Ball bearing wheel bearings are cheaper to manufacture and maintain than their tapered bearing counterparts. Press-in bearings require the use of a hydraulic press to safely remove and replace them. On most vehicles, such as a Honda Civic or Toyota Camry, specifically for front wheel bearing replacements, the steering knuckle will need to be removed. Removing the knuckle will require wheel alignment afterward. Due to the need for a hydraulic press, the need for wheel alignment, and the depth of the repair, most people opt to let the pros handle it. There are options such as removing the steering knuckle at home and taking the assembly into a shop and having them press the old bearing out and the new bearing in. When it comes to press-in bearings, a replacement wheel hub will be the most expensive part. Aftermarket parts such as NAPA offer full assemblies for replacement. This may be the better option, depending on how rusty or worn your vehicle is.

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KT tapered roller bearings Kaydon's unique concept of standard bearings with light weight, thin sections, and large bore diameters includes tapered roller bearings as well as ball bearings. Kaydon KT series tapered bearings offer advantages to designs that would benefit from the many unique advantages of a thin section bearing but require a bearing of higher capacity and/or less space or weight. KT tapered roller bearings are ideal for applications ranging from oil field equipment to machine tool tables. Download the Kaydon Reali-Slim® bearing catalog

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Reali-Slim TT® thin section turntable bearings Kaydon Reali-Slim TT® series are the first small-scale, thin section turntable bearings available for such demanding applications as robotics, radar antennae, and factory positioning and inspection tables. Kaydon turntable bearings save weight, reduce product design envelope sizes and increase design flexibility.

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Ultra-Slim® extra thin section bearings Kaydon Ultra-Slim® extra thin bearings offer many possibilities where precise positioning and lightweight designs are critical. Precision-engineered Ultra-Slim® bearings are made of stainless steel for corrosion resistance. These low profile, precision ball bearings are ideal for robotics, inspection equipment, satellites, cameras and similar light and medium duty applications with slow or intermittent rotation.

Bearings for demanding applications Kaydon Reali-Slim® thin section hybrid bearings are specifically engineered for service in the most severe or extreme environments. Tremendous benefits in performance can be obtained by matching not just size but also material to the application. These alternative race and ball materials interact differently from traditional chrome steel bearings. Kaydon stainless steel bearings are used where high precision and corrosion resistance are required. Download the Kaydon Reali-Slim® bearing catalog

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Reali-Slim® thin section sealed bearings Kaydon Reali-Slim® sealed bearings offer integral sealed and integral shielded bearings, providing a very compact overall design with the additional advantage of protecting the bearing before, during and after installation.

At Kaydon, we apply engineering experience and expertise to solve the world's most unique bearing challenges. The Kaydon Reali-Slim® inch-standard bearing is one of the most widely used thin section bearings in the world. Kaydon thin bearing solutions save weight, create space, reduce friction, increase design flexibility, and provide excellent running accuracy.

Wheel bearings provide a mounting point for the wheels and allow the wheels to spin. Wheel bearings are either a tapered rolling bearing design or a ball bearing design. Ball bearing designs are either press-in or bolt-in. Let's take a look at each bearing design in more detail.

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If you notice growling or clunking noises, vibrations, abnormal tire wear, or excessive steering wheel play, your car may have one or more worn wheel bearings. Wheel bearings are what make our wheels go round, literally. Despite their simple design and purpose, wheel bearing replacements can be costly. The type of wheel bearing used is entirely dependent on the manufacturer, and you may pay more for a repair on a luxury vehicle. When it comes to replacing bearings, you can do this repair yourself on certain vehicles, while for others, you may need to recruit the help of the pros. In this article, we are going to cover what a wheel bearing is, how it works, the different design types, symptoms of a worn wheel bearing, how to check your car for a worn bearing, and how much it costs to replace a wheel bearing.

How much is it to fix or replace a wheel bearing? That depends on the make/model of your car as well as the type of bearing. RepairPal estimates a wheel bearing replacement will cost you between $300 and $400. This estimate can be accurate for most vehicles. However, if we look at the pricing for the popular Toyota Tacoma, the price jumps as high as $740. Using a whole knuckle assembly from NAPA or other parts suppliers will cost between $250 and $500, plus labor. Like most repairs, if you do them yourself, you can save some money. However, when it comes to serviceable bearings and press-in bearings, we recommend you let the pros handle the repair, especially if you live in the rust belt.

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Checking wheel bearings for wear is easy and only requires the vehicle or wheel to be suspended. Follow these steps to check the wheel bearing on your car:

The Kaydon bearing selector allows you to search our standard thin section bearings by dimension or part number. Results include downloadable 2D and 3D drawings.

Reali-Slim® stainless steel thin section bearings Kaydon stainless steel bearings are used where high precision and corrosion resistance are required. AISI 440C stainless steel Reali-Slim® thin section bearings minimize the surface degradation and particulate formation so common to harsh environment applications.

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Reali-Slim MM® thin section metric bearings Kaydon Reali-Slim MM® series products provide compact, lightweight designs for applications requiring metric envelope dimensions or dimensional interchangeability with other products.

Worn wheel bearings shouldn't be ignored. The cost of a wheel bearing replacement in front or at the back is a small price to pay for reducing the safety hazards that come with this component wearing out.

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Tapered roller bearings are serviceable, which means they can be removed, cleaned, and repacked with grease to prolong their life. Aside from lasting longer, serviceable bearings are cheaper to replace. However, over a lifetime of service, it may add up to maintenance services/costs. Unfortunately, the majority of vehicle manufacturers do not offer serviceable bearings anymore. Years ago, the Ford F-150 and Toyota Land Cruiser used this style of bearing. The biggest drawback of tapered roller bearings is improper maintenance. Overloaded or improperly pre-loaded bearings wear prematurely. Improper grease packing is another issue when it comes to maintenance.

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Endurakote®-plated Endura-Slim® bearings Kaydon's proprietary Endurakote® hard chromium plating protects bearings from corrosion and provides substantial life improvements in hostile environments, achieving the corrosion resistance normally found only in stainless steel bearings, but at a lower cost. This is particularly beneficial for large diameter bearings or where quick delivery is critical.

We highly recommend you avoid driving with a worn wheel bearing. Wheel bearings can become so worn that the hub can fall out of the bearing, causing the wheel to detach from the vehicle. This is a serious scenario that you’ll want to avoid at all costs. Additionally, a worn wheel bearing will reduce the vehicle’s handling and braking abilities. If your wheel bearing is only making noise and does not exhibit any wheel play when inspected, you may have some time before you absolutely need to replace the bearing. However, if the wheel has excessive play due to a worn bearing, you’ll want to get it fixed immediately.

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These are by far the easiest bearings to work with, as long as you do not live in the rust belt. Issues that arise from bolt-in bearings are bi-metal corrosion and cost. If your vehicle is equipped with an aluminum steering knuckle, expect a fight when removing the steel bearing. This mostly applies to states that suffer from increased levels of vehicle corrosion and rust due to the climate. Since replacement parts come as an assembly, the cost can be higher when compared to a press-in or tapered roller bearing. Vehicles such as the Jeep Wrangler will use these bearings on the front axle and vehicles such as the Toyota RAV4 will use these in the rear.

Reali-Slim® thin section open bearings The Kaydon Reali-Slim® bearings series is based on a single cross section which remains constant as the bore diameter is increased (in sharp contrast to standard bearings, in which the cross section increases as the bore diameter increases). By using the same series of Reali-Slim® bearings throughout a product line, the designer can standardize on common components.

Wheel bearings can exhibit growling/howling noises and show no signs of play or wear, other than excessive noise. To diagnose these, you’ll need to drive the vehicle at various speeds in turns. A left front-wheel bearing that is worn may only make noise during left turns or right turns.

Kaydon bearings are available in the industry's largest variety of materials, separator options, cross sections, internal fit up choices, lubricants, corrosion resistance options, contact angles, and precision levels. Our Reali-Slim® bearings meet the most demanding specifications in a broad range of applications including: Aerospace and defense Astronomy instrumentation Fixturing and workholding equipment Food processing equipment Glassworking equipment Index and rotary tables Packaging equipment Machine tools Medical systems and medical devices Optical scanning equipment Tire making equipment Radar, satellite and communications equipment Robotics Textile machinery Tube and pipe cutting machines Semiconductor manufacturing equipment Sorting equipment

If the wheel bearing is worn, you will feel a popping as you move the wheel. Additional methods for inspecting wheel bearings include using chassis ears, a stethoscope, and a dial indicator (to measure the exact amount of wear).

BB series metric ball bearings When factors such as cost, availability, corrosion resistance, tighter tolerances, torque, seal/shield options, and temperature resistance are important in your application, it pays to consider BB series four-point contact metric bearings as an alternative to cross-roller bearings. The additional design flexibility they offer can often help you achieve your design objectives with optimum performance and economy. BB series metric bearings are available to match the bores and widths of common cross-roller bearings and, unlike standard crossed roller bearings, BB series ball bearings include a protective package. Download the Kaydon Reali-Slim® bearing catalog