Wheel Bearing Replacement

Has anyone had to have their wheel bearings replaced? My truck just hit 100,000 miles and I'm getting a grinding sound whenever I turn. I got a quote from a local Firestone and they said 1300!! That's with an alignment and replacing both front wheel bearings. Has anyone else had to have this done? If so what did you pay? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

mine lasted about 100k miles. i did it myself for the price of the parts around $100 for both sides . if you don't feel comfortable pressing the bearings in and out there are a couple guys here that sell the complete bearing assembly you can just bolt on

 

Is it difficult to do? The auto shop said it is a "major job".

 

it wasn't for me but that depends on how mechanically inclined you are. you only need basic hand tools to do it

here is a link to the thread https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-ive-done-the-work-you-save-the-money.288282/

this will give you an idea
https://youtu.be/c17YAsJFBwk

 

I had this done at about 185k, maybe? Went to Les Schwab. I want to say I paid about $400 something. It's been several months and I can't remember exactly off the top of my head. It was just the front left wheel bearing. Took a couple of hours, way faster than I'd expected.

 

That price seems about right for a chain shop
Local guy did mine for around $300 per side on my 05
All the guys at his shop drive toyos

At tire shop quoted me around $500 plus

 

Thanks man I appreciate it!!

 

no problem. here is a detailed write up too
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...e-replace-front-wheel-bearing-2nd-gen.189356/

 

I would suggest to have a look to the seal behind the bearing too, when I did mine I notice the seal was deteriorated, and I really think it was before the bearing and let crap in and damaged the bearing. If you get a complete assembly I think the seal comes with it. If not you'll have to buy it seperately.

 

you can also get them preassembled so all you basically is just change out the whole hub assembly.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-complete-save-custom-built-available.288055/

Good product.
My stock ones lasted me 112k and then swapped to @nj636 and I'm at 178k with 315 tires

 

What are the symptoms of a bad wheel bearing?

 

Grumbly sounds is one indicator. Gets worse as the bearings deteriorate.

 

My left front bit the dust at 90k. Pretty easy to diagnose - there is a noticeable groan or slight grinding sound, which gets much louder when turning. It was barely noticeable going dead straight. There was no mistaking mine, easily noticeable groan coming from left front wheel every time you turned the wheel either way. I'm at 160k now and no other bearings have gone bad (yet).

To the OP, unless you DIY or have money to burn, just fix the bad one, not both. They are 2 completely separate jobs, except for the 2 minutes it takes to getting your truck on a lift. That quote seems incredibly high, a Toyota dealer did my work for around $350 for the one side.

 

Check out @BamaToy1997!!! He's the wheel bearing guy!

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-ive-done-the-work-you-save-the-money.288282/

 

So I read this thread and many others before attempting this job myself. I'm relatively mechanically inclined but have never used a press. I figured it would be a great excuse to add a press to my toolbox, so I bought the HF 12 ton and went to work. The press works fine, but you need the right scrap metal/bearing splitter/whatever to shove in between the the hub and bearing to be able to make it work. I wasted several hours and bent every piece of scrap metal I could find around my house before giving up and tracking down a machine shop.

Several of the machine shops in my town wouldn't even touch that hub. They claimed only Toyota dealerships dealt with it. My Toyota dealership which is typically quite reasonable wanted $220 just to press off and press on the new bearing, would have been $330 if I didn't already have it off my truck. This was only labor, I was supplying the parts. Luckily, I found one place in town that would take it on for a whopping $30. They're backed up with orders so I'm still left without a truck for the second day in a row.

Just a word to the ambitious. I don't think this is a hard job at all but make sure you either have the right jig set up for your press or have a shop lined up when that part of the job comes up. Better yet, just buy the preassembled bearing/hub. I would have saved so much money but I was cheap and now it's cost me.

 

Holy shit..1300?! Took me an hour for each side, and that included everything from getting the wheel off to putting it back on. No alignment necessary if just doing the wheel bearing either.

 

I had NTB replace both front wheel bearings, total cost with parts and labor $565.00

"IF" I would have been able to find that whole assembly together I would have bought it and already had a garage shop lined up to do the labor for both front wheels at a cost of $85.00 each side but nobody online or through Autozone, Petboys, O'Reilly's, etc. could get them!

The prices ranged from as low as $99.00 - $170.00 each hub assembly with wheel bearings.

They all show that they sell the whole hub assembly together with the wheel bearings all assembled, etc. but again they would all say out of stock and would need to order them (believe it or not some couldn't even order them!?) and would take a few weeks!

I said "fuck that" I wasn't going to wait that long and just paid to have it done at NTB.

Now my Tacoma runs so much smoother too!

 

No parts manufacturer makes the assembly because it is exactically that an assembly. Anyone selling a complete assembly has bought all the parts and put them together. It is really easy to buy all the parts and have any shop press the baring on the hub. There are full an complete write ups on here with the part numbers. It cost me approximately $200 per side and I did the install. The hardest part was getting the old ones off .... Alot of pounding and prying....with more pounding....lol

 

Yup, @BamaToy1997

 

^ This. Then do it yourself. I did it and it took me about 4 hours to do both fronts.