My second Timken hub came today. I replaced the driver side from failure, this is preventative for passenger side. I dont know why I never spun the first new one by hand, so I can not compare. But my new hub feels odd. Under one full rotation it hit about 9 points where it feels like a dull click. You cant miss it.

So naturally I searched but came up empty besides one result from SKF that mentioned new wheel hub assemblies may not be smooth due to crystallization in the grease.
https://www.skf.com/binary/81-283784/TT09_008.pdf

And before anyone asks, my first hub was from Amazon and appeared 100% legit with no issues since install. But this time I went to a reputable online parts supplier and again it appears 100% legit. I dont have doubts its a proper, authentic Timken. I am just wondering if this is really normal? I can only think once the bearing is installed and loaded it will be fine. It is older stock too, it has the older hologram no longer used by Timken - so that could lead some credence to the crystallization idea.

Thoughts from anyone who has installed a lot of wheel hubs?

 

Ive changed a few front hubs now due to premature failure and being pretty certain now they were not genuine items. I do recall spinning them before installing as I was comparing the one I took out for slack/play. The new ones were smooth if not a little stiff, but certainly no clicking or notching as I rotated them.

I am myself waiting for a new hub to arrive tomorrow and will let you know what that one is like. Its not from Amazon but a well known LR parts suplier, so I'm pretty sure its not a knock off one.

 

Did you order a Timken?

 

Need to check mine out something feels off in the front on my LR3.

 

Well I got the new hub today and its not a Timken, its one from Atlantic British, the brand is Hudson.

I did check it for smoothness and it seemed just the same as any other hub I've fitted, no grinding or obvious resistance, but a little stiff from being new.

All of that said I fitted it in around 45 mins - getting pretty good at them now and figured I would just check to make sure the slack/play that was present on the one I took out and the one that that one replaced was gone and aaaaaaaaarrrrrgghhhhhhh!!!!!! its still there.

So I am not entirely convinced it was a failed hub bearing on the one I just took out and it even runs smooth. So tomorrow when my son is over we will see if we can find where the slack/play is coming from - if anyone has any ideas or has had a similar experience feel free to share.

In case anyone suggests, yes everything was tightened up, a new nut was used on the shaft. So whatever the issue is, i don't think its the hub at this point.

 

I never heard of Hudson. But AB has a good rep, so its probably a good hub. I did mine today too. Timken said the feel in the new hub is normal, more so the longer they sit on the shelf and its normal. So that matches what SFK said. So I went ahead and installed it today. It went so much faster than the first one. I used the "hit the hub bolt from behind" method and the hub came out much quicker. Basically thread back in two hub bolts at opposite corner - front top, reward bottom. Then use a large hammer to hit one to create a gap. Put a flat head in the gap. Hit the other bolt. You risk ripping the CV boot, so I did not use the hammer handle. I used the large metal hammer head as if it was a rock for more control. Took maybe a minute to knock the hub out. Also turns out this hub was in fact bad, just not much so I did not notice when driving. I even bought a new torque wrench that goes up to 250 ft/lb for the axle nut. Of note, the LR4 axel nut spec is 170? And the rear on the LR3 is also 170? I think there was a revision when the axles and axle but where updated. I wonder if 248 ft/lb is too much now.

How are you checking for slack? Top to bottom is best for hub. If you grab wheel at 9 and 3, thats likely a tie-rod.

 

Mine came out pretty easy as it was only replaced a week ago and yes top and bottom is showing play. Going to recheck the hub nut torque tomorrow - just in case.

 

I suggest you get another set of hands to manipulate the wheel while you look it over. Check the upper ball joint, lower ball joints. FYI a couple times I *though* I had wheel play and it turned out to the the sway bar link. When I was rocking the wheel at 12 and 6 I was also, almost unpreventable, moving it up and down. The link had enough slop that its ball joint would move crating a much bigger thud than expected. Once I noticed the play, you could not miss it. But I really thought it was something else at first.

 

Well it turns out it was my torque wrench that was the issue. It was not achieving the right setting and only managed to get ot around 80 ft lb. So a different wrench and the correct 170 ft lb and I managed about another 1/8 of a turn and no more play.

Now I just have to figure out all the other things I've used the torque wrench on!!!!

This may also help to explain the apparent premature failure of the other hub, which I suspect was actually perfectly fine.

 

Well, thats not good. I hope your new hub is not damaged too! Did you look into the torque spec at all? Maybe I should later today. I am really curious what is correct. All my stuff says 248 ft/lb, but LR4 170 ft/lb like you did.

edit:
So I looked at my RAVE stuff, it says LR3 is 258 (not 248) foot/;b for front and rear axle retaining nuts. Separate torque specifications sheet from Rover agrees on that. But my RAVE stuff is older, so I am not sure if it contains anything new on this. Bellow I attacked the SKG info and it aligns with Rover. Front hub is left column in ft/nm, right is rear axle nut. Not sure what is up with 2008. I will dig into this later.