120 series Prado wheel bearings

Lincoln.
In the starter make sure the contacts of the solenoid switch are replaced. They burn stepped. In the geared section, use Teflon grease with Teflon/Nulon G70 transmission additive in any bushes or open bearing races. It makes them use much less power and crank speed is faster.
At 207,00 km I would be inspecting the wheel bearings very closely is reusing. Magnified close inspection of cone surface and every surface of every tapered roller. If not perfect discard/replace. If buying a bearing kit, make sure they are very reputable bearings, kits often use cheaper ones. Seals the same story. Kits may cause grief in the long term. Are your rears full floating hubs?

I have a 2007 D4D with 360000 on it never replaced my bearings,talked to my mechanic before a trip up through the Savana Way to Darwin. Told me I worry to much,hoping when the time comes to do them I am at home.

Hi Lincoln,

Are you a member of LCOOL, Landcruiser Owners On Line? It is free to join, and is a Forum for Landcruiser owners. There are separate sections for all the different Landcruiser models including Prado. It has lots of useful information about maintenance etc.

Macca.

The Prado uses a "Unit" style front wheel bearing, a cost-saving design which is becoming more common on newer vehicles. It's a common arrangement on the rear of many FWD cars.

The Unit style wheel bearing requires a workshop press and bearing separator for bearing replacement - and great care must be taken with the hub assembly, as it contains the wiring and the ring for the ABS.

Both the wiring and ABS ring require very careful handling to avoid damage to them. Damage either and you'll cost yourself a lot of $$'s and possibly require an ECU reset.

As general rule, most wheel bearings under average use conditions will last around 300-400,000 kms.

What shortens bearing life is constant high speeds, low quality or inadequate quantity of grease, water ingress, heavy dust conditions, heavy loads, and rough roads.

Surprisingly, being trucked long distances can also shorten bearing life, as the bearings receive constant road shocks at one position on their races.

This was particularly common in the 1930's, as new vehicles were trucked long distances on rough roads, and they used ball bearings for wheel bearings.
The change to roller bearings in wheel bearings reduced the problem, but roller bearings are not foolproof, either.

By far the greatest threat to wheel bearing lifespan is deep water. Most wheel bearing seals have dual lips for sealing, but water can still get through them, particularly if you drive into an extensive distance of cold deep water, with hot wheel hubs.

The hot hubs cool rapidly on contact with the deep water, and create a sudden vacuum inside the hub which assists in drawing in water.
Then, if the vehicle sits still for an extended period, corrosion pits will form on the surfaces of the bearing race or roller that only have a very light coating of grease.

A "crook" bearing will produce a constant rumble at speeds over about 20-30kmh, or a "chunk, chunk, chunk" sound as you're driving along, as the rollers run over a damaged section of the race, or as roller with a rust-pitted section, turns.
But even rust-damaged bearings will still last a considerable length of time, before they fail completely.

The second greatest cause of bearing failure is an inadequate amount of grease. Some manufacturers use only the bare minimum amount of grease, when assembling new bearings and hubs.

If your bearings are quiet, and have no movement in the hub (jack the vehicle up and rock the wheel back and forth, by holding it top and bottom), then they shouldn't need any attention.
Any movement in the hub indicates bearing wear is becoming excessive, and they need looking at.

But if you have been travelling at extended high speeds, on rough dusty roads, whilst heavily loaded - and transiting deep water crossings as well - then I'd suggest it would pay to examine them for bearing condition, and grease condition, if they have done over 200,000 kms.

If you do recondition them, remember to use high temperature, water-resistant grease suitable for disc brake wheel bearings.

The bloke in the video below has a pretty good video on Prado bearing replacement (despite his poor spelling abilities!).

Toyota 4WD unit wheel bearing replacement

Cheers, Ron.

My Tyres are starting to get a little noisy as they wear out,my mechanic drove it snaking it up the road loading up the bearings,no change in noise, he is a pretty switched on runs local RACQ Business,they get to experience with all types of vehicles,He used to own a Prado with high mileage.
John

Just realised you asked about type of road use,at a guess,probably only about 10000 kys of gravel corrugated roads,mostly taxi picking up Grankids,lots of 1000 k trips to visit sister in law,always driving 1000k with a couple of coffee breaks,average 11 to 12 hours for the trips
John

Hi Yes i have replaced the front bearings on my 120 series prado, there are 2 ways to do it buy the parts, bearing and 2 seals and seperate your drive flange from the hub assembly or buy a complete hub assembly.

https://www.machter.com.au/front-wheel-bearing-hub-assembly-for-toyota-prado?gclid=Cj0KCQiAqY3zBRDQARIsAJeCVxNBJGM4V3hQCbtlhN4IdCfh1w7BYwfsYMWfK7_L19duCMwpI0ZpJhYaAmzPEALw_wcB

https://www.sparesbox.com.au/part/drivetech-4x4-wheel-bearing-kit-front-dt-wbk14?gclid=Cj0KCQiAqY3zBRDQARIsAJeCVxMqyzAyLioK0zIwwvA3d-624dPTNWw4vkNTca0aHaQTZ854eCiRIyYaAr0KEALw_wcB

the two different items are shown, you will need a good press if you are going to strip them yourself however for the price of a complete hub assembly the price is still quite cheap and makes the job very quick. both sides can be done in a couple of hours taking it easy if you have some mechanical skills.
Happy to answer any questions if yoou need any advice . cheers and good luck.

We carried a bearing assembly with us for 2 years never used it and could not have changed it on the side of the road anyway. but when we did them at home, we put it to good use.

If you want cheap genuine parts, try Partsouq.com.

They are based in the UAE and will provide you with the genuine part for your Jap vehicle at around 1/2 to 2/3rds the cost of anywhere else.

Best of all, they airfreight parts direct to you in about 5 or 6 days at low cost (most smaller parts are US$14 in freight cost).

They have online parts catalogues, just get your vehicle VIN and look for the part and part number.
When you find the P/No, click on it, and they will often have a clear photo (or more than one photo) of the part.

I've saved hundreds and hundreds of dollars by dealing with this mob. Beats the major price rorts we get here, particularly from dealers.

Where does their name come from? "Part" is pretty obvious, "Souq" is Arabic for "marketplace".

Just at a quick glance, I spotted complete, genuine Prado wheel hubs there, for US$81.09. Shipping is US$38.83, making the total US$119.92 = AU$180 approx.

You can buy non-genuine hubs much cheaper, but be aware they are Chinese, and use Chinese bearings, with the inevitable dodgy quality.

Cheers, Ron.

Thanks everyone for your input will inspect wheels next weekend when new tyres go on cheers.

Give yourself plenty of time between fitting all the new parts to actually leaving.
New parts can be faulty or if fitting is a little less than good.
I replaced my alternator at 200k and all ldlers. The bearings in them all felt as good as new.
Set out on a 10000km trip at 210k and the new heavy duty alternator failed electrically on the third day.
I opted not to take the old alternator along as a spare as i did everything else.
Luckily i was in longreach when the light failed to go out and picked up another new unit and fitted it myself, only cost me a couple of hours, but if it happened the next day we have been half way across the plenty.
New parts can fail too. They wouldnt need a warranty if they didnt.