Wheel bearings

Brief history of wheel bearings

The first patent for a wheel bearing was awarded to British engineer Philip Vaughan. The bearing he designed was made to sit on an axle and was developed during the Industrial Revolution. There were several different types of bearings before, but this was the first modern wheel bearing type. Since the Industrial Revolution, there have been many improvements to construction, but basic construction has largely been the same. FAG, SKF and Timken, and others have all made outstanding improvements to wheel bearings to make them more efficient, cheaper, and more reliable.

First generation bearings

The first wheel bearing type still used on modern cars was developed in the 1970s and is usually called generation 1 or HBU1 (Hub Bearing Unit 1). It is a pressed wheel bearing where the bearing and the hub are pressed into each other directly in the spindle. It is a simple construction that is cheap and reliable. This type of wheel bearing is mainly found on front-wheel drive cars and on small cars but it can also be found on other models. Something positive about the Generation 1 bearings is that you can change only the bearing and use the old hub. The bearing is common on BMW, Toyota, VW, and others.

Development is moving forward

The next generation of wheel bearings are called HBU2 and HBU2.1 (Hub Bearing Unit 2). These wheel bearings began to be used on cars in 2002. The second generation wheel bearings, also known as compact bearings, cannot be split. This means that the hub and wheel bearing are attached and cannot be separated. This makes it especially important that the wheel bearing is mounted correctly so as not to shorten the life of the wheel bearing. This stock is commonly found on VW, Volvo, Ford, Mercedes, Peugeot, Toyota and more.

Bolted wheel bearings

Generation 3 or HBU3 (Hub Bearing Unit 3) is the latest generation of wheel bearings and it is usually called bolted wheel bearings. A bolted wheel bearing usually has 3 or 4 bolts and is bolted directly into the spindle. Bolted wheel bearings often have a long guide to ensure that the wheel bearing is mounted straight and withstands the stresses for which it is manufactured. Bolted wheel bearings are designed for easy maintenance. Something that often happens, however, is that the steering gets stuck in the spindle and can make the wheel bearing very difficult to dismantle. The bearing is commonly found on Ford, GMC, Subaru, Toyota, Dodge and more.

Summary

What all wheel bearings have in common is that they are precision equipment. Bearings should be handled with care and assembled correctly to have the life for which the bearing is designed. It is therefore important that the right tools are used when disassembling and assembling in order not to damage wheel bearings and other sensitive components in the front and rear trailer.

Good to know

Bearings from different manufacturers may have different dimensions even though it says that it should fit your model. It can be good to buy bearings of slightly better quality and to always measure the bearing before mounting it.