My two cents...take the Timken and the PartStoreBrand out of the box and look at them.

If they appear to be the same...the very probably are. I'm thinking the demand for these is not very high and there is likely one source worldwide for Cherokee unihubs. It is not likely there is a difference in one company to another...they might all buy from the same plant.

Again...just my 2 cents...but your eyes won't lie to you.

 

go to autozone and get the timkin...13mm caliper bolts, and 36mm hub nut.......very easy to do.........as stated above

 

I don't know about any other brands, but Timken bearings are manufactured in house and they stand by their warranty. The hub assemblies may all be manufactured in the same place, but the bearings inside of them are not, and those are the most important part.


Volkswagen A motors and ABA motors are manufactured in the same plant, but ABA motors have forged internals. What's inside is what counts.

 

x2

 

Timken used to manufacture here in the US. The little *****, barrels, and other junk that makes up a bearing - all made by them. But I dont know about these days...do they have a plant here? Does that plant make the parts in the bearing you are buying? How do you know?

I'm not arguing whether they are the best - they are. I'm saying it is very, very hard to determine where the bearing in your unihub came from. I just don't want to pay 100% premium for the brand name only. I will pull the parts, look them over, and decide when I'm standing there.

 

When I talked to one of their representatives last year after I snapped my hub assembly in half he told me their bearings are manufactured and assembled in the US. (They also refunded me the cost of the replacement, even though the hub assembly breaking was caused by my death wobble.) Looking at their locations page, they have plants all around the world, many being in the US. http://www.timken.com/en-us/about/Pages/Locations.aspx


Also to add: I wouldn't really consider $112 "Premium" for a brand new hub assembly. I'd consider that a reasonable price considering the machining that goes into them.

 

No Doubt

 

I checked out the link and you're right - they've got a bunch of plants here.

Also, I don't think $112 is much either...I priced them a couple weeks ago locally and they are $135. I'm doing mine soon, along with the wheel u-joints. I've got one on hand and need to buy one more. I'll check Timken and whatever else is out there and RPT back.

 

Good luck with your searches.. I bought mine at Autozone. I'm not sure if you have them around where you live, but if you do, check them out. If you're not in a hurry, Autozone offers free shipping for the holidays if you spend $75 or more. (Look for coupon codes online aswell, a lot of times you can get a discount of a free flashlight or something.)

Here's a link to the ones I purchased... They've actually gone down in price a few bucks since I purchased them. I'm not sure what year your Xj is, but these are for a '94. Check to make sure they fit your year before purchasing. http://www.autozone.com/autozone/par...=17405_3214_0__

 

Timken unit bearing on rockauto.com: $87 + $8 shipping = darn good price for it

 

The only bad part about that is that for a warranty replacement, you will have to ship it to them and wait for the new one to arrive. At Autozone I can get a replacement the same day and be back on the road. For a daily driver, that's a HUGE selling point. I have absolutely no problem paying $14 extra to be able to have a replacement part the same day, rather than a week or two later. If the part is for a trail rig or secondary vehicle, then you have a good find.

I'm not trying to put you down or anything, just trying to point out some things people may not think about that could really hurt later on down the road.

 

I went to http://www.wheelbearingwarehouse.com/ Timken $83.84 per bearing with "FREE" UPS ground shipping. Not bad compared to the auto dude that quoted me $525.00 to install. You guys help save me around $360.00, beers are on me, where we going?

 

Ive never replaced a wheel bearing cause when i needed to the parts stores didnt have any so i would have to wait a day or two. I ended up packing more grease in the bearing and put it back together (the unit bearing came out in 2 pieces). It worked fine for another 20K miles till the tranny went out, now its my trail rig and i dont mind waiting on parts for it.

Plus how often do people change unit bearings? I've had 3 XJ last to over 200K miles and the only reason i touched the bearing was to change ujoints.

 

Well, my shop is ideal...wood burning stove, every tool known to mankind, DARTBOARD (real one...bristle...with lots of darts), refrigerator, and last but not least, in the middle of forty acres of Red Pine trees and Norway spruce.

 

well In some cases thats incorrect. when you get the 3 13mm bolts out the back of it as well as the 36 mm axle nut, thread the 3 bolts back in a half inch and stick a 3 inch 3/8 drive extension in between the knuckle and bolt and turn the steering wheel and it should pop right out. its really not that hard. I did mine last week and each side took just under 15 min.