Sealed Hubs.

[George7941]

All the vehicles I have owned so far, prior to the Sierra, have been RWD and the front wheel bearings have always been the serviceable type with the castellated nut holding in two tapered roller bearings. Easy to service and, if properly serviced, would easily last the life of the vehicle.

My Sierra has sealed front hubs even though it is RWD. If the hub needs to be serviced the entire hub is replaced. RockAuto has the hubs for around $260.

How reliable are these sealed hubs? Is it reasonable to expect them to last for 300k mi/ 10 years?

 

[eljefino]

I think 200-225k is more likely. How often do you turn?

I suspect a soft tire would help extend their life. They're on the unsprung side of things.

 

[NEOhio_Bob]

I think, based on my experience with a variety of late model GM vehicles, that 200-225k is wildly optimistic - more like 150k is probable. That said, they are easy to change, and in the overall scheme of maintenance expense, $300 or so every 150k isn't much.

 

[ktrsb]

I think hub life is related to a couple of things that vary widely. The obvious one is use, which eljefino joked about. More on point, often hubs fail prematurely after a wheel strike that is sufficient to distort the hub but not enough to bend the knuckle's attachments out of alignment. Another is road salt - folks up north replace hubs lots more than us down south. Brake use is another factor - towing practices and brake maintenance will control how much heat goes into your hubs. Off roading - mud and water - is another use factor.

Just some things to think about.

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted By: George7941

How reliable are these sealed hubs? Is it reasonable to expect them to last for 300k mi/ 10 years?


It's luck of the draw with non-serviceable wheel bearing hubs. They're not cheap items. In the case of my 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe AWD, Three of the four needed to be replaced between 60-75K mi. $500 each to have them done at an small independent shop. My warranty was up at 60K.

Joel

 

[Kestas]

Though I've seen sealed hub units fail from hitting curbs, the chief reason hub units fail is that the seals get breached. This compromises the grease, which eventually leads to failure.

 

[Brons2]

how can you tell when they go bad? I've only ever had 1 wheel bearing go bad that I know of, and that was on an 86 Honda Accord. You could hear it going down the road, bigtime. It started when I got into a fender bender and it got worse over time.

 

[bepperb]

Highlanders and Siennas seem to have a problem where someone hits a curb or pothole and then over the next 10,000 miles or so the bearings get louder and louder. They don't seem to go bad otherwise. I'd assume this is the case with all , either they are damaged via impact or water intrusion or they last the life of the car. Not really a maintenance item depending on how you drive.

 

[Stu_Rock]

On the two FWD GM cars that I owned long enough, I never had a front hub/bearing last longer than 75K. Of the four hub/bearings, two were done in by water intrusion and two were done in by mechanical failure. OE appears to be Timken (which is the cheapest non-Chinese replacement as well, and for that application, is still US-made).

I have never had a rear (non-driven) hub/bearing fail.

Scaling up to a RWD truck, I have no idea which experience is more relevant. My only truck is old and has a combined hub/rotor.

 

[MNgopher]

Figure a reasonable life of 150k miles. Scale it slightly up of down depending on driving style and conditions - rough gravel off road, etc... will generally cause earlier failure then all smooth highway driving, etc...

My recent experiences with sealed unit bearings/hubs have been replacement at 100,000 on the Cherokee, 160,000 on the Explorer, and they were OK on my F150 with 193,000 miles.

Failure usually starts to result in noticeable noise that slowly increases.