Front wheel bearings

Has anyone in here ever replaced the front wheel bearings on their truck? If so I have a couple of questions. I'm seeing a range of difficulties, depending on where you get the parts from. Complete pressed bearing assemblies look way easier to install, albeit being more expensive.

Cost through Camelback Toyota is 169 a piece for the assembly, but I don't know if that comes pre-assembled or not.

If anyone has a good source, please send it my way.

 

Pre-Assembled will just bolt on. If you buy it in pieces it will need to be pressed together before bolting to the spindle.

 

I figured that the pre-assembled would just bolt on, but I'm having trouble finding a reliable source that isn't Rock Auto or Autozone for a good quality part.

 

169 sounds like a win for oem. Walk it in to any mechanic or fab shop and they'll press it together for you cheap. Or buy a harbor freight press and pucker up for some fun. If you were local I'd press it for free and give a helping hand.

 

Just heard back from Camelback Toyota. The assembly is not assembled. I would have to find a local fab shop to press it together.

 

Hold up, first gens do not have any pre assembled units available. That option unfortunately seems to be available for every Toyota model except the first gen Tundra/Sequoia.

The design is unique. The bearing is pressed directly into the spindle, then the hub unit is pressed into the bearing, with or without the ABS ring. There are also seals on both sides.

I have had this problem for over a year, I have not found any DIY tutorials that I would follow. This is something where I am going to buy parts from Toyota and remove the spindles, then walk them in to a shop to have the pressing done.

I checked with 2 different Toyota dealerships out of desperation, they won't touch my truck because I have aftermarket suspension, and they wont allow me to bring in spindles alone. One of them admitted that when they do the job they just pull the spindles and farm the press work out.

If your truck is relatively stock you can go to Toyota and pay a pretty penny, but it's not something that will fail again for a long time. As far as DIY, if you have a really good press and the jig to prop the spindle on you could try it. I have read stories of guys trying to do this with a 20 ton press and failing.

Curious, how do you know your bearings are the problem? Have you removed your brakes and spun the hub? That's is how I confirmed mine were bad.

 

Best bet is let a shop do the whole deal for you. Something goes wrong and they fix it again versus you buying all these parts and tools and not getting it right. In the end, you’ll spend a little more having a shop do it with piece of mind which is priceless.

 

I know, I just hate paying shop rate plus parts. I was hoping to find the preassembled assembly, and just be able to do it in my garage myself, and only have to buy the large socket to remove the nut.

 

You can hear the wha wha wha that changes with speed, and if you make an abrupt right/left corner, it'll go away momentarily (indicative of a wheel bearing gone bad). The truck has 217k on it, with stock/worn out suspension. I'm slowly replacing everything in the front end. I've done tie rods, upper and lower ball joints already. The upper and lower control arm bushings are shot as well.

 

I hear ya. Just like when I was researching doing all my front end work and I started adding up all the parts (I mean ALL the parts) and they really add up! It was like $1600 in parts. I could have taken 2 days and done it myself, but end up paying a shop $1700 labor. For me it was a no brainer because I didn’t have all the specialized tools.

Now on the other hand, doing valve cover gaskets and fluid changes are easy and something that is low risk. No specialized tools needed just some fortitude.

 

An option I explored was finding a good low mile pair of used spindles. Unfortunately where I live the 03 rwd with abs is very elusive at junkyards.

Considered going with the 04-06 version but that means buying lower arms as well, at that point I'm just in Frankenstein land and spending $600 vs $350+/- but that's potentially a stronger lower ball joint.

 

Yeah. I'm a broke college student so forking out money for parts + labor on things I feel I can do myself makes me cringe.

 

Necessity is the mother of invention.

 

Yup, we are in the same boat and about the same mileage. Mine comes and goes when cornering, really hoped it was a bent dust shield or something dumb. I'm doing a full in refreshment on my front end, everything is getting renewed this time around.

 

However this works out I hope you guys take pics and post them. I’m right behind you on the mileage at 158k. If you make it look easy I just may DIY!

 

Called my local Toyota dealer today. 430 bones alone in labor. at 110 bucks an hour in shop rate...right at 4 hours. OUCH. I'm calling the other shop I do business with on Monday. Their main guy was out of the shop today and the other guy was busier'n a one legged man in a ass-kicking contest.

 

So you are looking at a total of $1100 parts and labor. Labor sounds about right for my area regardless of stealership or corner service shop. Thanks for the update.

 

I wont pay for parts through the dealership. I'll buy them through Camelback Toyota for half the cost. All-in-all about 800.

 

Sweet. You have a link to this Camelback?

 

yep sure do. Sorry, been swamped doing stuff all weekend.

https://parts.camelbacktoyota.com/partlocator/index.cfm?siteid=214329

 

Hello, I know this thread is old, but I’ve got less miles and only now am I experiencing these issues, 160k and the bearings are starting to go, I’ve ordered parts from Toyota can anyone confirm the parts needed? All I got was snap ring and bearing for each side, from repairs I’ve watched people say the whole hub needs replaced as well, any one had this repair done in this thread?

 

Parts can be unique to years and/or drivetrain. You should probably look up your specific part. Use the first 3 bullet points here: https://www.tundras.com/threads/howto-use-the-toyota-parts-system-to-find-order-parts.113808/

Your wheel bearing should be under "Transmission and chassis", then under "Front axle hub" from there.

It looks like the OEM wheel bearings for my '06 are running around $100/ea, I'm pretty sure KOYO was the OEM supplier. If you buy the KOYO equivalent part (which should be identical or near-identical), looks like you can save about 40-60% simply by not ordering it from Toyota directly.

Whatever you do, avoid buying auto parts on Amazon or eBay, or any other site that has zero control over their supply chain, and has zero accountability if you receive a fake part. Those are the outlets counterfeiters typically use to peddle their knockoffs, and those sites are rampant for it.

RockAuto.com , www.SummitRacing.com and www.YotaShop.com are typically safe bets.

 

You would only need to replace the hub if the bearing splits on removal. You might get lucky.

 

Thanks @shifty` I have the parts now I ordered from camel back, hoping to get them In before winter, and thanks @mthoodbill for the heads up, I might purchase the hub just in case.

 

When I did my wheel bearings, I replaced the bearings, snap rings, and the seals. My hubs were fine, one of my bearings did split, but it didn't stick to the hub. Doesn't hurt to have some on hand though.

 

Same, hubs were fine