Wheel bearing replacement - you aren't crazy

First time poster, long time lurker. Picked up a 2020 4Runner TRD Offroad with 49k miles back in June. Had Bilstein 6112/ 5160's installed and some bfg ko2's put on the factory trd off-road rims. Beautiful truck and handles herself very well on and off-road now.

The more I drove her the more I noticed a slight wander at freeway speeds but it wasn't consistent, always seemed dependent on the road some roads she was smooth and straight and others it felt like I was fighting to keep her between the lines. Always figured it was alignment, sometimes thought it was a tire balance but it always cleared up, and when researching on 4runner forums I read one or 2 comments that replacing a wheel bearing fixed the intermittent wander but I thought "come on, really? 2020 and 50k miles that's insane for a wheel bearing to go out"

Fast forward 7k miles, several road trips, and one long road trip from Colorado to California and the front passenger side wheel bearing gave up the beans. Started with a steering wheel shake around 30mph like a tire was out of balance when pulling out of a gas station but it cleared up, 2 days later the shake came and went again, the next day I drove highway 1 from Monterey to morro bay and in the second half I started hearing the typical "woo woo woo" wheel bearing noise that would come and go as I came around corners.

I was able to DIY the wheel bearing replacement at a shop space I still rent near Morro bay and the noise and wander are gone! I find it insane that a vehicle so new with relatively low miles already has a wheel bearing failure.

Just wanted to make this post for other 5th gen owners that might have that intermittent wander, you aren't crazy!

 

That is a rather unusual thing to see, Just makes me wonder if there is not some other "history" like some kind of event took place that started the deterioration of the wheel bearing in the first place like a real hard curb bang or inexperience off road slam into rocks in that area.

 

That is unusual to have a wheel bearing failure before 100+k miles.

 

I’ve had a hit or miss experience with wheel bearings over the years Had early failure with a mazda (less than 20k miles on vehicle). And a failure on a Sienna at around 60k miles. An accord with almost 200k never had a bad bearing.

Currently have just under 40k on my 4runner, so far so good, but I do a fair bit of mucking around with it. So we’ll see how long the bearings last.

 

Completely agree. She's had a pretty easy life with me with light to medium off-road use, never any oh shit moments but I suspect the previous owner drove her hard. I only posted about it because I saw one or 2 comments from owners saying a wheel bearing fixed the intermittent wander on their low mileage 4runner. Thought I was crazy when I heard it but new bearing assembly cleared everything up.

 

Swapped mine out at about 100k recently as more of preventative service

 

Thanks Wildgoose, this is good info

 

And now for the million-dollar question: What brand of parts did you use?

 

I have a random steering wheel shimmy. Rebalanced the wheels few times, changes tires, still have the shimmy. Not sure what else to try. How difficult is it to get the wheel bearing replaced?

 

It's not a terrible job if you do any kind of work on cars and trucks. The biggest issue is the fact that the bearing and hub are sometimes sold separately, but need to be pressed together - unless you buy the complete assembly. If you've never done one before, figure about an hour for each side, maybe a bit longer for your first side.

The other big kicker here is the quality of the bearings. There are lots of low-priced (compared to OEM) bearings out there and many of them are just plain junk. Generally speaking, OEM bearings last at least 100,000 miles. Aftermarket bearings? Nope. All bearings may look similar, but they don't perform in a similar fashion. Just beware.

 

Koyo, Timken, or SKF should be the only names youre looking at. Unless you want to pay Toyota full price, where they may well send you one of the aforementioned just in a Toyota box.

 

^^^ This, but beware of counterfeit bearings with those brand names on eBay and Amazon. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

 

Long story short Napa OE.

Originally ordered OEM from the dealer Friday, got a call Saturday saying they were shorted parts. The guys at Napa sold me bearings they said were OEM, exactly what the dealer was selling BUT just the bearing, no hub. Myself and 2 other techs stared at this thing for probably an hour, pulled out all of our tools, drove over to autozone for a non existent slide hammer they said they had and could not get the hub off the old bearing. There’s a tool for that. Put the 4Runner back together, back to Napa and walked away with a Napa OE bearing assembly, slapped it on in about 30 minutes with a lift and air tools.

 

Can you not get an oem bearing that is already pressed in the hub?

 

What a rough price difference between thw bearing alone and one that is pressed in with hub?

 

I had to replace the right rear wheel bearing on my 2015 Subaru Outback at 30k. The other three bearings had 106k on them with no issues when I sold it to get my first 4R. Seems like it's kind of a crap shoot when it comes to wheel bearings.

 

If you go to your friendly, local Toyota Parts Department, you will find that they only sell the Hub and Bearing separately - not pressed together. That said, you can find OE quality bearings pressed onto various manufacturers hubs online. Beware of counterfeit parts though.

 

Did I miss it? Was it the front or rear wheel bearing that was replaced?

 

Thanks.

 

If you go off road, wheel bearing life is shortened drastically. One of my OEM NSK wheel bearings started groaning at 26k miles. Needless to say I didn't go OEM again, put in an SKF hub bearing assy for a bit over $100 on Rock Auto.

The thread is almost two years old, but @wildgoose could've gotten it covered under the powertrain warranty at the time.

 

How many miles do you have on the SFK bearing? Any issues?

 

Only about 3000 miles so far. My Tacoma is now a trail rig. P/N is BR930978 with 5 yr / 60,000 mi warranty according to the listing, which is as long as Toyota's powertrain warranty: https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=12676781&cc=1445180&pt=1636&jsn=1

 

I recently picked up a pair of these SKFs. They were 107 a piece from RA, the big parts stores (Advanced, etc) had the same p/n for 2X the price.

Hope yours have been holding up well.

 

^My wheel hasn't fallen off yet! No death wobble either!

 

There's a guy on Tacoma World who sells complete hub/bearing assemblies. He's out of Hawaii and uses quality parts and packaging is 1st rate. I used him when I had 240K on my factory FJ wheel bearings. I will use him again when the 4Runner needs them. I can find his handle if anybody needs it.

 

I just had to replace a wheel bearing at 240k and I'm a little disappointed. I guess they don't build them like they used to. I used aftermarket because I had to get going, but ebay has Toyota assembled hub for $175. Offroad models are going to wander more. It's the nature of the suspension. More positive caster will probably help at speed more. I have to much positive caster in mine, but I can put left wheel on interstate yellow line and it will drive itself at 70-80mph with no hands. Mine is a Limited with different alignment specs than other models. The offroad models seem to have less positive caster. I think because the angle of the geometry and feedback from rough terrain is more straight up and down with less caster as force transmits force into ball joints and struts in bumps for the offroad suspension. S.W.A.G. theory. I can see it in my mind ,but can't explain it.

 

It's not that they don't build them like thy used to. Unfortunately, it's more like, you get what you pay for. There is no way you will find an OEM Toyota bearing and hub for only $175. In fact, Toyota does not sell the complete assembly - only the hub and bearing separately. On the other hand, there are lots of cheap Chinese bearing and hub assemblies available that claim to be "equal to OEM quality." As you just found out, that's rarely true. Sorry you had to find out this way.

 

I hadn't seen a complete Toyota assembly either until Ebay. ToyotaPartsDeal.com has the pieces for around $175-200. It's Toyota box and Koyo bearings and hub. I'll try and recover the part number and look it up in Toyota parts. Someone may have bought it, had it pressed and didn't need it, traded or wrecked. I only recall seeing one OEM assembly. The CV boot kit is only $46 at ToyotaPartsDeal.com and $58+ at dealership parts. Cheapest I have found.

So there's a bunch. This one is Koyo bearings like original. There's even cheaper ones. I zoomed a couple and they had Japanese bearings. They may be using a cheaper hub possibly and mating with OEM bearings.

 

To further complicate matters, the same Chinese companies that have been selling no name / no marking bearings have figured out that for a few pennies more, they can mark their cheap bearings to look just like real / name brand bearings. (Same crap deep down inside though.) Some have even gone as far as to ship them in boxes that look just like the real things you can only buy from a Toyota dealership.

The only way to be safe is to buy through a genuine Toyota dealer. Trust me. I work for one and our guys in Service have seen it all.

 

I used an SKF, I'm sure Chinese bearings, but it worked when I needed it and a 60k 5yr warranty. I have never had an issue with Toyota parts from Ebay. I have gotten fake parts from Amazon. Important to look for a dealership selling parts. Koyo is Toyota. Gotten skid wires, brake lines, some hoses with no issue. After my valve cover gaskets from Amazon melted when oil hit them, I am careful as I can be with the information I'm given. I mainly research OEM part numbers on Google and Ebay to be sure if correct part, look up on Toyota parts site to check and order from ToyotaPartsDeal.com for cheapest, fastest shipping. All the parts seem to come from a west coast and east coast warehouse. I think 3rd parties sell through their warehouse or something on Ebay. I pay attention to the bar codes and numbers on the Toyota parts stickers to. That can be a giveaway if the numbers don't look right or missing. At 240k, I use aftermarket for some things for convenience and time. Only thing I have to drive. I got a part number from the dealer last week and it was wrong. Sad for dealer parts.