Thread: How long do wheel bearings last?

Leo, what a great run, it's tribute to your good maintenance I guess.
But 18 years and over 300,000 ks you've got your moneys worth.

I'd change them out an axle at a time on the next two services, and keep the best of the old ones for spares. That way you can be confident on for the next ten years.

cheers simmo

A bearing's service life is easily predicted as it is based on statistical data. In fact, it is mainly based on the probability of encountering conditions that will lead to cracking: high stress loading combined with material heterogeneity.

Car wheel bearings are designed such that 90 % of them will easily achieve 500,000 kilometres. Thus, it may be predicted that 999 out of 1,000 will achieve 100,000 kilometres.

Premature bearing damage
Other causes, usually abnormal, may cause premature damage of a bearing and impact bearing service life, notably:

In 70 % of cases, incorrect lubrication: too much or too little; wrong lubricant, etc... In 18 % of cases, pollution: penetration of liquid or solid particles, hence the importance of seals as seal defects can give rise to leakage of lubricant and penetration of pollution. In 10 % of cases, incorrect assembly; careless assembly, excessive heating, incorrect adjustment of gap clearance, excessive tightening of the taper sleeve, geometric defects, etc... And in 2 % of cases, diverse reasons: use under unsuitable loads, incorrect adjustment, contact corrosion, passage of an electrical current, etc?
Bearings are designed and selected to have a specific service life under application operation conditions.

300 thou is a good run with bearings. I just last weekend rebuilt the fenders front axle to fix some shimmy. Overhauled swivels which fixed the shimmy. Hubs were good. Reused the wheel bearings. Running in oil is a great benefit. My fender has 250ish on the clock with much of that on dirt.

Now although I was happy with the bearings there was about five thou of wear on each inner bearing surface of the stub axles and some wear on the hub seal surface.

So I would guess I might be up for new stub axles before bearings....

Steve

Yep normal......lack of maintenance is the biggest issue, plus I think people replace perfectly good bearings cause they don't know how to inspect them.

depending on your driving technique and conditions most guys Ive spun spanners for run with the "every set of brake rotors" theory.

youve got to pull the hub and bearings on D1/deefer tech to get to the rotor so since you're in there.

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

depending on your driving technique and conditions most guys Ive spun spanners for run with the "every set of brake rotors" theory.

youve got to pull the hub and bearings on D1/deefer tech to get to the rotor so since you're in there.

Hi Dave,

Strangely enough, the brake rotors are also still original too (AFAIK). 'Cause I have always changed the pads myself and have never had the discs machined. I just take it easy until the new pads 'wear in' to the disc surface.

I know professional spanner wielders can't give cars back to their customers like this but I take responsibility for my own 'risk management' decisions.

Next tyre rotation I'll check pads, disc thicknesses & the look of the bearings.

By the way, are the 'genuine Timken' bearings advertised on eBay to be believed?

Thanks guys,

Originally Posted by Leo109

By the way, are the 'genuine Timken' bearings advertised on eBay to be believed?

Thanks guys,

We sell the Genuine Timkins on Ebay that come in the Genuine Timkin Box with the Genuine Timkin Holgram so I'm sure they are Genuine Timkin.

But there are apparently knock off copies according to a bearing supplier I spoke to.
Regards,
Mario

I know it's a problem with Chinese copies of everything these day including counterfeit aircraft part with attached counterfeit certification of authentication, but in all honesty how do you know if the hologram is genuine - they have probably worked out how to replicate that. Nothing is sacred anymore!