I just replaced my hubs not too long ago and I've already worn through the bearings causing some death wobble. I did the passenger back in December and the driver in march. Any ideas as to why so quick?

 

not aligned correctly, axle nuts not torqued to spec, bad u-joints, cheap parts? any of them?

 

Well it seems it could be a combination of all of that. The hubs were cheap. I tightened the spindle nuts the best I could to where they were when I pulled them(I was stuck at school with only basic tools to get the job done). Alignment is good and I'll check the u-joints.

 

i believe they should be torqued to 150, while the 3 bolts to the hub should be 75.

and if a u joint goes bad, driving with it for a small amount of time will cause the bearing to go bad as well. i know when i did mine, i didnt have a torque wrench either... but i did it with just a breaker bar and guessing what 150 feels like haha.

 

Haha that's exactly what I did. When you're stuck at school the day before Christmas break and you can move your tire back and forth about 3 inches, you do what you can with what you've got lol.

 

The axle nut should be at 175 ft-lbs. I'm in the middle of replacing both my bearings. When I did it with a 150 max torque wrench, and then turned it another little bit to get to 175, it was enough torque to roll the jeep on flat cement - had to wedge the wheels for the last little turn.

I'd guess if you put in cheap bearings, that's your main culprit - I've heard a lot about them failing after 8-12months! I went with Raybestos brand unit bearings, they weren't as pricey as Timken which I hear is the best but not nearly as cheap as all the others. Just have to wait and see on mine... Good luck!

 

Well at the moment I'm on a limited budget so it'll be cheap'os again but after I get my tuition bill paid for this semester, I'm gonna set aside a few hundred so that when these go out, I'll get some better quality ones. Still gonna check everything else though...just to be safe.

 

Even the cheep ones should have a one year warrante. My old 95 ate them up every 3-8 months. Never found out what was wrong. Just replaced them for free every time. Now I can do them in 7min per side. LOL

 

thats right. i had a 1ft torque wrench...and i stood on the end of it, weighing 180, should be close... 1 ft away at 180 lbs...mighta been alittle tight...but hey...its lasted atleast 1 year...

 

Mine have a one year as well but it'd my dd so I don't have time to wait cause I ordered them and would have to ship them back. I can also change them pretty darn quick.

 

That is one reason why it is better to support local vendors, instead of the internet.

Also 175 is the torque setting as well. NOt sure of the 3 hub bolts.. but 75 sounds awful high...


what size tire and backspacing are you runnin?

 

I cant believe no one but Ping Pong asked for wheel offset! This will play a big factor.

 

what size are your rims and tires. if you are running a 15x10 or bigger with 33x12.5 or bigger tires, you are putting alot of stress on the bearings. I know this from my 99 XJ i had. only real key to solve is alittle smaller tires or bigger axle/ upgrades that will help you.

 

I'm running 31/10.5's on 15x8 Cragars with 3.75" backspacing. I had started to think that because I have such little backspacing that the extra stress from that was killing them. But, I bought the jeep with 70,000 miles on it and ran it until 78,000 when the first hub went out. Oh, and those were the factory original hubs at the time. Now Ive only put 4500 miles on it and they are shot again.

 

If you are wearing them out that fast.. you have other issues. Not sure what they are.. but something is wrong. I ran 35's with 3.75 B/S with a lock right on el cheapos for almost 2 yrs. Heck I had no steering vibes, and I wasnt running a steering stabilizer too boot.