Yesterday I more or less completed my drive down from BC to the Mexican border at Tecate. My plan was to drive across the next day for a couple months of camping but I noticed at low speed a grinding noise from the front right wheel. Looking at the disc from the rear I could see it was rubbing on the dust shield. Checking Google indicated JLR of San Diego was going to be open so I was able to drive the 42 miles to get there from the Potrero Regional Campground. They were able to replace the wheel hub for $1300 which is not too bad, much better than the $3800 they first wanted. That included new front rotors and pads for $1600 which is way too much. So I said I was planning to change them myself in April and can we just do the hub? The service manager, Adrian Hernandez, was very helpful and agreed to just do the hub. Got the car back at 4:30 and back in the campground. Crossing at Tecate tomorrow. Kudos to JLR of San Diego for getting it done in one day and not insisting on the rotors.

 

$1,300? That is nuts... The bearing assembly is at most $250 for Timken, which is OEM. The job itself can easily be done in under an hour. Well off, axel nut removed, upper ball joint popped out and then just swap the hub assembly. At least you got it fixed though. Keep in mind that the other will fail very soon if it has not already begun to do so. Always replace wheel bearings in sets. Fronts as a pair and rears as a pair. The rears do last a lot longer but THOSE are weeeee bit harder to install for sure.

 

Yes, I agree it is pretty high, especially the labour charge as the hub was something like $450 US. The most expensive hub from RockAuto is a Timken unit for $277 CAD. Not sure the job is quite as easy as you suggest as the technician snapped off one bolt. I will see when I replace the left one in the Spring.
As an aside, the car drove pretty normally aside from the noise at low speed. I couldn't chance driving in Baja with it though.
Currently camped 38km north of Ensenada.

 

Really need to pop the ball joint? Atlantic British video doesn't show that as necessary. Curious as I will attempt to DIY mine shortly.

 

I've replaced wheel bearings and don't recall having to remove the ball joint either.
Getting a better one is probably a good idea though. I tried the cheap route and it made it just about a year, and when it went it went hard. The original one gave me some warning.

 

Never said to remove it. Pop it out, as to pop it out of the knuckle. If you can do the bearing without giving the axel some room though, more power to you. I just find it a lot easier not have the axel up against the bearing plus I like to avoid boot damage. By boot, I mean axel boot not winter boots….

 

I did the front hub on my RRS in about an hour (20min of that was trying to find a 12point for the brake caliper mounting bolts...). I didn't touch the upper ball joint either. CV just sat there as I removed the old dead hub, and I simply just slid the new hub into place and put it all back. I will be doing the LF this weekend when I get some free time.

 

I am starting to wonder if I really needed a new hub. In La Paz I had a former Canadian mechanic, Paul Wedlake, take a look at the front left. No play in the hub at all. You would think it would be similar to the right front.

The scrape in the back side of the right front brake rotor was caused by one of the small bolts that holds the dust shield in place backing out. I started hearing the scaping noise again 700km ago and thought the left was going but the mechanic found the bolt head had broken off and was stuck between the shield and disc. I am puzzled as to how the dealership could have missed the issue with this loose bolt. The bolts holding in the right front hub do look like they have been worked on so I guess they did install a new hub but I wonder if they did that because I suggested it might be the problem?
I should have just told them I was hearing a scraping noise at the right front.

 

Dealerships have steps they take the diagnose issues, they don't usually go by what a client says because they can be wrong. After all, that is why one goes to a dealership - paying for the premium experience and procedures to "do it right". But not all deanships are created equal... Very odd a dust shield bolt would back out. They are thread locked and new bolts also come with it already on them. That seems to imply someone was in there prior but not sure why the shield bolts would have been touched since there really is no reason to remove them for pretty much any procedure. Unless the vehicle was in an accident and maybe the form knuckles were bent and swapped with all the rest of the hardware simply being carried over onto the new ones.

 

Forgot to include a photo of the dust shield and bolt head.
The mechanic here said my tie rod ends were a little loose but would still get me home. I would have thought the dealer would comment on that.