On the way up to my sister's house for the holiday, the Stinkin' Lincoln started losing a wheel bearing. I've never had one go bad, so I wasn't sure how long it would go, but it made it alright. While in town, I visited a few dealerships and was informed that it's no longer a plain old wheel bearing, they take unit bearings now. OK.
They list for $150 EACH. I didn't know which one was bad (suspected left side), and figured if one went the other wasn't far behind, so I got the pair. Luckily I have a bit of a connection at a local dealership, and got them for $110 apiece...but normal guy off the street would have paid the big bucks. Ford price was same as Napa.
Anyway, take a look at them, no friggen wonder they don't last. Car has 60k on it, and I hear the SuperDuty guys (4wd) have to replace them all the time, and I believe they're in the $250/each price range.
Now, I've changed them on some rebuilder axles, but I've never actually had a car that needed a wheel bearing...so I'd say the service life may be 125-150k on bearings. These unit bearings do away with the spindle altogether, so you have just one bearing that takes all the lateral and vertical force acting on the wheel. Normal wheel bearings are what, 4-5" spaced apart, and can easily take the torsional forces. The single unit bearing has no chance as it acts as a flange for the rotor, and the single "plane" of the bearing has to take all the force. So, the only thing I can figure is they do this to save machining/materials on the spindle, and maybe reduce parts count since now you eliminate two bearings, two races, and a seal. Problem is now you have a shitty Mickey Mouse design, and a pretty ridiculous replacement cost.
Wonder if the Japs are using these things? Just kinda indicative of why people get fed up with the quality on cars. It was no biggie, took 1.5hrs to replace, but normal guy would have been looking at a $500 repair...easy.
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The eyes are the groin of the face -- Dwight Shrute
If you can put on one part that does the work 2, 3 or 4...then that speeds up the assembly line - time is money. you also get the repair benefit. It takes longer to repair the part, 'cause now yu have to remove more stuff to get to it - time is money. See, this is a win - win situation that helps everybody.
I found this out the first time I had to replace a heater core on a Fox-body Mustang. The heater core was a simple little thing, nothing remarkable just to look at it. To replace it you have to remove the console and most of the dash board. A $30 - $50 part, and $300+ labor... if you are lucky the tech might even do the job without breaking something as he takes them damn plastic snap-in parts loose.
Re: Sometimes, you gotta wonder what they're thinking.
December 31 2008, 1:00 AM
Right before those bearing 'hub assemblies' that can be bolted on and off in no time.... were pretty much the same thing, except the entire 'knuckle' had to be removed from the car and pressed apart to get the bearing off. Then, it needed all pressed back together. You only replace the bearing, and it is a bit cheaper, requires a press, sometimes a bit of luck, and takes a LOT longer. I've replaced several of those type bearings. They are found on pretty much all front wheel drive vehicles up through the 90's. It's been fairly recent that they've gone to the hub assemblies that bolt on/off in just a matter of minutes.
I believe your price estimate on 1-ton truck front bearing/hub assemblies is a bit on the LOW side!
