Needle Bearing - Yes, Replace It (ECGS)

That's not a bad price... It is not a impossible job to do yourself either. I charge $200 plus parts ($90) but I am not a big shop with overhead. $350-$400 is "fair" for a large shop. Our area (Sacramento CA) shops charge $350-$500 depending on how busy they are etc. It is about a 2.5 hr job... Sometimes faster sometimes WAY slower. Best I've done was right at 2 hrs, worst was 4+ because the axle was being a PITA!

 

End Play
https://youtu.be/qL7dinjq1qU

https://youtu.be/wQ_HYAR1nwI

Took me a while to load and post but as promised!

 

Was your needle bearing broken?

 

This one was out of a '23 with 12k miles TRD Pro, stock height but 275/70/17 KO2's. A little vibration but done preventatively. No visible damage to the needles, slight wear on the needles cage starting

 

Nice. In your experience is there a suspension setup that you always know will have a needle bearing issue? Exp 2” of lift and low offset wheels?

 

I've seen stock and a thousand miles making noise and I've seen 2-in lifted with 50k miles not making a sound. In my experience, putting a lift on them just amplifies the problem that exists on all of them. That's not to say that everyone will feel the issue on a stock one but a brand new one sitting on the showroom floor has more play than I would consider acceptable. Obviously, Toyota doesn't agree with my opinion but the amount of play on a brand new one in the differential is impressive. Just go under and wiggle the driver side then wiggle the passenger side axles where they go into the differential. Look at the difference between driver versus passenger and you'll see what I'm talking about. Passenger side has about half of the play as the driver side. In my opinion, lifting them you will eventually have the problem so once you lift install the bushing or know that it's on borrowed time and plan accordingly for a time that's convenient. If you don't lift them, leaving them stock height, you probably will have the issue a few more than miles down the road but I would still consider this a preventative maintenance item to be done at convenience. I think Toyota just wants to get people past the warranty by swapping diffs etc because a recall would be so costly. (Guess/opinion)

 

Well this is good to know. I just reached out to a local offroad shop just to see how much they would charge for replacing the needle bearing and they quoted me $750. $600 of that was for 6 hours of labor they included in the estimate.

Since they are really the only show anywhere close to me, it looks like I'm doing it myself!

 

you got this.

you will need this. i tried for 15 min to get the upper control arm bolt off the hub assembly and then another 15 min looking for this tool and it popped it off easily.

 

PM me if you have questions, don't have to pull ball joints, just tie rod end, and two lower ball joint bolts. (See my write up above)

 

Thanks for the suggestions from you both. @auskip07 I'll definitely get the tie rod puller. I've seen a number of videos with people struggling with that. @MyWyfsRnnr I'll definitely take you up on that and use your write up.

I've convinced myself that I can do it. I mean, I just lifted it with a friend a little more than a week ago and we are both relative newbies to working on Tacomas. I rolled the dice on not replacing needle bearing then. It was only a little more that a 1 inch lift in the front, so I thought I might be in the clear, but no joy.

 

Sorry i installed my lift the weekend after and i used it for my upper control arm as well as the tie rod end for this job the weekend before.

 

Here are the stock height, driver side versus passenger side end play

Driver side (needle bearing)
https://youtu.be/_vBiJjaLpAY

Pass side
https://youtu.be/-jc69p0N2O4

 

I serviced all gear oil today. So I'm totally for amsoil. After 30+k miles my transfer case was great looking and rear end was great . Front end was about 60k mi. I've could have went longer, but doesn't hurt to keep fluid fresh. After 200k mi lifted I finally got to taking out my needle bearing today. Replaced with ECGS bushing. Had all the tools and was a breeze , other than the dang cv slowing me down. I borrowed a slide hammer and it was junk. Ended up using a couple of crow bars . So I will tell you that you will be fine using Amsoil 75-90w gear oil in front diff, transfer case, and rear diff. I'm og owner and do most of my servicing. I drive roughly 40+k miles a year for work and pleasure. Been all over the west coast and Midwest USA . So too you ehhfing die hards about drop bracket lifts and diff drop kits , eat it . Take care of your trucks . 200k mi on stock needle bearing and honestly it wasnt that bad of shape.

 

As you can tell my undercarriage isn't clean. I do off-road my dd . I bought this Tacoma with intentions of driving the crap out of it and I do .

 

I just swapped my needle bearing out for the bushing this weekend at 127000 miles. While I was at it, I changed oil in both diffs, greased the drive shafts, and put on new rotors, and pads. The tools from ecgs are ok, but the removal tool needs to be ground smaller so it will fit, and I'd recommend Getting a seal remover to take out the old seal. Pretty easy job.
Metalguy

 

Excellent pics man. Good documentation of the process.

 

Good pictures in your Post #216. Appreciate the time you took to take and post them here.

 

I'm sure this has been shared but I think this is by far the best video for doing this .

https://youtu.be/nllcwqI1YVI

 

Your welcome

 

I want to mention I missed one picture of the axle seal installer but it's pretty straight forward.