Problem: Front Wheel Bearings 2007

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUIuRx9c9FU

I had noise coming from passenger side, was informed at Toyota Dealership it was tire noise. I went on road trip to Kansas and it became worse. When I arrived in Kansas I jacked up front end and grasped to and bottom of wheel and noticed quite a bit of movement, I removed wheel and backed off brake calipers and spun rotor there was some bearing noise, I grasped rotor and it to rocked thus confirming my suspensions. I was able to use a friend of mines shop to press out hub and install new bearing. being I didn't have the proper tool to set retainer nut torque to spec, I made a tool and tightened it the best I could. well it got me home. I decided to have both front bearings replaced so I removed hub assemblies took them to Jim Norton Toyota in Tulsa Oklahoma. And as you can see by my video the results were less than expected from a certified Toyota repair center.

 

Holy crap. I would be afraid to install these things. Call toyota corporate and see if you get money back at least and order a set from somebody here.
You are correct, there is no way they set correct preload. So these bearings will most likely fail sooner rather than later.

 

I tried to contact corporate but to no avail.

 

Hey guys, I just had my drivers side bearing replaced 2 days ago. Truck has 140k miles, lifted with 33" tires, so it went a ways. Same issues of grinding, humming, and to my surprise a 3mpg increase in fuel consumption. I'm posting this so people don't get ripped off on the cost. First shop quoted me $500. I went to Oreileys Auto parts and bought the the next best bearing they had in stock for $100 with a 3 year warranty. Normally I would install this my self, but our assemblies require a 2 ton press, so I called around until finding a shop (Express Oil) that did it for $150. Total repair $250.

 

There are two guys selling bearing with spindle all pressed up on this site. For the cost of parts and install you can get both of them ready to bolt on and with good amount of grease so you dotn need to change them again quickly.
Just saying....

 

They dont pickup a phone or they dont want to reimburse you ?
Did you tell them you willing to submit photos ?

 

Wheel bearing replacement on our trucks is a standard item. Known weakness.

If one wheels a lot, expect no more than 50k out of one.

If one wheels none, but lives in the Salt Belt (that would include Boston), the expectation is the same.

If one doesn't wheel at all, lives in SoCal, and drives like Grandma, expect maybe 70k-100k tops.

I have 53k on mine and just replaced both sides. I wheel a lot (50%), and fairly hard (no jumps). My symptoms were a speed-related very-high-pitched whine (I originally thought it was transmission), very slight vibration, and a medium-to-high-speed braking wobble. I had absolutely no play when I yanked on the wheels.

But I also knew I had wrenched the spindle nut too much a long time back (only ~5 miles of driving before I corrected it), so it was just a matter of time.

When I took the bearings off last week, they looked fine, for the most part. A slight ring of discoloration along the inner rollers was the only indication I had of abnormality. But what I did notice is that the amount of lubrication was severely lacking. The new bearings I pressed in had the same inadequate lubrication. So I pumped them full of Redline grease, using a needle.

As for pricing, I was able to get top-quality Koyo (Timken) bearings from Rock Auto for $70. Seal for $7. Taking my labor into consideration, where I re-used the hub (a massive PITA to recover!), the bearing/hub assembly is worth about $200~$250 (two guys here sell them for that), and the total job (including parts) if one drops the truck off at a shop is worth about $400~$500 per side. Pay more than that and the value is much lower (not to say getting ripped off, just low value).