Waynerd

About to purchase bearings. Always read about spicer being a good choice. After reading reviews on Amazon though I am now having second thoughts. They almost seem like there's a good chance I could receive a crap one. So maybe I should go with Moog or Delco since they are cheaper anyway? I know you get what you pay for but these aren't the dirt cheap ones, just cheaper.

So who's had what experience with which brands? Good or bad.

I will be installing these this weekend along with ball joints. I only have this weekend to do it. I won't really have the time to get a replacement if one of them is bad from the start. Then next Friday myself with my wife and kids are heading about 2 hours away to stay in a hotel on the beach. So this needs to be done this weekend and it needs to be right.

The XJ is also my wife's daily driver and the vehicle we depend on as a family. We definitely need quality parts that won't prematurely fail and last a few years at minimum. My XJ gets around town and me to work but it needs ball joints as well and I don't usually drive it more than 20 mins away.

Thanks for the opinions guys and gals.

GreaseMonkey17

I like Timken brand hub/bearing assemblies and spicer ball joints is what 99/100 on here reccomend.

freegdr

Moog are also a good choice and are usually in stock.

investinwaffles

I have Precision branded hubs up front (and Spicer ball joints). Both have been great to me through mud, sand, rocks, and long highway runs (2000 mile trips) - probably 50K on the front parts as of now.

Honestly - I prefer to get parts locally if the price isn't too expensive. Means that any out of the box defects are easy to sort out, verses installing the old parts and having to wait for a new part to ship out.

That said, I was hard up for money and since I was changing my trashed ball-joints I need some hub bearings fast. I ordered them through Amazon for half the price of the Timken branded ones, they had good reviews, and I got them in 2 days. Got lucky and they have been fine for quite a while


Use anti-size when installing the new parts - means that any trail repairs will be much easier

Cane

another happy customer of timken hubs here. never installed ball joints, i leave that to my mechanic and he's using mevotech, so far they've been ok, replaced once under warranty. and as far as u-joints always spicer.

jordan96xj

Timken are the most recommended on this site. I did mine about 2 years ago with Moog. They have not given any issues in about 20k miles. They weren't the cheapest either. But I did get a $40 speed perk with each hub because moog was running a special at the time through Advance auto where you got double speed perks on Moog parts. So I guess it worked out ok on price.

Waynerd

It was late last night when I posted. I totally meant Timken. The reviews on Amazon are quite mixed. Now that I think about it the fault may have been the sellers not totally the manufacturer.

The Napa in town is pretty small and don't always stock a lot of stuff. Not sure if they even carry Timken. And the other store is not a chain store and they usually carry off brands. I was going to order from Amazon.

Waynerd

Going to check at Napa in the morning. The hubs on the website look just like the Timkens but a little less $. Whatever they don't have they can usually get by the afternoon or next morning. I've been buying parts there for like 25 years and never had issues with any parts. It just sucks they close at 1 on Saturdays and are closed Sundays. The only times I get parts elsewhere are if I need them immediately and they don't have them or are closed. I've also ordered parts from Amazon when they're just a lot cheaper than Napa.

Waynerd

So looked up all the parts on Napa website. Called this morning and they had them all. Picked them up on my way home. Just a bit ago I decided to look them over. The hubs look great, can't wait to get them on.

The lower ball joints are iffy. First off the powers are splined, and second they have the screw in insert for the knuckles like the older jeeps. I remember reading somewhere that the splined ones will screw up the knuckle. And are they correct but I just won't use the insert?
As for the uppers. They are the same part numbers. I first noticed the boxes are different. I removed and compared them and one is significantly longer than the other. Now I did read somewhere that somebody had the same issue with Moog. Supposedly the longer one is a new design but will work the same.
Anyone with some insight/experience with the upper ball joints being different? I'll post pics

Waynerd

Exhibit A: lowers, I assume just discard insert but concerned about them being splined

Waynerd

Unpackaged

Waynerd

Uppers package

Waynerd

Notice same part number

Waynerd

Now unpackaged side by side

Waynerd

And actually very happy with the hubs. They look good and were priced well. Going to start a new thread on the ball joints since this one is titled for the bearing hubs.