front bearings/hubs; any brands to avoid?

[richs fishes]

I've been noticing a bit of a "hum" while driving, that I can now start to feel through the floorboards if my foot is flat, I can sort of feel it in the gas pedal and steering wheel as well. I can make it disappear completely if I turn slightly left. Makes no difference if I'm accelerating or decelerating and does not go away if I shift into neutral.

I'm 99% sure its a front bearing and based on some other threads I've been reading through I'm going to guess its the left side. I did struts within the past few months and tried to look for bad bearings but found no symptoms. Again, based on some older threads, still seems possible that this bearing is bad so the plan was to replace both fronts at the same time (truck just ticked over 100K). But the options seem a bit more expensive than I had been hoping for.

So are there any brands that should or should not be used? Off the top of my head I figured the motorcrafts were likely the best option and surprised to see 2 choices. The "OE Design" and the "Service design". Any idea the difference between them and/or if I should look at something different altogether like Moog?

 

[762mm]

Other than the factory brand (Motorcraft in case of Fords), Timken and Moog are the only brands I'd use.

 

[p38fln]

I've heard nothing but bad about all the big chain brands, I had really good luck with some NAPA store brand hubs on a Suburban though. I had to replace both front hubs and they were still going strong about 20,000 miles later

 

[Trainmaster]

Motorcraft "OE Design" should be equivalent to what Ford built the car with. The "Service Design" is a version marketed to compete with aftermarket, "for higher mileage use where new-car-quality is not required". I was disappointed to just receive a Motorcraft hub that was marked "Made in China".

My experience with Moog lately has been poor. I also read that Timken is now Chinese.

So good luck. I'd stick with a Motorcraft product unless you can find an American-made bearing.

At all cost I'd avoid the auto parts store chain stuff. It's just junk, marketed to those seeking price over quality.

 

[762mm]

Motorcraft "OE Design" should be equivalent to what Ford built the car with. The "Service Design" is a version marketed to compete with aftermarket, "for higher mileage use where new-car-quality is not required". I was disappointed to just receive a Motorcraft hub that was marked "Made in China".

My experience with Moog lately has been poor. I also read that Timken is now Chinese.

So good luck. I'd stick with a Motorcraft product unless you can find an American-made bearing.

At all cost I'd avoid the auto parts store chain stuff. It's just junk, marketed to those seeking price over quality.

Unfortunately, according to my auto parts supplier, almost all (if not all by now) bearing factories have either migrated to or opened new shops in China, because that's where most of the stuff that needs bearings is made (appliances, etc). This allows them to save millions a year on overseas shipping costs to China.

I was told that quality control and materials used have not been compromised, but even the Swedish bearings (SKF, etc) are now marked "China". So no surprise that Timken and Moog would fall in the same boat nowadays...

A word of caution was that there is a huge black market of bootlegged bearings coming out of China too these days, which may explain some of the failures on trusted name brands. It's pretty bad, as they infiltrated the supply chain at so many levels that even your trusted parts sources (NAPA, dealerships, etc) may carry counterfeit bearings without even knowing it... because these counterfeit bearings look identical to genuine units. Sometimes they even are genuine units which failed to pass quality control and were bought by a third party as scrap metal in China, then sold off again as genuine new units. Yikes...!




(roll the dice, lol)

 

[TobyU]

It is probably the left one but check it first. Had a friend with newer Sonic a few years ago take his to the dealer and they printed up that it was a bad right hub so he bought the whole spindle/hub assembly as this was the only way it came and only from GM at the time.
He came over and I had no reason to inspect it....he had a right side he wanted put on.
So I put it on.
We test drove it and exactly the same!
IT was the left.
I showed him how to test and it was plain as day.


Very easy on FWD if you can turn off traction control.
On those you just jack up front wheels and put it in gear and let them spin.
Put your fingertips on the top of the strut spring and you will feel the roughness.

 

[richs fishes]

so it sounds like my options are limited to nothing but expensive and potentially crap anyway. awesome!

It is probably the left one but check it first. Had a friend with newer Sonic a few years ago take his to the dealer and they printed up that it was a bad right hub so he bought the whole spindle/hub assembly as this was the only way it came and only from GM at the time.
He came over and I had no reason to inspect it....he had a right side he wanted put on.
So I put it on.
We test drove it and exactly the same!
IT was the left.
I showed him how to test and it was plain as day.


Very easy on FWD if you can turn off traction control.
On those you just jack up front wheels and put it in gear and let them spin.
Put your fingertips on the top of the strut spring and you will feel the roughness.

Yeah I'm not looking forward to doing the job and finding out I picked the wrong side. Just few thousand miles ago I had the car up in the air and checked both front bearings by using an 8 foot 2x4 as a lever to pry under tire. Got no movement or clicking or anything out of the ordinary from either side. I guess I'm still a long way from there being any slop in the bearing but I'd rather get if swapped out now before it's more noticeable if possible! Hopefully I'll be able to tell that one feels a bit "grittier" than the other when I get it up in the air again and before I have to tear down all too much.

 

[TobyU]

That's about all you can do because they want make the rough sounds way before they get any slop in them. Unless you want to get all four tires off the ground and let them spin and gear and see if you can feel a roughness difference on one by placing your fingers around the surrounding will area Etc.
It will probably be quite difficult just trying to spin the tire my hand to feel the difference but you might be able to.
It's a shame that a lot of people are still paying the big money for some parts like Moog Etc that are now made in China and are not holding up like they used to. So you pay more money and still get crap.
It's been eight or ten years ago but then all the parts stores carried their house brand which was cheaper made in China and they had the BCA National which was made in the US. Now all the BCA Nationals are made in China along with most everything else as other posters pointed out.

I have great luck with most aftermarket things but I have had one or two of the house brand hub assemblies go out between 9 months and right after a year. These all had a one year warranty. These also were on GM front wheel drive where there is an issue with the nut and they even tell you to replace it if it's a certain color and the torque is quite specific.
These are ones where the bearing is under pressure from the nut so if it's too tight you will shorten the life or damage it.
I torqued mine to spec but one loosened up in just a few weeks and I had to retype it tighter than it probably should have been to keep it tight. I can't even remember now if that was a side that failed or not as the vehicle didn't make it that long and we junked it.
That's the only ones I've had failures on though. I have done other ones Square The Hub is not under pressure at least the bearing is it. You're just tightening down the nut against the center and as long as it's tight it doesn't really matter how much type or you go as long as you don't strip the threads.
That's the better design anyway.

A while back when I checked the local part stores there were a couple of options I think some with a one-year warranty and some with a 3-year warranty. I'm not certain if anyone had a lifetime warranty or not locally. I know the one with the 3-year warranty or maybe it was the lifetime warranty if there was one, was only about 25 to $30 more and that would have been worth it for the percentage difference in price. So I think I just might by buy the warranty as opposed to the brand.
Something like that that we can't have too much faith in I would want to buy locally so I can have it easy swap at the parts store same day if I have to do it again in the future.

 

[WEDGE]

I just replaced a rear bearing in my sister's 2007 Limited. Went with a motorcraft, cant go wrong!

 

[Trainmaster]

Have a noisy bearing on my 2010 Explorer. Sounds like the left, but spinning them reveals nothing and with all-time 4wd, I'd have to run the thing in the air on jackstands... I'll go for the left and then do them both if that doesn't help. The two usually fail within a few months anyway.

 

[TobyU]

I just replaced a rear bearing in my sister's 2007 Limited. Went with a motorcraft, cant go wrong!

You believe that?

 

[WEDGE]

You believe that?

Yes I do. I spent 10 years selling aftermarket parts to people. Saw a lot of junk come back. Wouldn't put anything with MOOG stamped on it on my wheelbarrow. About the only one I'd trust is SKF. The warranty on the Motorcraft parts seems to be as good or better than the aftermarket stuff in a lot of cases.

I work at a dealership now, and for my situation, and price I paid it was well worth it!

 

[TobyU]

The warranty often means little as far as quality goes today but I do like a longer warranty if I do have to swap it out later.

Moog used to b every good quality rivaling oem and often even better with grease fittings.
They went to pot years ago.

I certainly wouldn't make a blanket statement that you can't go wrong wit motorcraft.
People certainly have problems and early failures of motorcraft too.

Def helps to get a good discount.
I have had a lot of commercial accounts and they really vary over the years.
I was getting 30% off walk in price at the local ford dealer from around 2000-2009 or so.
I used to have a local sears (I know a joke right) who had an older guy there that knew how to align cars and was meticulous and I could get a front end alignment for 39.99!! This was until about 2010.
They gave me 25% off walk in price for tires too.

Not as good of discounts now, so I don't buy as much and they don't do the volume so they can't offer as good of discounts and the cycle continues to degrade!

Many of these places are putting are putting the nails in their own coffins with local brick and mortar by gouging and not taking care of long time high volume customers.
But they are the big companies grossing millions and know everything...right??

I always remember this each time a company closes or files bankruptcy or gets bought out from doing so poorly....They are sooo smart.
I'm still here, they are not.

I keep doing what I have been doing and move on to the next company that treats me better than.

 

[JExpedition07]

Here’s pics of my 2007 OE MotorCraft that was from RockAuto I believe. Made in USA. Should be marked FoMoCo or you were sold a counterfeit part, common thing these days.

 

[Trainmaster]

The Motorcraft "Service Replacement" sold by Rock Auto last week for my Explorer said "Made in China" on the Motorcraft box.

Nice knowing, at least for now, our Expeditions enjoy a higher standard.

 

[TobyU]

The Motorcraft "Service Replacement" sold by Rock Auto last week for my Explorer said "Made in China" on the Motorcraft box.

Nice knowing, at least for now, our Expeditions enjoy a higher standard.

It's really kind of a shame they're doing this two tier levels of parts with Motorcraft brand on them. The service replacement being cheaper price and cheaper quality and then the full-fledged Motorcraft. Most people won't know and they'll just see the Motorcraft name and they'll buy the cheap one and who knows if it's much better than some other brand that could get and save a lot more dough.

 

[JExpedition07]

When it comes to my vehicle I generally try to fix it right or don’t fix it at all. Generally I avoid cheap crap and service level replacements. Good A/M or OEM. When my blower motor went out this summer I couldn’t find one that wasn’t made in China or Taiwan with a smaller than stock flimsy blower wheel. Every single one. It is in there tight with the rubber soundproofing on our floors and I didn’t want to do it twice if the A/M was bad or too weak. I ordered from Ford the MC replacement and low and behold it was made in USA with the proper big blower wheel. I did pay double the $$ for this oem blower than an A/M but it’s been great so far. Motorcraft parts have done me no wrong.

 

[TobyU]

I do that for hard to replace items too. But for the easy to do ones I buy the cheap ones.
Usually the cheapest with lifetime warranty.

Sway bar end links for instance....They are a RIP-OFF at parts stores.
I can get them for 5-6 bucks each online, they want almost 40.

I can put one on in under 12 minutes start to finish so I see no reason to have a better one.
They do nothing really but keep the sway bar from rattling around anyway..Lol

Not like they are a safety issue (I'm sure a garage would have you believe it though)
I have never put a motorcraft blower motor in a car but have done dozens of them.
Never had a replacement go out either and most have lifetime warranty.
Can't say I had a replacement one for like 10 years though..
Usually on the cars we get, the original lasts 2-5 years and we replace with 4 seasons, everco factory air or whatever they are called now or whatever the parts store has for like 46.00 and it is still in there when we get rid of car in the next 5 years.

 

[aagitch]

Bad hub bearings can be deceiving. I had a bad one on my explorer and would have bet anything it was coming from the front. Even taking curves affected the sound of the bearing which was coming from the front. Wrong, the shop put it on a lift, had it in gear with all four tires spinning and it ended up being a rear bearing. They used one of those stethoscope things. The noise and feel was transferring up through the drivetrain to the front end. This was an explorer with 4x4 auto.

 

[762mm]

I don't know if I have a gift for this, but I've been able to diagnose several bad wheel bearings in different cars/trucks just by listening to it (with or without 4WD). It becomes very obvious at higher highway speeds, specially when you accelerate/decelerate and the tone of the noise changes.


As for Motorcraft OE parts, I have mixed feelings. Yes, it is always best to buy the genuine item, but if the price is 2x or 3x more for the OEM name brand, then I might go for the "second best".


After all, if the "Motorcraft part" was so damn indestructible, you wouldn't need to be replacing it... right?