Bearing F*** Job

So here are the pics from my recent bearing mishap







They had been making a little noise when driving (sounds like tire noise), but on my way home from work, they decided to shit the bed. Long version of the story...

We've been driving my wife's '02 Mustang GT to work since I've got no front axles right now I knew my bearings were on there way out, but while I was at the store over my lunch break the battery kicked the bucket (original battery). My buddy came and we were gonna jump it, but neither of us had cables, so he dropped me off at my house so I could drive my truck back to work and deal with the Mustang this evening. I was drving to work and it started making a osculating scraping noise when I would turn, about the time I got into the parking garage. I thought it wasn't that big of a deal and that I'd at least be able to make it home, WRONG!

5:00 rolls around and we hop in the truck to go take care of the car battery, but not even 3 min later that osculating scraping noise starts happening all the time, and the brakes start rubbing and making this high pitched screeching that would go away if I barely turned the wheel to the right. Since we were SO close to the car and home, I decided to keep on trucking. By the time we got the parking lot where my wife was the brakes were so hot that the fluid boiled and the ABS light came on. I thought the light was just to do with the fluid, but I'm pretty sure now that the speed sensor is F'd.

So we hook up the jumper cables and let it sit for about 20min, but the battery is so dead that it won't take a charge. Since Walmart was within' walking distance, I remove the battery and head over there in the 100+ degree heat wearing my work cloths. On the way I called another friend of mine to pick me up and take me back to the car. But, it turned out that Walmart didn't have the right kind of battery so we took an additional 30min to go to O'reilly.

After installing the new battery we head for home. Less than 3min away I'm still wanting to avoid paying $85 for a tow so I decide to try and drive my ass back home ever so slowly. 1.5 min later the Driverside front tire kicks out and it becomes difficult to maintain speed/ control so I give in and pull off the road to call a tow truck to put me back in the driveway less than a mile away, Bah!!!


I'm still in bumper to bumper warranty, but I might have a hard time convincing those douche bags at the dealership to pay for it since I didn't have any front axles installed and don't have them to stick back in before I take it over.

Rant over!

 

The thought entered my mind that it could be the axles, but I knew the bearings were bad before I pulled them, they shouldn't be bearing any weight or support, and pre-runners don't have any support in the center of their bearings. In fact I'm pretty sire that their hub assbly is identical - axles and + extra grease cover.

 

29K mi

 

That sucks man. If I hadn't been in Austin at the time, I would have towed you the mile home.

 

That is a plus, and unless I somehow destroyed something other than the bearings, it shouldn't be TOO expensive to fix.

Yeah how much would it suck to have no truck for the meet I've been planning and promoting for the last month.

 

You've got a tow truck?

 

My truck was towing my friend's Jeep last week.

6 weeks ago, it was towing my new project car from Houston (which I sold at a tidy profit).

A year ago it was towing another project car from Colorado.


...so, yes, I have a tow truck.

 

I had to get the front wheels off the ground to move it, otherwise I could've driven it the rest of the way.

 

That sucks man!

Hope you get it fixed soon!

 

Not to kick the OP while he's down but I hink your gonna have a hard time getting the dealer to pay for this repair. Also I'm assuming since the axle was out that you had no nut on there nor a cotter pin which would have prevented the bearing from coming out of the hub ( I think that's what I'm seeing in your pix). By the way why was your axles out?

 

Well, I hope to make it out to the meet. Hopefully you won't need to hitch a ride. My truck is a pavement queen for the moment (= offroad FAIL). So, your truck will be much more fun on the trails (bearings intact of course).

 

Your axles hold the bearings together. The bearings are pressed in and then held together by the axle. Since you had the axles out, all you had holding the bearings in was friction between the bearing and housing. Since you say they were bad bearings they would have went out anyways but this sped up the process.

 

I'm not sure I'm even going to try to get the dealer to pay. And yes, since the axles were out I had no nut or cotter pin. The axles are out because RCV Performance is fabricating some free high strength prototype axles like they already manufacture for the FJ . They needed me to mail them my OEM ones so they could modify them if possible, or measure for fabricating if necessary.

Sums it up

 

Okay, after thoouroughly inspecting the Toyota FSM for the hub assemblies I've found the difference between the Pre-Runner and 4WD hubs. It's called the... FRONT WHEEL ADJUSTING NUT!

Don't drive without your front axles unless you have a death wish!

I'm lucky this didn't happen while I was driving on the highway.

 

I don't think it would be that big of a deal it you broke an axle and had to drive it off the trail, but highway driving is probably not a good idea.

I guess I should have done more research, but I looked at the FSM and after deciding it would probably be fine got opinions from several people who know their stuff and they concurred with me.

I'm thinking about ordering the parts I would need to go pre-runner until the new axles come in. It would be cheaper than buying new axles and I'll also have them to use if I ever break an axle.

Chris, would you be able to verify sometime what the Adjusting nut connects to? is the hub threaded or something?

 

You should be able to see it right after you remove the knuckle grease cap. Might not even need to remove the wheels.

 

nooo come take mine apart and please do the axles while your there. just havnt gotten around to it yet.

sorry to hear the troubles drew.