2013 Tacoma Drive Shaft

Hello,

Just want to introduce myself to the forum. I'm a relatively new Tacoma owner, and freakin love it! I'll never go back to GM. I've done a lot of my own repairs/upgrades through the years, but I'm unfamiliar with Toyota and so just wanted to join this forum to get some help and ideas.

Here's what I'm currently working on that's got me thinking "there's got to be a better way"...

2013 Tacoma TRD Off Road Crew cab short bed

I get a "thunk" in the driveline when accelerating from a dead stop. My rear driveshaft just freely flops around in my carrier bearing so that bearing is bad for sure. There is a TSB on this system that recommends replacing the entire driveshaft unit with something "beefier" (as per the dealership).

Dealership quoted me at $2500 to replace the driveshaft, bearing, and a U joint.
Another local shop quoted me at $1700 for the same.

I'd like to replace the unit with a 1 piece shaft to eliminate this whole design.

Does anyone have a suggestion on where to go or what to do? Tom Woods doesn't sell a 1 piece shaft anymore unfortunately

Thanks in advance!

 

eBay?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/3050609169...u5wL6nqQtpoda4Iy8ynMA1viLrkqmKzEaAorWEALw_wcB


Or EC Driveline
https://ecdriveline.com/collections/toyota-tacoma

 

There’s a popular aftermarket 1-piece shaft. Something like $500. I forget the name, but someone will come along and explain it, or give the forum a thorough search and maybe it’ll turn up.

 

I recently purchased and installed one of these from ebay. https://www.ebay.com/itm/184904671864

So far so good, got rid of the vibes from slop and the new carrier bearing ofc fixed the bearing slop.

This one does not have any grease zerks on the joints though.

 

Tom Woods but it looks like it is sold out.

-J

 

I can see replacing ujoints and carrier bearings, they are wear items.

But why does the drive shaft need replacement? Damaged?

 

He already said “to replace the whole design.” It really is a bad design, the joint makes no sense and serves no purpose other than to add extra parts and extra maintenance.

 

Not sold out, but discontinued seems like.

 

No one can tell me. There’s a service bulletin that says the driveshaft should be replaced with an upgraded one. When I asked the dealership what the difference was he said the new one was “beefier”

 

Thanks for all the replies. I talked to EC driveline today and will probably go with a one piece from them. Should set me back about $1200. I’ll let y’all know what happens with it.

 

just replace your u joints and carrier bearing. learn something new and save yourself $1000. not hard to do with basic tools. it will be good then for another 100K miles

 

see our build thread for details:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/built-by-a-14-year-old-with-some-help-from-my-dad.733355/page-5

 

Tom Woods have been discontinued for Tacoma in general. People abusing the return policy because they didn't always fix driveline vibes

 

That’s what I tried at first but it came right back. Might’ve been the component. Might’ve been me. Just didn’t want to repeat the same process twice

 

Not a one piece, but I replaced mine with this one 2 weeks ago on my 2014. 1500 miles later, zero issues or vibrations.
https://www.wholesaleimportparts.com/Toyota_Tacoma_Driveshaft_2013.php

 

Driveline shop for a total rebuild at $500