Rear hub bearing (Page 1/1)
donuteater306 MAR 09, 03:23 PM
In a pinch, had to purchase Duralast brand rear hub bearings. I HATE buying off-brand parts for my vehicles but I discovered the failed hub yesterday. Leaving for a trip in the Fiero on Thursday! Not enough time to wait for a name-brand. Oh well, wish me luck.

I’ve never had a hub like this fail without making grinding noises. Discovered it while rotating the tires. I grabbed the wheel at 9 & 3 and it was loose. Immediately assumed it was a tie rod. Then I realized it was loose all the way around...tie rods are solid. Just under 270k miles and both rears are original! No noise, so weird to me. Glad I caught it tho.
2.5 MAR 09, 04:24 PM
Well, they gotta be good for at least a few trips
donuteater306 MAR 09, 04:56 PM
Haha that’s true. Thankfully they’re easy to swap.
Kevin87FieroGT MAR 09, 08:50 PM
270,000mi...........holy crap! I guess those OEM hubs gave pretty good service!

I had a OEM set howl at 40,000. Replaced with Moog / National S-513011 hubs (Rock Auto) , that worked great.

[This message has been edited by Kevin87FieroGT (edited 03-09-2020).]

Dennis LaGrua MAR 09, 09:51 PM

quote
Originally posted by Kevin87FieroGT:

270,000mi...........holy crap! I guess those OEM hubs gave pretty good service!

I had a OEM set howl at 40,000. Replaced with Moog / National S-513011 hubs (Rock Auto) , that worked great.




The OEM hubs were Timken and were of very good quality. Moog and National were also good but todays hubs are mainly Chinese made imports. The steels use to make them are soft and the seals not good enough to keep the dirt out. With daily use the expected life of the Chinese bearing hubs is 6 month to a year. Look online for more info.

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donuteater306 MAR 09, 11:05 PM
I agree with you guys, under normal circumstances i'd have purchased Timken or SKF. I was hoping (fat chance) that since the bearing was used on millions of GM cars that different brands would have been in stock. Nope. Duralast was the only thing I could get in one day so for $35ea, they may not last very long but they're safer than what I had. I hate doing work twice but oh well. I'm about to write a letter to Pontiac telling them how disappointed with the quality of their product ad demand a warranty replacement HAHAHAHA!

For those of you who've had to replace them. Did they get noisy?
AsaBergman MAR 10, 08:18 AM
My passenger side OEM hub failed shortly after I got the car. I didn't want to start dumping a lot of money into it before I got it running right so I bought a Duralast hub. I had one issue: the first Duralast hub I got did not fit the splines of the axle. It wasn't corrosion or a tight fit, it's as though the splines in the hub were slightly tapered. I returned it and got a replacement, SAME part number on the hub and it fit the axle perfect.

The Duralast hub I installed has about 10k miles on it the past year primarily doing 60-65 mph including being driven in rain. I check on both hubs once a month, no signs of premature wear or play. For $35 I'd say even if it fails tomorrow I got my money out of it. I've also used a driver side Duralast axle for the manual transmission that's been holding up good so far.

Driver side I installed a Moog hub about 5k ago. Only issue I had there was the seal that goes into the knuckle was incorrect but otherwise the hub has been fine.
Kevin87FieroGT MAR 10, 08:58 AM

quote
Originally posted by donuteater306:

For those of you who've had to replace them. Did they get noisy?



No noise with the Moogs, solved the problems. Looked OEM. No parts issues. Install went well.

donuteater306 MAR 10, 09:48 AM
Awesome, thanks guys, I appreciate the replies. Maybe the old bearing was the mild shimmy I was feeling
donuteater306 MAR 10, 09:53 PM
Well, they're installed. Neither original felt bad although there is obviously no weight on them.