Cheap after-market hubs.... good enough, or stay away???
 

Hey now,

I have to replace my right rear hub so my ABS will work again. Chevy dealer wanted $600 to do the repair.

Looking around, there are dozens of cheap hubs on ebay for $60-ish

Examples:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/02-03...Q5fAccessories

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2002-...Q5fAccessories

or even NAPA autoparts for $100

http://www.napaonline.com/Search/Det...+50012+2012040

Like the title of this thread says.... are these hubs good enough, or are they too problematic?

I would go with a local parts store for something like hubs. At the very least, you will have somewhere to go if the hubs crap out. I would not buy through ebay for something like hubs. Hubs, to me, are pretty important and I want them to fit and work right. I would go with napa but I am a little biast. Just my opinion.

I have been looking all around for hubs since I am replacing my front two. I have looked all over the place at brands and other hubs from various places. The best I have found is the Timken hubs. They are made in the USA and have a good reputation. I have also heard that the NAPA hubs are Timken just repackaged. Here is a link to the hub at a good price that's not much more than your above prices:

http://www.amazon.com/Timken-512237-...4245282&sr=1-1

Are they hard to replace? I am planning on checking out my hubs this weekend because of my traction control light and I have narrowed it down to possibly a hub going bad. do they just unbolt? or am I going to need some special removal tool?

I actually have a link to a guy doing it on an impala. He is doing the front but you can get the general idea from watching it.

Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-TsTn-3ktk

Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBlUE3cpVW0

i agree timkin is in canton, OH. they are some of the best, and when you buy one you will help keep jobs in the USA. alwasy buy american when you can. its worth the extra ten bucks, and the headaches

timken is the factory brand from original. anything timken or ACdelco or FAG (i know haha fag we all get it) are good brands i have personal experience with. i'm actually biased to the FAG brand (haha again no i'm not gay) they are very good parts for the price.

Thanks for the advice guys. I ended up going to VIP autoparts a couple miles from my house and they had the Timken in stock for $90 so, not too bad at all.

Technical question: Shouldn't I be able to unplug the bad hub and plug the new hub (still un-mounted) just to see if it clears the ABS warning light BEFORE INSTALLING?

I am not sure but I think the car has to be rolling for the ABS to work, but if you can get away with doing it that way I will be looking in here for how it all went. I am going to replace both of my hubs in the front end with Timkens, they have some play in them and I am sure that that is the reason that I am getting all the warning lights in the dash board. If you suspect the rear hubs then just change them anyways, it can't hurt.

If do want to shop on the net, try partsbin.com & rockauto.com (just to name a couple). As far as the removal, i recommend the 1/2 inch socket wrench set with the breaker bar (fir those stuborn bolts).

There are a lot of do-it-yourself videos on youtube (dont knock it because it helped me...lol).

Tiimken is the brand though, in my opinion. Stay away from the ebay who sells foreign parts (made from overseas but some are located here in the U.S).

Hope this helps.......