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hub bearings shot?

XJTJYJ

NAXJA Forum User
Location
OHIO
I have a 2000 XJ (stock) that might have bad bearings in the front hub. How can I check for that?

Is it pretty common for these to go out? I have severa; Jeeps and never replaced a hub.
 
had to do mine on my 93 this fall, small vibs in steering wheel, until brakes are applied, if you jack up the wheel and grab the wheel top and bottom and shake there is play, there should be no play at all, tire wear will be excessive also. Not a cheap fix but should last a long time.
 
Just did mine a week and a half ago. It's an easy fix, I got mine though NAPA and used my buddies Carmax discount, got them for $150 a piece. Remove wheel, rotor/caliper, 36mm axle nut, and then it's 3-13mm(?) bolts that require a 12 sided socket. Mine came with new lug bolts too.
 
XJTJYJ said:
I have a 2000 XJ (stock) that might have bad bearings in the front hub. How can I check for that?

Is it pretty common for these to go out? I have severa; Jeeps and never replaced a hub.

On mine I have a rotational high pitch squeak that occurs when turning right or going strait. It is gone if breaks are applied. Got it looked at by a guy I know that works at the local Jeep dealership on his off time and it was the Hub Bearing. I asked him if it was common and he said not really on XJ's. More so on Grand Cherokees.
 
12 point 13mm for the 3 bolts on the backside.

36mm for the big nut that holds the axleshaft to the hub.

I've had 3 go out. I replace mine with junkyard units so no wonder they don't last as long.
 
Would bad hubs make a growling sound? It seems like it is only coming from the drivers side. Similar to having large mudders on but they are regular street tires.
 
tkjeeper said:
had to do mine on my 93 this fall, small vibs in steering wheel, until brakes are applied, if you jack up the wheel and grab the wheel top and bottom and shake there is play, there should be no play at all, tire wear will be excessive also. Not a cheap fix but should last a long time.

could also mean your ball joints are going out...

yes, growling...check your U-joints too!
 
if you've got a "growling" sound, you should be able to jack it up and hear/feel
the bad bearing when turning the wheel. Assuming you can, I'd pull the shaft and change the U-joint while it's apart and if it's only one side, I'd plan to do the other side in the very near future. I'm not a big fan of doing anything to one wheel unless I do it to both-- tires are just as expensive as bearings and you can end up paying for the bearing twice if you wear out two tires.

--Shorty
 
I am thinking that this must be my problem. I hear a high pitched "squeak" sometime when pulling out of parking spot. Seems to happen when turning at slow speeds as well. On the highway, although at first I thought it was my MTs, I hear a waarw... waarw... waarw... that is speed-based. Sounds like a heavy tred tire, but it happens on snow as well... I wouldn't expect my tires to make sound on the snow like that. Bearings? I think a buddy mentioned a year ago that my passenger side might need a fix a few months down the way. Obviously its more than a few months, but problem has only developed recently.

Bearings?
 
Squeaks could just be brake pad noise.

The last bad hub I heard was on a RHD Cherokee rural delivery - it really groaned under braking, but not on accel. Didn't vibrate or anything else. It was a mid '90's with lots of hard rural stop and go.
 
when my hub was going it did grumble or groan a little bit. I have mudders but they sounded alot louder than usual. Jacked up the wheel there was play changed the hub and it was night and day. Also if you do the hub clean the contact area up real good and put anti-seeze where the hub hits the knuckle. You will be happy if you ever have to take it off for anthing again. When I pulled the hub off the second time for axle seals I almost fell over backwards because I gave it a good tug and it came right off
 
I lucked out and found one on ebay (new) for $38 delivered, then three days later found another for for $43 +$8 S&H. My wife wishes I would stay away from ebay, when I see deals like that I just have to get them....lol
 
I replaced the hub today. Breaks were checked last week. 90% pad, clear rotors. After removing hub, bearings were making grinding noise. After replacing put some miles on it and sound is gone. 100% difference. It no longer sounds like I'm driving around with bias boggers.
 
Might be too little too late, but go to www.partstrain.com I just saw hubs for $92 each for 2000-2001
 
FYI. When you get these, the lug bolts - being new - will stretch a little bit. So after driving 25 miles or so on them take a minute to give another twist with the tire iron. Napa was 165.00 here in Muskegon, MI with a (I think) one year warrenty. Might be longer. Great quality... easy fix with a hammer, 12* 13mm, 36mm. If you, by chance, slide your axle out while removing, it might be a good time to check your u-joints there as well as the general condition of the axle. When replacing, be sure to coat splines with some oil to protect during re-install. blah blah
 
how long for an experienced shadetree to do this? I got a quote for $800 on my '01 XJ. I need to make a run to NJ sometime in the next week and don't want to put miles on it before doing the front bearings.
 
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