Less then two years ago I replaced the front right wheel bearing on my 96 SC400. I replaced it with a Koyo bearing, which was recommended on here. Now less then two years later that bearing is shot... It cost $200 to install, and the bearing was $40, but now I don't know what to do. Two years is bad, considering I've only done 14,000 miles on it and the original lasted 140,000.... What could cause a bearing to go prematurely like this? Should I order OEM? Originally I thought it was my tires making the noise because at speed when I turned slightly to the right I would hear the noise, and the tires had a ton of dry rot. So I got new tires, and was disappointed when I had the same problem. Any other brand I should go for?

 

I use Timken in the race car, but really for a street car just about any manufacturer should last longer than what it did for you. For the race car I have had to pack them twice in the last year which is a big job to pull the spindles and press the stub out, but it sees tremendous heat in race service so you shouldn't see anything like we have.

There are a lot of variables with these things, could have been put together improperly. It is really helpful to heat the inner races to put them on, it could be they just pounded it on? It could have been they only used the grease that is shipped with the bearings which is not a good plan. This is my guess on what happened to you. I clean out the supplied grease and pack it with a good synthetic. If you pay somebody to do it again, talk to them about the grease they use and how they pack/assemble the bearing.

Ironic this comes up today, I just spent today going through the front bearings again while I was putting new shocks on. I did not like what I saw with the Redline grease they were packed with last fall, only had one race on them. I had a friend that was at the Honda Indy Grand Prix this weekend so I asked him to see if any of the IMSA teams in the paddock would share what grease they use. Most replies were Neo HPCC 1 with a few using Liqui Moly LM47 and one or two said Swepco moly. The Liqui Moly has a pretty low temp range so I'll stay away from that, ordered a container of the Neo HPCC1 off of Amazon today. And many of the people he talked to added Redline was not so good in race service. But I digress.....

 

Well I had Meinike do it, and they did say they had a really hard time with it. I remember dropping it off in the morning, them saying it'd be done by noon, and them calling at 5:30 pm to let me know it was done right before they closed. I don't really trust any other mechanics in the area unfortunately. I used to do everything myself, just don't have time anymore, and I've only done bearings on my motorcycle. I guess I'll go for a timken this time around. I imagine Meinike used some terribly cheap grease. I used Lucas X-Tra Heavy Duty grease on my bike bearings, and it's rated very highly. Not sure if that would work for your scenario, but you might want to give them a check. I use Redline oil in my bike, and I get 8K out of it. When I drain it, it still looks very clean.

Anyway this is the Lucas grease I have, maybe I should bring it to Meinike if I have them do the next bearing.

 

when i did my front wheel bearings i went and bought a press from harbor freight, that's how little i trust shops haha.. did both of mine a year ago when one started making noise, there is even a how to video on youtube for a gs300 which is almost the same as ours as far as the front bearing setup goes.

 

I'm not familiar with wheel bearings/hubs etc... so I have a question.

Rockauto has a DuraGo Hub, Bearing, Retaining Ring, Axle Nut, and Seal for $42. Wouldn't it be better to just buy this, and toss the old hub/bearing out? And couldn't I save a bit on labor by just bringing these parts to a shop, and having the new bearing packed/pressed in versus dropping my car off and having them do everything? Or is reinstalling the hub with the new bearing a ***** too? I'm looking at the warranty, 12 months.... The original toyota part lasted nearly 20 years...

 

I would have to have a reason to give up the factory hub and put what is probably a lesser quality part on. Now if there was something wrong with the hub, I would go with the Rockauto replacement. And yes, I would think it would save you money to take the spindle assembly to them, but understand that is a pretty good job just to get them off. You would need to buy or rent a ball joint tool to get them off.