Hi 19,

I'm glad to hear that you changed them both. Your hubs should be good for a long while. Those old bearings might be original to the car.

You may know this. Your bearings don't have to show visible signs of spalling or scratches to be worn out. The rollers and race begin to wear away from the first turn, and may still retain their polish through their life. At some point this wear allows the rollers to move around in the cage, accelerating the wear and making noise and vibrations. This is especially true with ball bearings which are not adjustable but it also applies to tapered rollers.

When Timken suggests replacement at 100k, it doesn't mean they won't roll for 300k. It means that by testing, they've found something they don't like at 100k plus a margin of safety. The safety factor could be as high as 50% to allow for extreme conditions. I'm guessing.

One way to evaluate a bearing is to clean it of all grease and hold the race with your fingers, elbow bent and fingers pointing up. Put the bearing into the race and spin it. You'll get feedback from the sound and the feeling in your fingers. For some people that's enough, but it's better if you have a clean new bearing to compare it with. Another test is to compare the looseness of the rollers in the cages of the new and old bearings.

I'd be happy to endorse STA LUBE EXTREME PRESSURE MOLY-GRAPH MULTI PURPOSE GREASE. Moly-graph refers to molybdenum disulphide and graphite, two solid lubricants. There's a bit of a premium on it but it's good stuff. I think I got it at NAPA last time, 14 oz. can, part# SL 3147.

Peter