I must be a little older then you and made my living as a mechanic. I am going back to my drag racing days when I was running small block Chevrolet engines with a 4 speed manual transmission or the two speed power glide trans. Any of the engines I ever worked with had bearing inserts. Unless we go way back as I recall the old stove bolt 6 cylinder Chevy engines has poured bearing with shims to adjust them. Now I am going back into the 1930's and 40's. I do remember working on a few old Ford V8 flat heads engines that was in the late 40's early 50's but didn't they have bearing inserts also? The only thing I can ever remember repacking in them old engines was the rope style rear oil seals and they leaked oil no matter what you did.

 

Sorry I was talking about front wheel bearings in my dads 1970 impala, back in the day. Not engine. Easily removal, clean, pack , reinstall.

 

We are talking about front wheel bearings. Ok now I understand. Lets get back to Toyota. They are sealed bearings that should never need replacing our ever need maintenances. One of the many great things of the newer cars of today and the reason to own a Toyota.

 

Improvements in cars, tires, etc is great thing.

Improved comfort, safety and performance with less maintenance, all while getting much better MPG and having a longer service life.

Occasionally I drive cars from the 50's and 60's and this just reinforces how much things have improved.

 

SS exhaust, Tune up every 100k, not 10 k, steel belts no 4 ply tires, no pumping brakes when sliding, and on and on. Oh seat belts.