Pajero Owners Club of South Africa

So there was this noise at my right front wheel and I decided that I should quickly lift the "Jerry", take off the wheel and look if I can see where the noise is comming from... After lifting the "Jerry" I feel that the wheel is loose, mmmmmm bearing needs replacement - afterall "Jerry" broke 200K just last month. So off comes the wheel, calipar, disc.... Struggled almost 3 hours to get the damn bearing out!!! Ja its shot..... (I'm not a machanic and have limited tools, oky?)

So off I go with half a bearing in my hand to my Spare dealer. "Ja sure I have them, that'll be R163.35 for one." Cant believe my luck, open the box.... wrong bearings.... "Oh my... just let me have a look, mmmmmmm Ja well mmmmmmm these are the ones in my book, but ja they dont look like this one....... Sorry try Bearing International, I'm sure they'll have them..."

So off I go with half a bearing in my hand to Bearing International.... "Pajero you say sir? Sorry sir only at the dealers...."

So off I go with half a bearing in my hand to 'The Dealer"..... " Your VIN nr please sir...." I forgot that at home, please help me? "Can not do that sir, I need your VIN nr, sorry..." So off I go to get the nr saying to myself " You know that they want your freaking nr but still you didnt listen to yourself - dumn ass!!!" Back at "The Dealer".... "Thank you sir, just a moment..... Yes sir you are lucky, that will be R2534.60....." No sorry lady, I think you did not understand me correctly, I do not want you to install all 4 bearings, I just want 1 and I will install it myself.... " No sir, I understood you correctly, it will be R2534.60 for only one bearing that you will install yourself....Its a sealed unit sir, you only have the one half of the bearing here sir...." I feel my knees buckle.... "Sir..... will that be all?" Yes that'll be all but I just have to sit a bit. "Sir we have only one in stock, if I order the other one now you can pick it up tomorrow..." Now I go pale, I can feel the blood gushing to my feet, there goes my birthday present with one bearing, I'm loosing my Christmas present and my wifes bithday present to me, with the other bearing...... But what can I do.... Yes please order the other bearing..... I take out my wallet, with a heavy heart and shaking hands I hand over my savings to the lady, she smiles at me and I think maybe I'm in one of Leon's movies or on Candid Camera... Please let me be..... How can it be that one bearing costs two and a half grand????

Well nobody jumped out with a lollie pop, nobody gave my savings back..... I drove home with One and a half bearing lying on the floor..... Surely I must have been done in..... That must have been a scam...... I handle the full bearing with care.... It takes me almost just as long to install the bearing, vrek scared that I might bugger it up... R2500 for a freaking bearing???? Wifey is going to blow a gasket, not sure when I will tell her..... maybe on Monday my Birthday.....

I feel I've been done in........

Nodger

I hear you!! It seems that bearings are the ONE item on a Pajero that really is "VREK" expensive!! They are also only to be found at the dealers!. Had my front ones replaced some time ago and can't recall that it was as expensive as your 'golden titanium plated' ones, but it was still a sit down and take a deep breath moment.

If it is any condolence it seems that it is not the dealer that are ripping you. In the US the hub and bearing on the Gen3 is $238 each. So roughly R1700 as the Rand stands now, and then you still need to ship it. Here is where I got the price from:

http://www.oemmitsubishiparts.com/partl ... atalogid=1

CATS

Eish!
Sit down when you ask them the price on a cv boot

Suddenly a cam belt job doesn't sound so bad..

Now you know why they are called Stealers

When I did my inner cv joints their price for one was double what I paid for 2 and all the ball joints and pitman idler as well as all the rubbers from a suspension specialist, the cv joints were of a much better quality than the originals

360 USD for ONE BEARING? EVEN FOUR??? I admit I haven't changed a wheel bearing for a long time, but it seemed like my last car I did it on, a Toyota Celica,they were about 15 dollars each... What in the world!????

How about getting it from Japan? There is no way that one has to be robbed blind with all the experts and knowledge on this forum and worldwide. Rob the stealers come to mind

This is the first time ever that I have heard of a wheel bearing that is unique to a specific vehicle.
I have changed a few in my life and have never bought it from the agents.

Do you still have the old bearing?
If so, check on the edge of the outer for the numbers.
Also measure the inside and outside diameters as well as the thickness (width) of the bearing.
I would like to do a search for equivalents.

I was chatting to a fellow customer at a windscreen shop a week or so ago. He is responsible for a game lodge vehicle fleet. Says that all their parts(Nissan and BMW) are imported directly from Dubai (strangely enough) and that original parts cost on average about a third of what they would pay at a dealer in SA.

Maybe worth following-up on?

I agree with 4e...

Send pic of the bearing. Failing that, measure the I/D, O/D and width. Also, is it a sealed bearing (rubber or steel) and if no seal, is it s ball, spherical, roller, needle etc bearing.

I cannot beleive that bearings are manufactured specifically for a vehicle. crap!!!

The bearng we get for R2500 a pice weigh about 30Kg