Good morning, everybody. I've got a question that I haven't been able to find a concrete answer for. I did a front end refresh on my 2001 X 4.3 about a year ago, all new pads, rotors, calipers, hub assemblies and steering linkage. The hubs I believe I got from Detroit Axle or Advanced Auto, can't remember which. I was under the impression that the 2WD Blazers for my year (at least the ZQ8's) came from the manufacturer with the sealed front hubs, which is exactly the design that the new replacement ones were that were installed on the truck. Recently, after having one of those units fail, I went to more than one parts store to get another. All the new ones that I found that were supposedly for my year and trim level were not sealed units. They all have an open design with a hole in the middle. In a pinch, I slapped one on to at least keep the truck mobile in case of emergencies, but I'm wondering if the auto parts stores have an incorrect decoding database or if it's just different aftermarket companies having different designs that will still work for my specific application. I took a photo of the driver's side which still has the sealed hub on it from the refresh last year, as well as a photo of the open design on the passenger side that was just replaced again. Am I chasing an issue that's a non issue or am I getting sold the wrong parts? Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Sealed assembly originally replaced as a pair.

Newly acquired assembly.

 

To me it looks like that particular manufacturer has bridged the gap between the 2wd & 4wd hub machining; just didn't do the spline broaching. Cuts down on inventory of partially completed parts to have them all machined to the same level. Having the hole in the middle shouldn't make a difference to operation provided the bearings are retained properly on the back side.

 

I appreciate your insight. It seemed to be rolling fine when I test drove it, just wanted to confirm that I wasn't riding on a mechanical time bomb and I can't be the first one to come across this.