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wheel bearing and hub question

k.allen90

NAXJA Forum User
Location
kentucky
I was told by somebody that in order to change out my front wheel bearings on a 4wd xj the whole hub assembly has to be replaced is this true?
 
Correct

The wheel bearing/hub is a single sealed unit, you just buy a new one and bolt it on.

Rockauto.com has a good price on the Timken unit bearings (hubs) which seem to be the preferred brand around here.
 
yessa thats it...they can be stubborn though. pound the anti seize to the new one where it seats in the knuckle and on the bolts. could replace the u joints while you are in there. but you might not need to.
 
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Believe it might depend on the year, but early 90s (90, 91, something like that, not sure) and up it's all single sealed unit. Weren't the early year hubs rebuildable? I forget.

As far as "just" take the old hub off... well let's just say you will want to have your 4lb hand sledge on hand. You'll need a 13mm 12-point socket to unscrew the bolts, and you'll want another one that you don't mind beating senseless with the hammer to push the old unit bearing out (unless you are junking the old bearings in which case you can simply beat on the wheel flange.) Don't beat on the heads of the bolts though because you'll never get the socket back on them if you do.
 
So the bearings are already in the hub? I'm just trying to figure this out, because my jeep has been sitting for 2 weeks due to bad wheel bearings and I don't want to drive it like that. I can take hubs off but i've never done wheel bearings and the people at the parts store said I have to have the bearings pressed. So i've been waiting for my buddy to get back from leave to help me out cause i didn't know what the hell it meant to have bearings pressed and i didn't want to try and do something i've never done. But if its only a matter of replacing the hub i could have done that last weekend.

and they gave $300 dollars in the wrong parts then
 
90 was the changeover to hub units. you can clean and repack the older style ones 84-89 i think. the newer 90+ are single unit pieces. find a new parts store if you have a 90+
 
Don't ever buy at parts stores unless you need it RIGHT NOW and are sure it's the right part... been burned that way before.

You can pick up the right parts (from one of the best brands out there) for about 200 on rockauto, as noted by John. They're under brake/wheel hub.
 
my jeep is an 89, but i told them the parts I wanted and they had the timken and it was cheaper then ordering them online, i doublechecked before I made the purchase
 
90 was the changeover to hub units. you can clean and repack the older style ones 84-89 i think. the newer 90+ are single unit pieces. find a new parts store if you have a 90+
No, they're all sealed units. There was a change in dimensions when they went from cast to composite rotors, which may explain parts book breaks, but the old ones were units too.

They're all theoretically rebuildable if you have a press and the right tooling. The bearings and seals can be gotten, though I don't know how easily. I think at least a few people here have done it, but I've never tried it.
 
I was gonna say... I'm running knuckles/hubs/brakes from an 89 and mine are sealed units.

Just put new ones on today too.
 
As far as "just" take the old hub off... well let's just say you will want to have your 4lb hand sledge on hand. You'll need a 13mm 12-point socket to unscrew the bolts, and you'll want another one that you don't mind beating senseless with the hammer to push the old unit bearing out (unless you are junking the old bearings in which case you can simply beat on the wheel flange.) Don't beat on the heads of the bolts though because you'll never get the socket back on them if you do.

Some good advice. The old units can be a bear for sure, so be sure to use antiseize on the new ones! Another note, you MUST torque the 36mm nut to 175 ftlbs! If you fail to do so you just wasted your money on new units!! Buy Timken!!
 
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