Quote Originally Posted by TheGanzman View Post
Pardon the dissenting opinion about replacing the wheel bearings from an "old school" wrench...

Check your "country of origin" on those shiny new wheel bearings from Auto Zone or the like - my bet is they'll be from "a country not KNOWN for their wheel bearing technology" to put it nicely. Now check the country of origin on your OEM wheel bearings - Ahhhh...

My own experience w/front wheel bearings is that as long as they've had reasonable access to proper lubrication for their life SO far, as long as the bearing seal has never been "violated", as long as they haven't seen contaminants/water intrusion, their useful life is ~200K miles with proper repacking (I personally recommend Mobil 1 synthetic grease). As previously mentioned, a proper examination is in order - evidence of rust, scoring, excessive heat, etc. is CLEARLY visible on the bearing and/or race surfaces. If they AIN'T bad, keep USIN' 'em!

I've tested the "new" bearings from Auto Zone and the like with dial indicators - they're SH*TE! I can only imagine the metallurgy of those things - can you say "recycled steel"? Sure, I knew that you could...

Just my .02, from an old geezer...
Good point on the quality issue, last time I did mine, I found one scorched & didn't have time to wait for a new one from Merlin, so I hitched a ride to the nearest parts store...

Speaking of contaminant intrusion, I've found that "spirited" splashing through 3-4" deep puddles is enough to introduce water/mud into the hub.

Can you say "red iron range mud"? ...