Repack Front Wheel Bearings

[Ldub]

All wheel drive constantly uses the front wheels... most of the time you were driving in 2wheel drive in your jeep. It's important if you want your truck to last. You should especially do it if you dunk the front axles in water... otherwise I'd say you could wait maybe 30k between changes, IMO. My brakes last about 70K.. so there's no way I could ever wait for a change... but it while you're doing the brakes, you have to repack the wheel bearings (unless you just change pads).. so it depends on how long you have to wait. Maybe it's better to do the brakes now and the wheel bearings. I do the bearings myself for around $40-$50 now, in about 3 hours. (something ALWAYS happens, forgot grease, had to order seals, blah blah) should only take 1.5 hours or less...

Even puddle splashing can allow water & other gunk past the seals.
After last years Gilbert MN meet I decided my bearings should be re-packed before winter...in addition to having about 38,000 on the clock.
Upon dis-assembly, I found the very same reddish gorp that I had been splashing around in the week before (no deep crossings, just puddles) INSIDE my inner hubs.
I was glad I didn't wait until spring.

[DK]

Thanks for all the feedback, gang.

You were a big help.

DK

[driver3]

Funny thing was... my first wheel bearing change was from the dealer. I did the second one with the planetisuzoo article. You could tell there was water in the hubs on the 2nd change. Upon change #3, the one after I did my own, they were perfect. Every repack I have done has resulted in NO water in my hubs. I use the synthetic grease was well, which may not make a difference there, the seals are the same brands people talk about here, but the most important thing I think is to wire brush the external cap and the hub each time down to the clean metal, and silicon gasket the cap back on. Very important in my book. I've got about 130k on mine now... and it's running like a top! (new engine from isuzu at 103k)...

Also, I was under the impression we needed to repack the wheelbearings each 15K... I don't carry my manual in my pocket so someone has to help out with this one.

[Amnesia]

I personally wouldn't fret about waiting an extra 30k miles or so... I bought my VX with 31K on it. It now has around 130k and I swear that I'm going to do the front wheel bearings and the timing belt one of these days!

When I do, I'll report how good or bad of an idea that was to wait that long!

[WormGod]

40K miles and nil a brake job or bearing repack. Runs great though. I tend to hold off for the "Must Be Done Now" situation. Not too concerned either since I do about 95% of my own work and procrastinate about when I will even get around to doing any of it.

[Dare2Dream]

My mechanic quoted me $80 for the bearings repack last year, so $400 sounds steep. You should check around for a better price.