Replace wheel bearing or whole hub??
 

Last time I had my truck (2000 F350 V10 4x4) truck in the shop they told me I had bad wheel bearing on the front. Should I have the whole hub replaced or just the wheel bearing? The truck has 126,000 miles and never had any work done on the front end.

While the truck is in the shop should I also have them replace either the other side wheel bearing or entire hub also?

While looking online at hub assy. I have noticed them listed in both course threads as well as fine threads.....Is there anyway to know short of removing one of the bolts??

I have contimplated doing this myself, just not sure? Thanks for the advise.

These trucks use unit bearings. When there shot there shot and you replace the entire housed unit. They would last a lot longer if a grease fitting would be put in the right spot on the unit for easy greasing.

Heres a cutaway of what they look like. (Unit with ABS)
http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/m...50enlarged.jpg

How to replace them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c69G2t9u7ak

Thanks for the info. Does anyone have any experience with the hub assy. on ebay? You can get a pair of them shipped for less than one hub from the local Napa??
The video was very informative, but how difficult would it be to remove the brake rotor, they seem to just make that disssapear on the video. Thanks for the help.

Whoops forgot to ask how to tell iof I need the course threaded unit or fine thread?

Got a link to the Ebay hubs. Honestly for the most part I'm a believer in "You Get What You Pay For" and if I was replacing the unit they would be Timken units.

You remove the caliper and rotor slides off, well sometimes it rusts fast but it comes off. (Several vids on Youtube)

Don't know about what threads you need.

I would recommend you do this yourself it's not that hard to do and the money you save is well worth the effort! Buy the hubs from a local auto parts store NAPA, O'Reilly Advance whichever you prefer. You will need the "COARSE" threads for yours. There are some that recommend replacing both hubs at the same time and others have done just the side that is bad. I myself did only one side when mine went out.

Here is the unit I was looking at. Comments?

99 00 FORD F350 SUPER DUTY FRONT WHEEL BEARING HUB NEW:eBay Motors (item 350210182424 end time Dec-31-09 10:09:01 PST)

That is a dirt cheap price! I paid $243 for one hub from NAPA. It doesn't look any different other than it appears to be a unit without the ABS sensor, does yours have ABS? I am sure some others who may have bought hubs off E-bay will chime in sooner or later and be able to give you an opinion of the quality of some of their more OEM specific parts.

As far as I can tell mine does not have any ABS wiring in the front, just a brake line.

From my looking around it appears that many dealers may use the same stock photos. They state that they meet OEM standards, but does that really mean a whole lot? I also saw the parts made by United, Powertrain Components, Precision, API, etc.?

Anyone used these brands?

I think it's hillarious that he's telling you how dangerous it is to use wheel spacers and the whole time that truck's up on just the jack and no jack stand, blocks, not even putting the removed tire under the front end or anything.....

I've been thinking of how convenient it would be to have the same rims and tires on a trailer as on the truck. The convenience of sparing and the loading capabilities on the hubs, rims, and tires make it pretty attractive. If I were converting a trailer axle to a Superduty lug pattern, I would consider these hubs, as the price is right.

But not for my truck. Genuine Timkens are all that I'd consider. There are too many little metallurgical and finish details that the Chinese may not take into consideration that would allow them to be true equivalent replacements.

However, now that I grease my bearings once a year, I may never have to replace the hubs again, but only take them off every 60,000 miles to service the needle bearings.

We'll see.....

Pop

I bought SKS hubs off Ebay, made in USA, no problems, and with the ABS unit you can indeed grease the wheel bearings. For those without ABS I'm not sure.

I had one of my front abs sensors go, and for the price of one of them from ford I replaced both wheel hubs for less than that. (the new hubs came with sensors) I also purchased off ebay, and have had no problems so far, but have less than 5000 miles on them since replacement. I even kept my original hubs as backup in case, because they are still good, just figured for the price and peace of mind why not just replace all with new.
The course threads were up until the late 02/ early 03. I used the write up in here Welcome to guzzle's 4x4 Needle Bearing Maintenance Web Page for the work. He even has the part #'s for the bolts that you may want to replace. Probably just over few hours work, and that is if you are a rookie.

<input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden">

I am with dkf on quality of parts.

I just when through this with my 2002 Blazer. It has the all or nothing hub unit too. One side was more than expensive than a total front end brake job had it had the replaceable bearings as was the case pre 1997.

Prices were all over the board for the same unit even. O'Reilly was $210 each for the high end National units. Advanced Auto Parts had the same unit for $158. O'Reilly did call and confirm the $158 price and matched it. Advanced had just sold the two they keep in inventory but found the high end version in Timkem brand at Auto Zone at the $158 price so I could it it off of the jack stands.

One had thrown grease and been hot. The other one was making all of the noise it seemed after the fact.

Replace both at the same time unless you are selling it tomorrow. :)

My bother had the hub assembly fail on a Volvo tractor at 400K miles last week. The road service guy told him Volvo states as PM to replace them at 350K miles. The company could have got both sides done for the price of one had they followed the Volvo PM schedule.

By the way every store had a cheap line too (like on E-Bay) but they had plastic grease seals and actually looked cheap side by side. Not sure about the price for your Ford but do shop. I saved $100 on the two by walking across the street for the very same brand/quality hub.

I did get new rotors and it was a good thing because I could not beat off the old ones with the hubs pulled off. I reused the ceramic pads since they were less than half way down according to a new Wagner set and the wear grove marker on them after 60K miles plus they do not dust the wheels.

It is so nice to be able to talk going down the road without the roar now and the little pat when braking is all gone.

I do not need the ABS units, but for a few extra bucks maybe it woudl be worth it if I can grease the bearings......Do they have a grease point?