Just did both unit bearings this weekend and it dawned on me that no one has ever charged me for a core on these things.
Has anyone ever had a core charge for them?
Seems like a lot of nice machined parts that someone would want back.
Am I crazy for thinking this?

 

There's no core, they don't rebuild them, i kept one for the studs.

 

Nope no core - a few guys have taken the old ones apart trying to come up with a rebuild scheme for them but as far as I know nobody's been successful. I kept one of my old ones just in case someone comes up with a way to rebuild them.

 

I always knock out the studs to keep for emergency purposes.

 

Unit bearings?

Axle bearings? Bearings can't be "rebuilt".

 

The unit bearings on our 4x4 trucks have a matched pair of timken roller bearings inside - if some enterprising folks come up with a way to disassemble the hub (unit) and replace the bearings then you'd have a "rebuildable" hub. The small pilot bearing on the back side for the axle shaft is easily replaced but the duplex matched pair inside are ground to fit the machined hub. I've searched around - a few have taken the unitized hub apart and extracted the bearings but were not successful in finding a way to replace them with new ones. A good start would be finding the timken P/N for the inside bearings.

 

My buddy had both replaced a few days ago with Super..... something. Anyway, i'll see if he got his back. Reason being, i used to work for a company that was a subsidiary of TIMKEN, which 3 other buddies still work there, one is a manager. They deal with TIMKEN on a daily basis...material for dental bearings. I'll hit'm up as well, maybe he can dig farther...

 

Scoop up as many Timken bearings for your applications as you can, Timken is getting out of the vehicle applications and is phasing out all of those parts. They are being picked up by several other bearing manufacturers such as Koyo and NSK.

 

When I was working (Dairy farming now) as an engineer I knew a Timken sales rep for precision aerospace bearings but never had the chance to bring the ford hub subject up. Wish I had our rep had access to just about everything within timken.

 

NSK bearings are ok don't know about Koyo. My guess is the design will get purchased by someone else and marketed under their name. Tons of SD's with these hubs running around - my guess is one of the aftermarket auto suppliers will be the one.

 

The ones I put on were Moogs, have had lots of luck with their ball joints. Never had their bearings. Hopefully they last.
I just find it interesting that none of these manufacturers have any use for the already machined units.
Seems like it makes sense to pull the units back, work them over and sell them as re-mans.

 

I've always wondered the same thing - why not rebuild them. It may be that as the bearings lose lubrication and start to bind they tear up the housing as the races slide. A lot of the apps I engineered this was the failure mode: 1. lose lubrication over time (on-orbit space app) 2. Loss of lube causes the bearing torque to increase 3. Torque increases until it exceeds the preload value 4. Races (usually inners) slip on the shaft they are riding on. 5. Metallic debris are generated accelerating the torque increase & wear. 6. Bearing fails or torque req'd to spin the bearing & shaft exceeds the avail input rotational torque.

Suspect the failure mode is similar on ours - a bunch of grease leaked out around the base on one that I removed 2 years ago. No/low lube = eventual failure.

 

great explanation, hadnt really thought of it in that sense!