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Front bearing hub life

I changed mine at 110k as they started getting noisy. Still felt tight, but started growling at me.

F.A.G. are great hubs/bearings (factory original manufacturer)
Timkens are also good. I'd avoid most others and stick to either of those.
 
I just changed mine at 169k. Got them from O'riellys. There house brand is made by Timken just packaged differently.
 
I've got roughly 320K on my OEMs. I'm afraid to replace them since I doubt I can get new ones that are as good as the ones that are in there.
 
JrTxJ said:
I changed mine at 110k as they started getting noisy. Still felt tight, but started growling at me.

F.A.G. are great hubs/bearings (factory original manufacturer)
Timkens are also good. I'd avoid most others and stick to either of those.
Click to expand...

AJPulley said:
Yes, I am aware of FAG, and the various quality brands. Thank you however.
Click to expand...


-edit - sorry, read the post too fast (obviously!)

that's a pretty darn good run on your originals!! I see people with anywhere between 110-180k on average.
 
Depends entirely on if you keep the factory wheels, take it off-road alot, how much lift you have, sway-bars or no sway-bars. Lots of factors. Mine only last me about 1 yr/20k, just enough time to still warranty them. That reminds me I think I need new ones again.
 
I have about 150k on my '99 XJ they are the OEM's. But I totally agree with philagony, just depends on what you do with your jeep... If you mud it or otherwise allow excess gunk to be able to get to them then I would change them. Not to scare anyone, but a buddy's XJ killed him about 7 months ago. He mudded the poor thing (very frequently) and never changed the bearings or washed it much... the drivers side seized up going down the highway at 55+ miles per hour... you can imagine what took place next. Like I said i'm not out to scare anyone or what have you, but its good to change them if its frequently in a lot of mud.. Otherwise, they last a good long while. like I said 150k miles on mine and they are the OEM's
 
my 96 finally blew through its OEM unit bearings at around 140k.

MJ stock 2wd unit bearings were going strong at 215 or so when I swapped in a 4wd axle.

98 stock unit bearings still going strong at 200k...

99_XJ_ - is it certain that it was the unit bearing? I would suspect more that a U-joint would fail suddenly and blow the balljoints out than I would expect a unit bearing to suddenly seize completely.
 
FWIW, I suspect that one of the biggest problems with short front hub life is not enough preload on the bearing. I don't know that you could overtorque that axle nut, at least not until you're using a 4' cheater bar.
 
175 ft-lbs is the spec.

I'm sure I could put at least 400 on it with a 2 foot breaker bar... as I've hit the torque spec on a d30 hub nut with one arm on a good long torque wrench before. Overtorquing them wears them out as well, probably a bit slower than undertorquing.
 
kastein said:
175 ft-lbs is the spec.

I'm sure I could put at least 400 on it with a 2 foot breaker bar... as I've hit the torque spec on a d30 hub nut with one arm on a good long torque wrench before. Overtorquing them wears them out as well, probably a bit slower than undertorquing.
Click to expand...

I torque them to 200 ft lbs. The extra preload keeps them from dying rapidly with ginormous tires and little backspace.
 
When I changed the front axle u-joints last month, I noticed that the right and left had significantly different stiffness (they were both fairly stiff to turn with the wheel off, but one of them a lot more so.) They seem smooth and no noise, just stiff.

Is this typical or a sign of overtoquing?

They were on this 96 when I got it last year and I have not needed to remove the axle nut for anything.

I changed the ones on my 92 only twice in its life and I ran it from new to 780,000 KMs (almost 500,000 miles.) I don't recall what they felt like though, that was over 10 years ago.
 
My right side chewed up the bearings at ~190k miles. I got a Timken. Left side is still fine at 235k

This is an 87 and the hubs spent more time underwater than is probably recommended. :D
 
Kastien- Nah she seized pretty good.. I looked at the wreckage myself.. U-joints weren't to blame.. for curiosity sake i checked the caliper too.. Like I said he put it to the test, everything under there was caked in mud. To be honest i don't know if he ever washed it other than the mud off the paint..
 
kastein said:
175 ft-lbs is the spec.

I'm sure I could put at least 400 on it with a 2 foot breaker bar... as I've hit the torque spec on a d30 hub nut with one arm on a good long torque wrench before. Overtorquing them wears them out as well, probably a bit slower than undertorquing.
Click to expand...


I'm not sure you can over-torque them. Like that D30 nut, the torque spec is the minimum to make sure everything stays pulled up tight and the nut doesn't work itself l+oose. I have needed a 4-ft cheater bar to break some of them loose though. I've seen some mechanics make the mistake of treating that bolt like a typical front wheel bearing where you torque the nut to 100-lbs and then back off 1/4 turn. That will destroy the unit bearing pretty quickly.
 
I DRIVE A 99 AND I AM CHANGING MINE THIS WEEKEND. 139,000 MILES. I THINK A LOT OF PEOPLE DRIVE ON HUBS THAT ARE NOT IN THE BEST CONDITION FOR MANY MILES. I READ THAT THEY TYPICALLY SHOULD GET BETWEEN 110,000 - 140,000 MILE LIFESPAN.
 
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