Hub Failure

justjeepin86

justjeepin86

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2005
Location
Winston-Salem, NC
So my nephew pulled his grinding XJ into my garage Friday night with his passenger tire leaning. Here's what I pulled off. I made it fall apart in my hands. I am so very glad he made it without killing someone.
jimmys hub.jpg
 
I just had one burn out on my zj. I smelled it and my wheel was blazing hot.
 
Those bearings are weird like that! Sometimes they give warning, other times not. I had a semifloat 44 rear bearing go out on my one day and detonated so bad the shaft with drum/tire slid slap out of it while driving. And I'm pretty darn cautious.
 
I've come to realize that there ain't a damn thing maintenance free. It may be manufactured to keep you from maintaining it, but still needs it.

That's how they get ya.
 
"Maintenance Free" never equates to: "Replacement Not Required"

What is the guideline for unit bearing replacement on those things? I know that late model Dodge gets 100k on the top end and Chevy can beat 100k easy (diesels go before gassers). How long are Ford SD unit bearings good for?
 
In most cases a failure that causes loss of control or a wheel to come off is pretty rare. I busted a cheap advance hub on a pickup a while back at 70+ and drove 5 miles with it completely disassembled. There is no replacement mileage on the hubs themselves, they're wrapped into steering and suspension checks every 10k in most applications.
 
It's funny, I replaced the driver side one and axle u-joint about a month ago. I checked the hub on the passenger side at the time and it was ok, but I knew I was going to replace it when I did the other u-joint. Crazy what can change in a few weeks.
 
The axle shaft holds it together. It wouldn't fall apart until you took the nut off the end of the shaft.

OnlyOneDR said:
I know that late model Dodge gets 100k on the top end
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I replaced both of mine at 120K and kept one as spare. They were still fine, but I didn't want to press my luck.
 
shawn said:
The axle shaft holds it together. It wouldn't fall apart until you took the nut off the end of the shaft.



I replaced both of mine at 120K and kept one as spare. They were still fine, but I didn't want to press my luck.
Click to expand...
It'll pull the shafts out if you pushed it but the caliper and rotor usually stop it
 
I had one go out on my XJ that never gave any notice. One moment it was fine then a horrible grumbling noise and bad feeling in the steering. I limped it home and found pretty much the same thing. I replaced both b/c they looked like cheap Vatozone replacements. I put in timken units and kept one for a spare. Doubt I'll need it though. The Timkens looked far superior in construction.....
 
Large tires obviously accelerate wear. The SD ford is known to go out prematurely when large tires are involved. I have seen Chevy bearings fail a lot since I worked in a dealership 20 years. They honestly are pretty durable, all things considered, for not being able to be greased.
 
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