck and a 95 4 Runner w/ mucho miles on them. Always kept original sized tires on them and still have no wheel bearing issue. Next time I'm doing the RnR myself. I noticed the book on that for time was between 2.8 to 3.2 hrs. If I had theirs tools (press,etc.) and a hoist I know I could cut that in 1/2. That's if everything went smooth. It probably would take that long if there were issue.

 

What do you mean about the tightening? The bolts on the backside of the housing? Is there torque settings for those? I'm guessing there is but I didn't see them.

 

I agree w/ that after seeing that bit of rust that was on the outside bearing.

 

I'm pretty sure I've got the same one starting to go, I hear a dull roar coming from that area. This on a 08' Prerunner with just over 50,000 and no off-roading, well no water or mud anyways.

 

I had to replace mine after 72,000 miles as well. I thought it was ridiculous that they went bad too. Its a pricy thing to get fixed thru the shop.. so I ended up doing it myself for 80% cheaper.

 

Look at the link I provided to FSM. for -prerunner --- Look at page AH-14 where it says "FRONT WHEEL
ADJUSTING NUT" this nut needs to be tightened to 203 ft, lb according to manual

for 4WD --- Look at page AH-13 where it says "FRONT AXLE HUB NUT" this nut needs to be tightened to 173 ft, lb according to manual

Tightening wheel bearings used to be a maintenance item done anywhere from 3500 - 10 000 miles intervals. I guess Toyota figure out they will let them fail.
I did not do mines because truck was new and I did not want to mess with them but at 40000 bearings were loose and at that point it was cheaper to me to replace them ( I do my own work so cost of parts) then tighten them and hope there is still grease in there. Loose wheel bearings will leak grease out faster. Keeping them tightened will prolong lubrication. My current plan is to tighten them every 8000 -10000 miles to make sure they stay tight. I repacked my new bearings with Mobil grease so that is less likely to leak out "ever"

 

When I asked the mech. what was the most reliable way to check he said by jacking it up enough to spin the wheel and you can feel it most in the spring.

 

Thanks for the up on the maintainance. Through this whole procedure no one ever mentioned maintainance on these bearings.

 

Thanks for the tips guys.