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Timken bearing, bad?

iwannadie

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Gilbert, Az
I put a new timken hub bearing on my front pass. side a couple months back and pulled it off today(to put in new shafts) and its leaking (green)grease. There was a bit on the shaft side of it, looks like a seal let go? Ive had vibrations in the steering wheel for a couple days, only when braking and only when going 10-20mph or so. Not sure if this bearing could be the cause of that problem. It spins by hand nice and smooth no real noticeable problem.

How hard is timken to work with on replacing something like this. I ordered through rockauto because it was half the price as local parts stores ha.
 
When you do replace them, be sure to torque the spindle nut to 175 ft.lbs. or the unit bearings (I'm assuming you have unit bearing hubs) may separate and leak and/or fail.
 
sflier said:
When you do replace them, be sure to torque the spindle nut to 175 ft.lbs. or the unit bearings (I'm assuming you have unit bearing hubs) may separate and leak and/or fail.

Yea I torqued them down to spec.
 
About a year or two ago a friend of mine replaced his hub on his 99 with a new timken bearing. Two weeks later when we went to take it off, the thing was toast!! It was torqued properly and everything.

Probably a bad bearing. Return it now before the warranty runs out!!
 
mjma said:
About a year or two ago a friend of mine replaced his hub on his 99 with a new timken bearing. Two weeks later when we went to take it off, the thing was toast!! It was torqued properly and everything.

Probably a bad bearing. Return it now before the warranty runs out!!

I just emailed rockauto.com about it, well see how well they are with warranty coverage I guess. I hated to order a part like this online but all the local shops were literally twice the price!

It sucks, the hub didnt seem weak or anything and it spins just fine. Its just leaking grease so its only a matter of time before its toast I guess.
 
Amazing timing, I just ordered two Timken's from rockauto yesterday... Well I guess I'll see how it goes
 
TunaSoda said:
Amazing timing, I just ordered two Timken's from rockauto yesterday... Well I guess I'll see how it goes

Lol, Ive had no problems with rockauto before but Ive also never had a bad part before. Ill keep things updated I guess, Im dreading the shipping now because those things are heavy. Im betting Ill have to pay shipping both ways, I hope they send me a new one first so Im not stuck with no jeep.
 
Wow, rockauto just replied. They are giving me the option of ordering(paying for) a new bearing then when I have the old one off setting up the return/refund. Or, I can take it off now and as soon as they have a valid tracking number they will ship the new one.

Pretty fast straight forward service sofar.
 
I was just looking at another thread, with a somewhat related problem. When is the last time you did the u-joints? I've done the same as you, replacing the hubs, only to have the problem continue. Later on I come to find out the axle joints are going. The beefy, greaseable, expensive jobs, with not too many miles on them. Replace them, and like magic, problem solved! Not saying this is your problem, but well worth a look....Ray
 
Rock auto's prices and customer service are top notch. Can't say enough good things about them. They're definitely not your problem!!!


My buddy had bought the timken bearing (can't get any better than timken, right?) from a local auto parts place in millbury, MA....it's not the place, it's just that sometimes parts fail before they're supposed to....even really expensive good ones.

This issue was on a totally stock 99 XJ. The Ujoints were perfect. The carrier bearings were going.....maybe they're what caused the bearing to fail so quickly??????? They had some bad carrier bearings in 99, it's a somewhat common problem. The thing was never wheeled or anything....4wheel drive occasionally used for the hilly dirt road he lived on....but he never wheeled it by any means. We just threw a new D30 in there rather than deal with carrier bearings and he's had no problems since. Now that I'm thinking about it.....maybe it coulda been the bad carrier bearings (which were causing a bad shake in the front end, even with the DS removed) that made the hub fail so quickly?????
 
heyhar said:
I was just looking at another thread, with a somewhat related problem. When is the last time you did the u-joints? I've done the same as you, replacing the hubs, only to have the problem continue. Later on I come to find out the axle joints are going. The beefy, greaseable, expensive jobs, with not too many miles on them. Replace them, and like magic, problem solved! Not saying this is your problem, but well worth a look....Ray

Im starting to think it was the ujoint as well.

My full story with these hubs is this. I went to replace my ujoints 2 months ago, ran into problems with the ears bending. At that point I decided just to go all out and get alloy USA shafts. I had to buy quick replacement used shafts with ujoints already in them just to be able to get to work. The original passenger side hub split apart when I was removing it, which is why I bought the timkens.

I put a new timken and a used shaft/ujoint assemble on the passenger side to hold me over until I got my alloy USA shafts in. The alloys were back ordered for 2 months so I finally got the shafts. Thats when I noticed the timken was leaking grease.

Could the used shaft assemble had a bad ujoint and caused the timken to fail? The joint feels smooth to me but I cant be positive its good. I hope my torque wrench isnt giving me false readings causing the timken to fail. Ive never had a problem with the torque wrench before. I put the tires back on the jeep with out the rim center caps so I can torque them down.
 
WHat are you torquing the axle nut too? From memory, I believe it's 140 ft-lbs or reallydanggoodandtite. It's almost impossible to overtighten. I've seen a few people do the snug-it-and-backoff-quarter-turn and then wonder why it nukes itself within a month.
 
lawsoncl said:
WHat are you torquing the axle nut too? From memory, I believe it's 140 ft-lbs or reallydanggoodandtite. It's almost impossible to overtighten. I've seen a few people do the snug-it-and-backoff-quarter-turn and then wonder why it nukes itself within a month.

Whatever the spec on alldata and whatever Ive seen on this and other forums. Something like 220nm / 170ft lb I have it wrote down in the garage, its on there Dam tight I know that.

I tried having someone step on the brakes to keep it from turning but it still slips a little. So, I just throw the tire on now to do them seems to be the only way to keep it from turning.
 
Axle nut = 175fp
Bearing hub = 75fp
Calipers = 12~20ip

As far as I remember :)
 
TunaSoda said:
Axle nut = 175fp
Bearing hub = 75fp
Calipers = 12~20ip

As far as I remember :)

From what Ive seen on alldata and from a service manual the caliper mounting bolts are 15nm / 11ft lb. Not sure that that is in inch pound but its gotta be more than 12?
 
TunaSoda said:
Amazing timing, I just ordered two Timken's from rockauto yesterday... Well I guess I'll see how it goes

me too.
 
iwannadie said:
From what Ive seen on alldata and from a service manual the caliper mounting bolts are 15nm / 11ft lb. Not sure that that is in inch pound but its gotta be more than 12?
I seem to remember 12 feeling much too loose, I think I have mine at like 20/23 (then again my caliper bolts are now re-tapped with coils)
 
Well, the bearing hubs are installed (did it yesterday) we'll see how they are, now I need to get it aligned!
The old bearing hubs I believe were the original (1992) ones!
I was basically riding on metal sleeves...
 
Just an update because I forgot lol.

Rockauto shipped a new one and I got it thursday and the old one will go out today. Sucks on shipping, they charged me 7 bucks I think to ship the new one and will refund that. However, to ship the old one back to them it looks like its going to cost me double at least.

Still worth the price, rockauto email and phone service guys were great to deal with and very quick to respond.

Ill try to get a pic of the old bearing before I ship it back.
 
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