Bad wheel bearings? 1998 4x4

My sons truck is vibrating anything above 35 mph. The Maxis Bighorns are a little over 1 year old with around 15,000 miles. The tires have been rotated and balanced 3 times. Alignment has been done twice.

I then greased the crap out of the driveline 3 times in the past few months.

The vibration has gotten a little worse over the past few months.

After a fellow Tacoma World member said it could be my wheel bearings, I jacked it up. The passenger side had more movement in it when I shook the wheel but, less noise. No movement up or down but, maybe 1/4" measured at the outside of the tire.

The drivers side had less movement but, more noise. It sounded like the brake pad dragging but, the tire rolled freely.

The back tires had no movement at all.

 

If it is the wheel bearings, where the best place to get the whole assemble? I am a parts changer and not a mechanic!

 

The dealer or most tire shops will do wheel bearings as well as brakes.

 

I am interested in your results as I am getting some mean shakes after 45 through 70ish. I am curious if it is my wheel bearings but haven't had time to check.

 

Lift one tire at a time off the ground and try and wiggle the rim... not spin. If the tire "wobbles" then you have a bad bearing. You can fix it pretty cheap too. I made a video on how to do it too.


Wheel Bearing Video.

 

He's got a 98, not an 05+. Get ready, bc a bearing replacement is more expensive with the older trucks. You sure it the bearings and not the ball joint or TRE's?

PM me if you need cheap bearings. I work a auto parts wholesaler so I get at quite a discount.

 

It wobbles a little side to side but, not up or down.

 

From my experience, I have a 95 Tacoma. The wheel bearings do not have noticeable play when they start to go bad. They clank and clunk. They don't move side-to-side. They may start to vibrate if they are really bad, but they retain a lot of their alignment due to the taper and extreme torque on the nut that holds them in. I would check the drive line first.

If you want more information on how I did it, PM me. It is not the easiest job and there is no cutting corners. I ended up having to buy a new hub because I damaged the old one trying to get it out of the spindle. There is a lock washer that is tough to get to between the hub and spindle. And it takes a special tool that I had to buy to torque the hub nut back on. The hub nut was loose from the wear over the years. It was far from being the correct torque.

 

The brakes will make noise when you move the tire so that is a poor indicator. If it isn't making loud clunky noises and literally grinding when you drive, then they aren't bad yet. They last a long time. My right side went bad first at 180k. Now my left has a slight clunk so I am going to have to change it now at 195k.

I have my fingers crossed for you. It isn't a nightmare if it is, but don't expect to be ale to do it if you don't have a couple pullers and a press... And a lot of patience.

 

I am having steering wheel vibrations 60-75 mph. Just recently put on new wheels with the same tires that were on my stock wheels. I read somewhere else that it might be becuase my new wheels are not hubcentric and I might need to include a hub ring to balance the difference? Anyone have any experience with this problem?