bluing on spindles, slight chatter marks on bearing races

[jzingkng]

After doing a wheel bearing repack on my 2000 Rodeo 4x4 which has a paltry 29,176 miles on it, I noticed bluing on the spindles and minor chatter marks on one of the bearing races. I dragged the truck to the Isuzu dealer to have them do wty swap-out and got a shrug off with them claiming the bearings/spindles/races are all "within spec."

I have done wheel bearings on maybe 8 different cars and have never seen bluing on the spindles (albeit, none of them were FWD or 4x4). Is the Isuzu dealer blowing smoke (they want to charge me the $84 diagnostic fee which I do NOT want to pay for) or is this a legit claim? Are the spindles hardened at the factory which results in some bluing from the tempering process (if any)? Help!

Thanks in advance for your $0.02...

-d

[rodeo02]

I wouldn't worry too much about it- so long as the bearings were in good shape & the grease seals are good. Maybe the factory grease seals rubbed a bit when brand-new, or the pre-load was a bit tight? Hard to say. That is odd though with mileage that low. Isuzu totally changed the front spindles/hubs for the 2002+ rodeo 4x4's. They now are completely sealed & not serviceable. They look just like a GM/dodge/jeep front hub. The front rotors pull right off once you move the caliper out of the way now. It's too bad they stuck you with a "diagnostic" fee. As much as I hate to, you are better off having them do some service for you & they'll typically waive the diagnostic fee then. G/luck
Joel