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Hub Bearing Bad Again

wac1977

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Summerville, SC
Hello all. I have a '88 XJ and it seems to like to eat hub bearings on the drivers side. I replaced the first bad one with one from Advance(I know I hate them too but they were the only one that had two in stock and I wanted to change them both at the same time) and it lasted about three weeks. The other side was fine but I bought two more off ebay with lifetime warranties because I didn't trust what I already had. Now this new one is shot as well. I have only put 14k miles on this jeep in the past 3.5 years with very little off road time. I was running 31x10.50 Bridgestone Revo's the entire time. What I want to know is if there could be something wrong with the axle, knuckle or something. I want to switch to a newer front axel but the funds just aren't there right now. Any and all help would be great. Thanks in advance.
 
Try Torquing the hub down to 175 then back it off and torque to 150. I've seen more than a few where the bearing depth was off and if you single torque it and leave it, the bearings have a heavy side load, which will cause them to wear quick.
You also have to check the inner seal and the race. Pretty primitive setup and easy to get the depth wrong. Kind of a trial and error type thing unless you have the special tool to get the seal race at just the right spot.
I always fill most of the open/air space in the hub with grease. More of a why not type thing, if water does get in there, less likelihood it will attack the bearings and if the bearing seals do shift or leak for whatever reason, you have grease flowing into the bearings from the outside as well as grease flowing out of the bearings. Packing them with grease can cause a rather large mess if your inner seals aren't good.
 
You can buy Timken hubs online at Rock Auto (I think) for around $80 each.

I bought some "Falcon Steering" brand hubs at a local shop for $80 each. Have a year warranty.

Already went through two and warrantied them.

The place was REALLY reluctant to warranty them because they were blaming me that I switched the hubs with AutoZone hubs and such and then were saying the product probably wasn't defective and it was either me putting them in a harsh environment or something was wrong on my vehicle with larger tires and offset wheels.

Made me think alot less of this smaller type auto parts store. Although they tried to blame me with crap before. Bought a universal joint for my axleshaft once. Get home, notice that some of the needle bearings in one of the caps were broken from an apparent attempted installation and obvious return and restock. They were blaming me that I tried to press it in and damaged it myself, even though I came right back with my Jeep in about 15 minutes time...

end rant lol
 
I tried to contact the company I bought the bearing from and they changed seller names although I can search their ID history and it links thier new name with the old name that is on my reciept. They say they were never the old company. Oh well, that is how my luck goes. I guess I will be putting on my last spare and hoping that it holds until I can find another axle.
 
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