I'm beginning to hear the growl associated with the wheel hub bearings arising out of one of my rear tires. I've researched info on here and I called Rock Auto and was going to order the Timken Hub Assembly and the lady stumped me with a question...."Do you need four wheel ABS or No ABS?"....Me:..."uuuuuuuhhhuuummm...??? I think ABS but I'm not sure.I guess I need to find that out"...
I didn't know, I assumed ABS cause thought that all our cars had it...How would I know for sure if my '03 has ABS?...Never had a light come on...Just want to be sure so I don't order the wrong part.

 

Yes you need ABS. No local parts stores have a Timkin hub?

 

Yes, AutoZone has Timken Hubs but they are more expensive. Rock Auto has them for $81 and $87 depending on if it's a front or back hub. Add $10 shipping.
AutoZone has them for $117 and $135 add about 8% sales sales tax. To me thats a considerable difference. I can wait a few days for the difference in price.

Is there a reason why some of our vehicles don't have ABS? Did they come from they factory that way?

 

I'm pretty sure they all had ABS stock.

But wow that's some crap... I paid like 60 bucks for my Timkin hub for my 5th gen (granted this was a good 4 years ago)

 

Some didn't - and surprisingly it's the later years that didn't. Quite a few 04's don't have them as GM switched them from standard to optional around 03-04 and then back to standard on 05 models.

 

FYI - Believe or not, not all modern cars have ABS. My wife's '05 Impala does NOT have ABS (as a result also does not have traction control).

You can make it easy on yourself. I believe when I got my wife's wheel hubs, the ABS equipped hub was like a $1 cheaper. As long it's not a price issue, just buy the ABS hub. The hub goes in fine and if you Monte is like my wife's Impala, GM gave you the bracket to hold the ABS sensor (even though there is no wire to connect). And if they did not give you the bracket for the ABS sensor, you can either find a way to tie it out of the way OR just clip it off.

FYI - I say this knowing the Impala has non-ABS models, but I don't know if GM did the same with the Monte.

 

My car doesn't have ABS either, check to see if you have a fuse, if you don't you probably don't have ABS

 

That's weak sauce... Thought ABS was mandatory

 

My 2004 does NOT have ABS and I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

That was my exact thought when I was doing the hub on my wife's Impala. To be honest, I bought the ABS hub not even thinking about it. When I was sliding the new one in, that's when it dawned on me "hey, I never disconnected an ABS wire, yet GM has retaining bracket here for it". I must have spent an extra 5 minutes checking a couple of things to ensure something did not happen (like the wire magically was ripped out and never set off a dash alarm).
End of story, I ordered the hub from RockAuto, I was halfway done with the job and said screw it, it gets an ABS hub. When I did the other side, that's when I found the ABS Timken hub from Rock was like a $1 cheaper. So I figured cheaper one wins.