So I just had another set of uni's fail on my setup. I decided to try some SKF Uni's this time as I've heard they're a bit stronger.
For my swap, I'd ORDERED 2001 Uni's (Timken), but when I compared the Timken to the SKF, the SKF is 1/2" shorter. With the Timken uni, I needed to add a 1/8" washer between the knuckle and caliper to get the spacing correct for the 04 sporttrac rotor hat height. I've heard this is common, but that some guys need it and some don't.
The SKF being 1/2" shorter, meant that that 1/8" spacer was no longer necessary. In fact, with the shorter Uni, the rotor is actually almost too close to the TRE. I've got it installed but there's really only about 1/4 to 1/8" clearance, which I'm hoping won't result in the rotor melting the TRE boot.
Also, with the hat further in, the rotor JUST grazes the inside pad clips. It's so slight that I'm just going to run it and see how it goes. It looks like it's got less than 1 thousandth touching, so the clip should wear down. I COULD hammer the inside of the clip a little flatter, but wanted to see what happens.
But, just wanted to mention this. I've had 3 sets of Timken Uni's, all of which were supposed to be for an 01 XJ, but all of them seem to be no different than the uni's for a 98. I suspect that a lot of vendors (including rockauto) have the timkens listed for the wrong application, and the SKF is correct. Or it could be that the SKF is just shorter than it's supposed to be. Either way, the SKF unit is thicker in every direction, shorter (less leverage), and the hub comes all the way out to the wheel flange (the Timkens have a 1/2" gap). I believe the SKF actually locates the outer bearing immediately behind the wheel flange, which sure would help for strength.
Anyone else run into this though? Were all my Timkens just the wrong part?