OEM or Aftermarket wheel bearings

[AlexC2350]

Just got my truck inspected for the year and it passed but I was told that the drivers front wheel bearing will need to be replaced pretty soon. Truck has 95k on it, so seems a little premature. I’ll very for myself when I get a chance but plan to replace both front wheel bearings anyway before I get into a situation.

The question is what are the best options for replacement. OEM or Aftermarket. Found a decent deal for both fronts from Timken. Then Moog was the same price for one, which I’m not against spending the money but want to know if it is worth it. I will have this truck at least another 100k so I’d rather have them last.

Also my truck has always been very sensitive to the crown in the road so left 2 lanes tend to have to fight from pulling left. I drive in the right lanes mostly and everything tracks straight over there and on 2 lane roads. Is this normal and could it have led to the, what I consider premature wear of the drivers side bearing.

The tires wear evenly and are going to go 60k on these Cooper AT3 295/70/18.

 

[buckeyexx]

Had both of my fronts done about 6 months ago. I went with SKF from rockauto. Most things I read about moog was to stay away from them as they are hit and miss on quality.

 

[Dean2]

SKF yes, OEM yes, Moog for bearings no. With Moog you are never sure who they have making their stuff. This article might help.

The 9 best bearing brands in the world | TFL BEARINGS

Top 9 best bearing brands in2021:skf,***,nsk,ntn,timken,koyo,iko,ina,nachi.ISO certified Chinese bearing distributor- inventory guarantee 7 days fast delivery.

tflbearing.com

Found this about Moog. Not sure I agree but it is a perspective. I have had bearings run 300,000 miles, I don't call 25,000 evidence of success.

The Best Wheel Bearing Brand: Timken vs SKF vs Moog

So, your wheel bearings (or axles) gave up to wear and tear? I consider three brands to be top-notch if we're talking about replacements. Here's my in-depth comparison on Timken, Moog and SKF.

toolingfun.com

 

[2003F350]

Moog used to be a trusted brand, it's sad to see a company rely on that trust to start producing an inferior product.

That said, you can't go wrong with Timken or SKF. Despite one of them moving a lot of stuff to China (I believe Timken did this), they're still holding their quality pretty well.

 

[bm02tj]

My vote will be SKF

 

[AlexC2350]

Thanks for the replies. I’ll look into the SKF. The best deal I found on mopar was 530 a piece. Hopefully can source something decent for a more reasonable price.

 

[G. Mcpherson]

The last set that I purchased was from Rock Auto. Timken. about 224 each

 

[buckeyexx]

Thanks for the replies. I’ll look into the SKF. The best deal I found on mopar was 530 a piece. Hopefully can source something decent for a more reasonable price.

Wow! Thats steep! Not sure what the difference is between 4th and 5th gen’s but rock auto doesn’t even show an skf bearing assembly for the 5th gen. But shows for the 4th gen. Maybe the abs plug is different. Only one that shows in stock is one I’ve never heard of and they want 133 a piece. The skf is 200 a piece for the 4th gen.

 

[AlexC2350]

Yeah there are definitely more options for 4th gen. 200 a piece for a good quality one I’d scoop it up but it’s seems like they’re either really cheap or pushing a grand for 2. I called my local sanel auto parts and he told me they don’t have any options for my truck, it’s a dealer part.

Anyone got experience with TRQ? I can find those for a decent deal.

 

[AlexC2350]

The last set that I purchased was from Rock Auto. Timken. about 224 each

Rock Auto shows them as an option but everything is unavailable.

 

[AlexC2350]

The search was tough, all the best deals were of questionable quality and the known good quality aftermarket ones were unavailable. So I ended up picking up 2 OEM bearings for $720.

 

[BossHogg]

Just a thought, since in this case, Stellantis, doesn't make many of the parts that go into our vehicles, what makes a part OEM? We know a nameplate like RAM has multiple vendors supplying parts to the assembly lines and often multiple suppliers are supplying the same part (single sourcing is just short of suicide). We also know there are crappy versions of the same part floating around. Too bad Stellantis didn't release a list of their vendors.

I guess that makes the OEM part the one that has a huge markup. Before retirement, a part we sold to Ford, a body control module, we sold at $42 each. Ford's parts resold that BCM for $695 plus the time it took to program the BCM to the vehicle. If I had a market, I could have sold them out of the trunk of my car. That did happen albeit by the line workers, they would lift items like keyfobs from vehicles on the assembly line and then resell them on eBay. My company also made OEM FOBs.

 

[JayLeonard]

The company I worked for was and still is the single source for steering intermediate shafts for certain vehicles. It’s a long process to get approval and in my experience they don’t dual source per vehicle platform, although there are other suppliers for different platforms.
I agree on the service part costs; one of our shafts would cost an automaker in the $25 dollar range but would sell for almost 10 times that as a service part.
I would add that our assembly is a critical safety part perhaps that’s why it was single sourced.

 

[Tominator223]

manufactures are always changing part #’s on the same parts. They’ve done this forever. So you may find gen2 or gen3 parts are actually the same part. I go in the local parts store & compare a lot . They wanna make more $$$. So they change part #’s. Ford did it with ignitions in the 70’s & 80’s. Friend had a 73 Ltd mom had a 83 Ltd they took the same key. But the 83 ignition was more $$. If you don’t mind spending $$. Don’t research just buy what they sell ya. I’ve seen this with brake pads , wheel bearings, axle bearings & so on.

 

[MAULEMALL]

SKF yes, OEM yes, Moog for bearings no. With Moog you are never sure who they have making their stuff. This article might help.

The 9 best bearing brands in the world | TFL BEARINGS

Top 9 best bearing brands in2021:skf,***,nsk,ntn,timken,koyo,iko,ina,nachi.ISO certified Chinese bearing distributor- inventory guarantee 7 days fast delivery.

tflbearing.com

Found this about Moog. Not sure I agree but it is a perspective. I have had bearings run 300,000 miles, I don't call 25,000 evidence of success.

The Best Wheel Bearing Brand: Timken vs SKF vs Moog

So, your wheel bearings (or axles) gave up to wear and tear? I consider three brands to be top-notch if we're talking about replacements. Here's my in-depth comparison on Timken, Moog and SKF.

toolingfun.com

Ya know I checked the first list you posted and I noticed They were all axis power bearings... My first thought was Hogans Heros missed a plant..
Man I'm old

 

[Dean2]

I am old enough to remember that too. Still hard to beat German engineering and quality.

 

[Tulecreeper]

Ya know I checked the first list you posted and I noticed They were all axis power bearings... My first thought was Hogans Heros missed a plant..
Man I'm old

I am old enough to remember that too. Still hard to beat German engineering and quality.

I remember that episode.

 

[2Tallguy]

There's some articles where guy lube the "sealed" bearings through the ABS port and getting 400K out of them.
Personally I got in a group buy for Dynatracs hubs PlusDynatrac had a big rebate for them and their BJ's.

 

[Ternsdorff]

The search was tough, all the best deals were of questionable quality and the known good quality aftermarket ones were unavailable. So I ended up picking up 2 OEM bearings for $720.

I think you did the smart thing. If I could not get Timken or sks I'd break down and go factory as well. 1k isn't to bad considering the weight of the trucks and tires. Especialy if you have any type of mods or wheels with different offset. I miss the days of inner and outer bearings that could be serviced and support the load better than a single sealed outer bearing. I do understand dealers going thos route though with the lack of maintenance vehicles often get.

 

[Ternsdorff]

Just a thought, since in this case, Stellantis, doesn't make many of the parts that go into our vehicles, what makes a part OEM? We know a nameplate like RAM has multiple vendors supplying parts to the assembly lines and often multiple suppliers are supplying the same part (single sourcing is just short of suicide). We also know there are crappy versions of the same part floating around. Too bad Stellantis didn't release a list of their vendors.

I guess that makes the OEM part the one that has a huge markup. Before retirement, a part we sold to Ford, a body control module, we sold at $42 each. Ford's parts resold that BCM for $695 plus the time it took to program the BCM to the vehicle. If I had a market, I could have sold them out of the trunk of my car. That did happen albeit by the line workers, they would lift items like keyfobs from vehicles on the assembly line and then resell them on eBay. My company also made OEM FOBs.

I had one of the first Ford diesels made by international. If I went to an international dealer for engine parts and bought oem international brand it was about half the price as the same oem part made by international and placed in a Ford box