I had my left front bearing fail at about 70k. Another whole hub replacement w/ABS sensor. FWIW- I went with the OEM hub/bearing that had Timkens for around $200. It was $40 more than the others but well worth it to me. Lots of feedback online from people who were frugal and back at it sooner than expected.
I’d also be interested to know how I could have neglected this sealed bearing assembly Mike. Perhaps you’re thinking of older, serviceable arrangements but that is not the norm today…
How do you "neglect" a sealed bearing?
Not ALL wheel bearings are sealed.
And even sealed bearings when driven in mud and water will fail before a bearing that isn’t. See it all the time with off-road trucks.
Goodshepard, I would agree except for two things;
(1) tapered roller bearings can be bought as sealed sets as readily as ball bearings. Visit the Timkin catalog and you’ll find hundreds of options.
(2) the Toyota design drawing specifically states that the roller bearing sare used for the low rolling resistance.
OK4450, I wholeheartedly agree. Every design embodies compromises, as does every engineering decision.
I guess the thing that really got to me was realizing that everything on the vehicles now is being designed to comply with fed requirements. The impact of overregulating is insideous.
My sincerest thanks to everyone who responded, and I also appreciate your tolerance with my ranting. I’ll let this thread go so we can focus on helping people with real problems, but I feel better having expressed my frustrations. Here goes another Saturday. There go my beach plans.
And even sealed bearings when driven in mud and water will fail before a bearing that isn’t. See it all the time with off-road trucks.
I don’t know where you made this connection but off-roading is more about extreme side loading and jarring of the bearing than immersion in water or mud. I have trucks that launch boats constantly in fresh, salt and marshy conditions without ever killing a bearing. 4 wheeling is far tougher and need replacement more frequently on my Jeep.
In my '88 Escort (518K) miles I’ve had to replace the sealed front bearings (roller) twice I think and have replaced the serviceable tapered rear roller bearings once. Front bearings lasted between 200-250K miles. I also usually use Timken replacements. Sometimes premature failure is caused by the person who pressed the bearing if it’s not done right.