Need new front hub assemblies?

If anyone needs new hub assemblies for their truck but is unexperienced and doesn’t know what to buy, allow me to help with some information. Hub assemblies can be replaced by almost any weekend warrior in my opinion and are not as hard as they seem to install. With that being said make sure you know what you are doing so the install won’t ruin the ball bearings.


Let me start off saying that I know people on here sell custom made hub assemblies but that’s just not my thing (they are a little pricey in my opinion, but that’s besides the point). Apparently knowing which hubs to buy is a difficult thing to find on TW. When reading forums about people looking for help finding wheel hub assemblies, all I found was dudes who would copy and paste other forums of people who sell custom hubs, which was annoying because it didn’t actually provide any answers. So I’m trying to provide the answers that people in those forums failed to provide, to the best of my abilities.


Anyways, if you are like me and just want to buy something reliable for a reasonable price online and get it over with then hopefully this will help. I found partsgeeks.com (you can use a different website it’s just what is easy for me) after days of looking, and it offers all the different types of brands and types of hub assemblies (because there are 4 types: you have 2wd or 4wd and then the regular or prerunner versions of those). Make sure you find the hub assembly that fits your specific vehicle.


Here is the info I was able to find on my own. Please correct any mistakes because I want this info to be useful to people:

After tons of research I found that the SKF hub assemblies are the ones you want if you buy from partsgeeks (apparently the SKF hub assemblies may not be real SKF hubs so hopefully someone can clarify). Although partsgeeks only sells the SKF hub assemblies, I know that Timken,and NSK also make solid hub assemblies and they along with KOYO make quality bearing assemblies, if you don’t want the entire hub assembly. KOYOs are actually the OEM wheel bearings used by toyota and if I’m not mistaken they are made in Japan. I know that technically some of these companies don’t make entire hub assemblies but from my experience, as long as the bearings are from those brands then the rest will be alright (obviously there are exceptions).


I should mention some brands to avoid, from my personal experience. Avoid TRQ and Detroit axel. I love 1Aauto but TRQ brand is garbage and I’ve seen many people’s wheels literally fall off because of it. I heard Detroit axel isn’t bad but i bought some and after a few months they were so bad the truck was no longer drive-able. These hubs also don’t come with inner and outer seals so that’s something to look out for. Installing it without those seals will ruin the bearings. I’m not exactly sure about that so hopefully someone can explain how to spot them. But with that being said physically inspect every hub you buy because any brand can have problems.


As you can see buying hubs is not a walk in the park. Especially if you don’t like being screwed over by the stealership.


Let me know what brands are good or bad so people can be informed. Also please don’t copy and paste any custom hub assemblies in here (nothing against those dudes but there is too much of that).


I really hope this helps at least one person because I know it was a headache trying to buy some new hubs that I had faith wouldn’t fold like paper after a few months.


I’ll just leave the link that I used for finding my hubs: https://www.partsgeek.com/catalog/2...el_bearing.html?rp=wheel_bearing_assembly_set

 

I didn’t know what thread to put this under as it kinda fit nothing, so I put it under off-topic. I’m new to tacoma world so I hope this isn’t a problem. I realize it’s a little dumb but whatever. Hopefully some mods could help me by moving it to the right thread. Also sorry for the rant about custom hubs but whenever I searched on forums that’s all that came up.

 

I found a seller on eBay (eBay can sometimes have really good parts) for those who like to use eBay that sells Hub assemblies made with KOYO Japanese made wheel bearings and the rest is pressed in Taiwan. I talked with him a little bit to see if he had good quality parts and it seems like he only has KOYO wheel bearings which is not bad. The guys name is you_only and his companies name is kyotoautoparts, I haven’t bought from him yet but he seems like he has a quality product for cheaper than other people, especially with his good reviews. Still be careful though, hopefully someone on here has dealt with him. If you need help you can message him your vehicle’s vin number. I’m just trying to look around for quality hub assemblies to help people who are looking to buy some. Let it be known if you know of any quality parts that are well priced and readily available for purchase. Again avoiding custom made ones here on TW because thats all the other threads talk about.

 

The mods will probably have to move it for you, but this thread definitely does not belong in the 'Off-Topic Discussion' section since that is for non-Tacoma/truck related topics. At the very least I'd say it'd be better suited to go back to the 2nd Gen section where the genesis of your thread began, unless other TW members have better ideas/recommendations.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/reasonably-priced-front-hub-assemblies.742875/#post-26468768

 

This has a very spammy feel to it. Either way, I think you're way overthinking it, when your best bet is to just buy the assembly from @05Taco4x4.

They're not "custom made". He's just pressing them together. Exactly the same thing that's done when you buy the pre-assembled ones. Except these are made by someone who has his own name attached, and not just a factory worker with a hangover that's ready to go home.

 

This is for people who can’t afford to spend $400 on wheel hub assemblies but still want quality. Just trying to help.

 

I paid $325 for 2 bearing assemblies. Is your time really worth that little?

Are you pressing them in yourself? If not, that's another additional cost.

 

You got ripped off bud. It should not have been anywhere near $325 for bearing assemblies. This is why I made this post because I suspect people keep overpaying and thinking it’s ok.

 

It seems to me like you didn’t even read the post. If you had you would’ve seen that the bearing assemblies for some of the best name brands were like half of $325. The Japanese made koyo hub assemblies (pressed in Taiwan) were less than what you paid for those bearings. Please try to actually read the post and links before you come and spread misinformation. I am just trying to help people who can’t spend a lot of money buying hub assemblies.

 

I know you feel strongly about ordering from people on Tacoma world but I know people who that’s not their thing.
For one: it’s overpriced
Two: it takes longer to ship
Three: at the end of the day it’s still just a dude on Tacoma world selling it to you. I know many people trust this guy and that’s fine but I tried to message some of the other guys who used to make hub assemblies and they didn’t reply. Which just shows that it’s still just a guy selling them, if he decides to screw you over that’s it. At least with eBay you get money back. Dude I’m taking about is nj636, the mods literally said to dispute the payments if you used PayPal with Him. He clearly had shady practices, and y’all still defend dudes like him. https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-complete-save-custom-built-available.288055/

I put many hours researching this stuff to try and help people. And all everyone did so far is respond with nonsense pretty much saying how great “custom pressed” hub assemblies from dudes you buy on Tacoma world are. Even when I’ve made it clear that this is supposed to be an alternative. Bro take that nonsense elsewhere please. Also I know I have the unpopular opinion of saving money on here and yes I was a little rude about it but I just want it said. So I expect some hate you can just insert that hate down below. \/\/

 

SKF from that link is 80/ side. + Paying someone to press out your old hub and pressing in the new one properly and possibly the purchase of a new hub. Whole "skf" assemblies are 120ish a piece + shipping. So 260 OTD for a potential knock off.

Not much more to get a hub assembly put together with KNOWN good parts with PROPER press tools.

 

Information is there do with it what you please.

 

I've never known there to be such problems understanding which hubs to buy.

 

You're way overcomplicating things dude. How much of your time have you spent? I know the ones from @05Taco4x4 are good, dependable, and reliable. And I spent zero time fiddling around with getting mine pressed in/out, etc. But do what you want.

Try not to get so triggered.

 

"Bro", nothing about them is custom.

It's just a properly assembled assembly. I trust a guy on TW with a good rep more than I trust an underpaid factory worker, or eBay, that's laughable.

Regarding nj636, he has NOTHING to do with this, because he and 05Taco4x4 are not the same person. So far he has done right by everyone, and I have no reason to suspect otherwise. If we trust nobody in our "community" then what motivation does anyone have to make cool parts, or to do things like sell these very high quality hub assemblies? Maybe there's a reason nobody else is spending "hours doing research" and maybe theres a reason everyone is replying the way they are.

Oh, and shipping? I got mine in 2 days. So there's another wasted argument.