I have been looking to rebuild my knuckles.. I know this has been visited over and over... but I wanted to check this option with the board

So searching around I have found

Front Range Offroad $79 with NSK bearings
http://frontrangeoffroadfab.com/nfos...c607da19c2b320

add the Marlin Inner Axle seals.. for $9 each..

Is this a good inexspenive alternative to paying $140 for the knuckle rebuild kit that Trail Gear sells?

 

I bought both things from marlin.

Tg Knuckle kit is fine, but the bearings are from china.
I got the TG kit with my sas and i have it left over as a spare package, everything seemed fine, if not the same, except for the bearings.

 

yeah but the Front range kit is almost half the price..

 

I would go OEM or Marlin with Marlin seals....but I put a high price on my time.

 

I am going through this same process right now myself.

I went with the TG rebuild kit, Yukon bearings, and Marlin heavy duty inner seals. My pricing is a little different since I'm in Canada, but the bearings were about $60/side.

 

Is the Front Range Offroad kit a cheap, even though it has the NSK bearings?

I haven't seen anything about Yukon Bearings, can you elaborate?

 

I deal with a company out of Vancouver BC and they recommended I use the Yukon bearings over the TG bearings

www.yukongear.com

 

To answer your question, NO!!! It is not an alternative at all!

First off, the bearings mentioned in the Front Range's kit are knuckle bearings, not wheel bearings.
Here are the wheel bearings for $39.00 each side
http://frontrangeoffroadfab.com/nfos...c607da19c2b320

Marlin also has the same kit, for $79.99
http://marlincrawler.com/axle/front-...le-service-kit

Or the same kit + wheel bearings for $159.99
http://marlincrawler.com/axle/front-...wheel-bearings

Don't waste your money on the Trail-gear kit.
Everything seems to be the same except the bearings. I've been told by a TG distributor that the bearings are JUNK and he won't put them in his truck.

 

alright marlin it is.. thanks..

 

I'm sure the Yukon is better than whatever low spec bearing comes in the TG kit but I would only use OEM or equivalent (NSK, Koyo or Timkin). I can't remember for certain but I think the Marlin kit comes with Koyo.

 

Well I was about to order my kit... but marlin is out of stock

 

Yeah, me too, I don't know where to turn to. I trust Marlin over TG anyday, would Sky has kits as well as WabFab, so does allpro @ http://allprooffroad.com/84894runnerdrivetrain/72. Are these all just TG?

Anyone ordered wheel bearings from allpro? Any good?

 

i here guys order WABFAB's kit and arent having problems. he uses TG........... go look at this
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f115...ctures-180536/

 

First of all, you are talking out of both sides of your face. "Don't waste your money" then "everything seems to be the same". The Trail Gear kit is a complete knuckle service kit while the others simply are not, as they do not include the outer felt covers.

I have seen this repeated numerous times in various places, but I have yet to see anyone on any Toyota forum post up even a single picture of a failed TG wheel bearing. Not one. I have asked some of the folks calling them "JUNK" to produce more than opinion and they can't. It is regurgitated bunk.

I proudly have TG wheel bearings in my truck and have some dozens upon dozens more in customer's trucks. Not one single problem or issue.

I am an engineer by vocation so if something is in question I want to know, so I have even had a machinist examine a TG wheel bearing and a OEM wheel bearing and he found no difference in specs. Go price a set of OEM wheel bearings at the dealer if you want to have a heart attack.

If you want to compare merits of a kit, compare the merits, but perpetuating empty rumors about TGs bearings is lame. It's an age old of "Ford vs. Chevy" argument.

I can remember many years ago when "Made In Japan" didn't bode too well in the USA either.

 

Its seems like the TG kit may have been getting a bad shakedown, maybe just because it costs less.

Who knows alot of people are using it..

Marlin is all out of kits, so I ordered from All-pro it didn't cost a whole lot more. I have read that its the same kit as Marlin. WabFAb is the only one I have seen that has compared both bearings. I'll take some pics of the bearings as soon as I get em!

 

The TG kits aren't given much love on another board that I frequent and I believe it has to do with the origin of the bearings. As you say though, if they work then they work, regardless of their origin.

 

I don't sell or use Marlin knuckle service kits, so I couldn't tell you what theirs contains, but looking at the picture on their website it does not show a complete kit.

I don't know where they are made and don't recall any stampings on the race/bearing indicating anything. If they are made in China, so what. Quality parts that work are quality parts that work.

Like I said, I have yet to say anyone post a picture of a TG wheel bearing failing prematurely or otherwise.

 

Well I'll see if I can take some detailed pics of the all-pro kit as soon as I get it..

 

Well, the kit that I ordered from Marlin certainly had a part for everything that I needed when I rebuilt the front axle on my 85. I ordered this kit plus their heavy duty front axle seals. I don't see anything missing in the photo but maybe you can?

Again, I'm sure the TG kits that you sell are fine. I was merely pointing out why (on another board) they seemed to get some bad press.

 

Nice post Wabbit!!!
For my SAS I bought Marlins knuckle kit with bearings only because I had a surprise birthday gift certificate from Marlin. Yes I made some ignorant comment on my thread about not trusting those Chinese bearings in my truck or some crap like that .. Well, that was ignorant and I had/have no basis for saying it other than ignorance.
I just rebuilt the knuckles and changed the bearings in a friend of mines 84 and it was a TG kit.
After months of reading and studying the entire SAS process I never found any solid evidence of TG's knuckle kit and bearings being inferior due to being made in China.
The issue regarding TG's inferiority is pure conjecture.
I like the old quote- "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence."