Needle Bearing - Yes, Replace It (ECGS)

I just chamfer a tiny bit and maybe round off the corners a touch You may not have to... It just depends on where your bearing is set etc. I have two tools, one is chamfered and one is not and I use the unmodified one most of the time. Just depends on the diff.

 

So did you chamfer just the one side shown in the pic, or the other side too?

 

Both sides

 

Thank you! Just got my tool in the mail and it kinda looks like the back side is beveled a tiny bit, maybe they updated their design? Ill try it how it is, and grind it down if i need to

 

Show a pic, of their chamfer. Thx.

 

I can't say enough how important this maintenance is. When something slowly goes bad, many times we live with the slight inconvenience (like brakes getting progressively worse) and it's not until you fix the issue that you realize how bad it was. My truck is smooth as the day I drove it off the dealer lot. So, "Yes- Replace It!"

 

Not sure if all the tools look like this, its very subtle

 

I hit all sides with a flap wheel. It didn't take much.

 

Here's what mine looks like, I still had to tap it in. I hit it with a grinder.

 

I only had to do one side to get mine to work...

 

I ordered the bushing. I have went 50k miles on a 6 inch lift with no issues other than tearing CV boots but now I have a weird noise. Takes about 30minutes of driving and then squealing starts. Gets louder with slow speed. If weight shifts to the rear it stops but upon letting off the gas or going down hill it comes back. I hope this fixes the noise its driving me absolutely bonkers.

 

Got my ecgs bushing install done yesterday! Needle bearing came out fairly easily without breaking and the full process took about 2 1/2 hours taking my time to not mess anything up. Hardest part was figuring out how to mount the tool without messing up the axle seal since i didn't change it out. For those thinking about doing it, its pretty straightforward if youre mechanically inclined and follow the many tutorials out there. I filled my dif with fluid until it started to come out of the fill plug which i think was how its supposed to be done?

 

I have a removal and installation tool for anyone that may need one. Pay for shipping with the promise to move it on to the next person.

 

Replaced my needle bearing yesterday with the ECGS bushing. Also installed a new seal. Lifted my truck 2" a little over a year ago, and decided to go ahead and just do the ECGS now while the weather was not too hot or cold.

I had some slight buzzy vibration start to develop, in the driver's side floorboard and accelerator pedal that "seemed" to go away after I put it in 4x4. The same vibrations are still there though after the R&R of this needle bearing. So could be the tires. They are the original Goodyear Kevlar's and now going on 5 years old and getting worn.

Took me about 4 hours to do it, was working by myself so didn't have an extra pair of hands. Bungee cords helped me keep the CV axle suspended in a nice, horizontal position while I tapped it out and back into the differential. The ECGS install tools definitely made things easier, I also used their puck to install a new oil seal.

Only remarkable thing about this surgery, is that my C-clip on the CV axle seemed to be a bit "chewed" and I've never seen that before in other videos. It's still functional. Could've just been a result of it getting tapped out past the splines. It's didn't take a lot of force to hammer it out or getting it back in. Just gotta rotate the CV a little bit each time until that C-clip is in a good position to allow it to compress and allow movement.




Watched every YouTube video I could find for this enhancement. The below video is the one I followed for the most part:

 

Picture of bearing post lift after ~60k miles and sketch of tool for DIY

 

Good job! Seems like a daunting task, but isn't really that hard once you get going. I was mostly worried about not getting the tool straight and breaking it trying to pull the needle bearing out like I've seen happen to others. Once the needle bearing came out i knew it was smooth sailing from there. Did you top of the diff fluid after you finished?

 

mmmm I can smell that picture right now. Gotta love gear oil smells.

 

After reading about the needle bearing issue some are having I made a point of checking the play in the front drive shaft when I installed my TRD skid plate on my 2020 OR. To me it doesn't seem like too much play, but I just wanted to have the experts here take a look at and listen to my short video.

Has about 40K miles, stock suspension, no lift - although I bought it used so can't guarantee there wasn't any at some point - but all of the suspension parts appear to be OEM. I haven't experienced any unusual vibrations or noises in 2WD or 4WD and all seems to be good.

It's Toyota Certified Pre-owned and I don't think they'd consider the needle bearing a "wear part", but who knows? If it looks wonky I'd just as soon get it addressed.

TIA!

https://youtu.be/I3vt5OXJtXU

 

Yes, I topped off the diff after I finished. It took about half a quart. Btw... one of the first things I checked before I started on this ECGS bushing replacement work, was to make sure that I could remove that front diff fill plug.

Here is a pic of my needle bearing. No appreciable wear on it. The CV shaft on which it rode, was stained a little blue which I imagine was long time frictional pressure.

 

My left CV axle articulated in the same manner, as the video of yours. If you are not experiencing any vibrations or noise, I'd just let that sleeping dog lie.