The Timken catalog (Timken Online Parts Catalog) list the 513155 as the part for 1990 - 1997 and 1999 to 2005 Miata's with or without ABS.

Also, the grease that came out of the Timken bearing resembled peanut-butter. Data.

Thanks for the input jpreston. Everything went back together smoothly.

I checked 513152 in the Timken online catalog and the pictures do indicate it doesn't have the ABS ring. However, the part number doesn't have any applications associated with it. That, along with what I posted previously about PN 513155 leads me to believe Timken has discontinued the non-ABS part (513152) .

I'm close to doing a brake duct install so I figured I would do a repack on my 20 year old front hubs while I was in there. Is it ok to reuse the bearings or should I replace them? I don't see anything here about replacing bearings, just the grease. Where would one get replacement bearings for a front hub anyway?

I would just buy new front hubs and replace the bearings old fashioned way but I'm afraid of low quality Chinese hubs breaking as in the hub failure threads.

You can't replace the bearings in the front hubs because the hub *is* the outer race.

--Ian

I meant the ball bearings. I assumed they would be some sort of standard size to fit whatever size the races on a Miata hub are. I also assumed that ball bearings wore out over time and that the races were harder material than the balls. So you'd replace the balls or something?

Is repacking more like changing the oil on your bearings, so you don't have to replace hubs as often? Why haven't my bearings worn out yet?

I apologize for my ignorance and would welcome any information.

Thoughts on this? Already searched the forum.


http://www.machinedintegrations.com/miata/

This tool looks awesome. Anyone try it, or see any potential issues with it?

I finally got around to doing mine, and the front left was out of grease and starting to rotate unevenly. This was after 10 track days and 160,000 miles, so not bad for a stock hub. Thanks MT.net.

The issue with this tool is I don't see how it could guarantee that it displaces all of the old grease. If any of the old grease stays, it would displace the good grease and could still cause premature failure. If you are just adding grease to an already re-packed hub, i don't see why it wouldn't work. However, if I had the hub off to re-grease it, I'd want to open it up and inspect it to make sure I'm repacking them at the correct frequency.

I did my second repack tonight. The first time about 2 years ago, was with brand new timkens and CV2. I didn't recall any issues at that time.

This time I tried to 'improve' on things with junkyard OEM hubs but fresh G10 ball bearings and Amsoil Dominator grease. Buuuut .. now by hand, the hubs feels like it requires more friction to spin. I thought this was supposed to make it spin easier with the more rounded bearing ! My car is still up on stands so I'm not able to test drive.

The details ...

The bearing I'm using are VXB 13/32 G10 Chrome plated. I did measure the old balls with a digital calipers and confirmed they were ( roughly ) 13/32 before I ordered, and I am aware that down to the microns the new G10 balls were going to be different size from original but from my research here, I assuming the races wont need to be machined .. maybe they do ?

Also, during repacking, I did get a bit obsessive in making sure there was plenty of grease on the inside races as well as adding on top like in the instructions in the first post. Though it wasn't completely filled to to the rim in the middle so I don't think there are any 'pressure' created by too much grease .. maybe I'm wrong here ?

When I spin it slowly by hand to try to feel for smoothness, incase a bearing fell out of place while I tapped the races back on .. it feels smooth with no bumps or rough spots.

Also, I'm 99% certain that I didn't get the front / rear races mixed up as I marked them and bagged them in separate labeled baggies along with the matching ball bearings.

Below are my tests of each hubs. The axle nut are torqued to just tight and then 1 ugga dugga for all 3 tests.

Spinning the hub repacked with G10 + CV2: Spinning the hub repacked with G10 + Dominator: Spinning a junkyard hub:
So .. did I f' up the repack or does it just need to 'break in' ?

Thanks for this how-to. I just did my new front hubs yesterday and found one discrepancy with the initial post. For the picture of the retainers, they were labeled as the left one (with the protrusions) being for the outboard bearing. Mine were for the inboard bearing. I did the hubs one at a time so when I pulled the second one apart I double-checked it. Just a point of reference for anyone else.

To make sure I didn't mix anything up I cut down two plastic water bottles and labelled them, then put the balls and retainers in the appropriate bottle. I used a solution of water and something called Oil Eater (picked it up at Tractor Supply) to clean the residue off after wiping off as much grease as I could. It was billed as working for plastic, and nothing dissolved so should be fine. Q-tips work great for wiping out the ball recesses in the retainers. While everything was apart I measured the balls from each bearing, they were all 10.3mm. That suggests the only difference is the retainers, but I still wouldn't mix the balls up (I'm funny like that).

@chiefmg Good data point!
Do you happen to know where the hubs came from that you repacked? Were they original to the car or possibly an aftermarket replacement? I'd say put them back together the way they came apart before anything else, that's for sure.

@phocup Did you manage to get your bearing weirdness worked out? I've never messed with not-stock bearings but perhaps someone who has done it had some insight. Bump for dataz

I bought Centric hubs from Amazon (the number everyone recommends for quality bearings). Bearings are NTN from Japan. I didn't disassemble the old hubs to check them (just got the new ones installed this morning). Trust me, I always put things back exactly the way they came apart (to the point of putting fasteners back in the holes they came out of). :)
I should note that the retainer with the protrusions would only fit in the inboard side.

I see, now that you mention it, that many major aftermarket Miata parts dealers (Moss, Goodwin Racing, Track Dog Racing, etc.) are carrying the Centric hubs. Interesting to see after digging through this old thread and the related discussions threads mentioned, no one mentioned Centric hubs. Is there a reason that anyone is aware of why they switched from Timken to Centric now as the recommended brand? I also read the thread fiasco about the Timken having some hubs that had arguably too much material machined off the backside of the hub where the stud seats. Maybe that has something to do with it?

At any rate, I am kind of relieved that it seems like there is a go-to brand for replacement hubs once again.