Rear wheel bearing replacement 2007 Tundra Limited

Good morning everyone,

We picked up on this noisy (driver side) rear wheel bearing during pre-buy inspection. My local (mobile) mechanic is currently planning to remove the axle and send it out (I presume but not sure that it would make most sense to replace the right side bearing @ same time).

In other threads, I picked up on the idea of installing a complete hub/bearing assembly - not sure if I am using the accurate description here. But I am wondering if this would enable bearing replacement to be a bolt-on operation instead of needing to detach the axle?

If this is feasible, it might also make sense to just replace the one bearing that has an issue for now, and wait for any indications from the remaining rear bearing. The truck has 207K on it and is in good shape. is that a good strategy?

I have reached out to bluepitbearings (also picked up reference to them in other posts), to see if my understanding is on point, or not.

 

The bearing is on the axle shaft. Have to pull the shaft to replace the bearing. You wanna go OEM or equivalent on the bearing. Non-OEM are generally trash and fail early. They do sell new axle shafts with bearing already pressed on to them. Again, if you buy a non-OEM axle shaft and bearing, expect it to fail early. Expect the shaft to be of lower quality. Expect the lugs and hub to be of lower quality spec. Best course is to keep your factory axle and have a new OEM or equivalent (made by the original supplier) bearing pressed on by someone who knows what they are doing. Improper installation can lead to axle seal leaks and premature failure.

 

Thanks much for this Knabores. I also heard back from Andy at BluePitBearings, and I'm going to post it here - seems to have affirming information with some good $ details....

"I would only use a KOYO OEM bearing and OEM seals and o-rings, etc.
You can buy a KOYO OEM bearing from various vendors, partsgeek.com, NAPA, and other auto parts stores cheaper than from the dealership,BUT get the OEM seals,o-rings, etc. from the dealership. Below shows partsgeek.com sells the left rear KOYO OEM wheel bearing for only
$116.97.
They are out of stock on the Genuine brand of left rear axle/bearing assembly which SHOULD be all OEM unless they changed it.
I’ve included a photo that shows you Dorman sells the complete assembly as one unit…I just included this photo to show you how it is pressed onto the axle. I would NOT recommend using this assembly because the Dorman BEARINGS ARE JUNK.
Hope this helps."

 

I wouldn't use the dorman unless I was desperate.

The labor to do both is completely seperate except going to the machine shop once instead of twice. But it is significantly more labor than doing a front bearing and not something you can change on the side of the road or in a small town which is why the dorman axle shaft exists. If you plan on keeping the truck for a long time and are often driving in rural areas away from home it would probably be a good idea to do both and be one less potential problem to worry about.

 

Koyo was the OEM supplier for the front wheel bearings on the FGTs as well.

 

Both bearings it is (and it fits with my intuition on this) - thank you both.