Why, Oh Why does my Tacoma love to eat wheel and axle bearings??

Recently replaced the front wheel bearings and all seals etc. that went along with them. Started getting some road noise again shortly after, took it in and the passanger side rear axle bearing is shot...Here's the kicker...I don't offroad unless you consider the gravel road that i live on "Offroading" I only have the 1.5" Bilstein leveling shocks on the front, not running large tires, no spacers, not hauling heavy loads, never has the truck been in water or mud...I am going to get the axle bearing replaced in the morning...for $$ 669.73 at the dealership but if any more bearings go out in my truck within a reasonable timeframe, I am not longer going to drive a tacoma...Anyone else have these problems?? Lost the front wheel bearings at approximately 65K lost the rear axle bearing at approximately 80 K

 

Unfortunately the Tacoma is susceptible to front wheel bearing failure. I have yet to hear anything from Toyota on the actual cause. There are several speculations on this. I am sorry to hear that you are having this trouble. Unfortunately due to the design of the rear axle, the labor for replacing the rear bearings does get pricy.

 

this is not normal, the only variable is the lift. either something wasnt done right or these trucks just dont respond to lifts like this well. i wouldn't want to bring this on, sucks that its out of pocket

 

The more and more i think about it the more and more i should give up on the truck and get something different...but I don't want a full size truck, and noone else makes a decent (IMO) midsized truck.

 

I'd be pissed to if my bearing went out at such low mileage . Only thing I can think of that would stress the bearings more you didn't mention is improperly balanced tires .


Next year I hear Chevy is releasing a mid sized truck , and the frontier is getting redesigned . But from what I learned no vehicle or brand is guaranteed to be perfect . Some people just have better luck then others.

 

My rims - Dick Cepek Torque wheels...Are extremely hard to keep balanced, but how much stress could an unbalanced tire put on a bearing?? I am asking, not being scarcastic or anything...

 

well, if your wheels/rims have excessive offset it would cause premature bearing wear, however if you truly are not offroading and beating up the suspension then I cant see it being an issue.

 

Interesting. I have the same wheels in 16x8 and they are smooth as silk. Could be the tires though. I'm running pretty mild General HTS' on mine. And I have the conical lugs that extend down into the wheel and center it kind of like the stock alloys do. I've had 3 second gens now. Did front bearings on the last 2 myself (both sides, one at 74k and the other at 112K) and have records on my current truck showing Toyota did it at 75k or so. No problems with rears though. Out of balance wheels/tires do put a lot more load on bearings as do wheels with less offset (tires sticking out further) so that could have a lot to do with it. I think the fronts fail due to the inner seals failing allowing water into the backs of the bearings. I used to beat the snot out of my older toyota's constantly sinking them in the mud, running big tires, etc. Never had wheel bearing issues.

 

It is pretty bad when the service guys at toyota tell me that the bearings are junk in tacoma's but yet toyota will not do anything about it...I am getting more and more pi$$ed about this as the minutes tick by....I may forget the appointment in the morning and go get a dodge or ford....I had a ford that i put 200K on and never did anything more than an oil change to in 8 years and never had any trouble with it.

 

One thing you have to take into account here. These vehicles, like most all others, are mass produced, hundreds every day. There WILL be bad apples.
You said you had a Ford that you put 200k on and never had any trouble? I can introduce you to a dozen guys who would never buy a Ford again because THEIR truck was always in the shop. Same with Chevy, Dodge, etc. You will always find a person who says they never had a lick of trouble with their "brand X" truck for 200k+ miles, and you will always find a person who had the same and it was junk. It is called mass production. You can't get away from it unless you are uber-rich.

 

I have the Dick Cepek rims ( DC2) . They have a huge backspace setting . This alone puts some serious stress on your bearings as mentioned in the posts above .
Toyota is known for using cheaply made inferior offshore bearings . If you are getting this done at the dealer , they are re-installing the same crappy bearings .
When Toyota produces 200,000 Tacomas / year , the company is going to go with the cheapest bearing manufatcurer they can find .
See if you can cross reference the bearing numbers to a National bearing or possibly Timken bearing . You can also cross reference the grease seals to a better quality part .

 

time for a tundra

 

Best suggestion so far on this thread is go elsewhere and get a better type of wheel bearing if this is a known issue - and it seems to be.

As for Ford...I've owned two. One 1982, one 2003. Neither made it to 100,000 miles without a multi-thousand dollar vital component failure. You couldn't give me one.

As far as a small truck, Toyota or Nissan are the only game in town. My previous two trucks have been Nissans and both were great. I think the new Frontier is ugly and unbalanced looking, and that they nail you for a $1000 for an air conditioner is a dick move, but it's not a crappy truck. I bought the Tacoma specifically because they're the last singlecab maker standing, and I understand that may well not be the case next year. Love the singlecab.

I think GM is bringing back the Colorado next year, which is good (I wouldn't buy one but I'm glad the small pickup sector is coming back). Still, not enough options. Would like to see Ford/Mazda and Mitsubishi get back in the game - the last Mitsu was a seriously underrated pickup IMO - but I think Mitsu's gonna be done for good in the US soon.

Regardless of your course of action, good luck. Give some thought to getting a better grade of bearing.

 

Um, not sure if you are aware of this, but the bearings that Toyota uses on their Tacoma is the Koyo brand, which is actually a good brand considering when you deal with mass production. That Timken bearing you suggest buying...open the box and it says "Koyo" on the bearing because the same company that owns Koyo, also owns Timken. National brand bearings are good, and they are owned by Federal Mogul. However Federal is phasing out the National bearing slowly. They bought the name years back and the National bearings are not made where they used to be made anymore.

 

are your Dick Cepek wheels hub centric? may need some centering rings to keep wheels balanced which contributes to your wheel bearing issues. i guess i was lucky, 3" Toytec w/aal and no problems in over 100k miles. i stuck with factory rims and LT load range C to keep weight down, these trucks do not need heavy load range D and E which could cause problems. unsprung weight is a killer.

 

Hey Bama . been a while since I was up to date on the latest and greatest bearings - about 10 years since I turned a wrench full time which is why I stated Timken and National bearings that were superior products in their day . Thanks for the tip . Toyo was simply a horrible bearing to work with back in the early 90,s . All imports used them and they were cheap junk and continue to be inferior . I just replaced rear wheel bearings on my Toyota matrix . Guess who made them ?
Now if I opened the box on a set of new bearings and viewed the Koyo logo , i would not be puchasing the bearings .
I did a fair amount of research on the Koyo bearing company while I was in business and didnt like what I read .
Please tell me National is still good quality
Almost sounds like we are screwed for a quality bearing these days doesnt it ?

 

My personal opinion is that Koyo only applies "shipping grease" to the bearings. I came to this conclusion after opening a new set and noticing surface rust on the bearings along with a thin coat of white lithium grease. I cleaned them, packed them with quality synthetic grease, and drove on them for over 50K miles, with 37's on, mostly offroad, without any problems. Go figure.

 

Update...

Well I got my axle bearing replaced at Bert Wolf Toyota in Charleston WV....they told me 3 hours, it took nearly 7 hours not including lunch break....They did come off the origional estimate when i about lost my mind when i arrived back at the service department at 11 AM expecting to pick up my truck and it had just been put on the rack...I got out the door for 670 bucks, parts and labor...I told the tech guy to give my truck the once over while he had it in the air, and he told me it looked as if i took good care of it...coming from a 30 year + technician that made me feel good. Now my trucks drives like new again...I just hope i can get some good wear out of all the new bearings i have put in the truck in the last 4 months...

 

My 2009 Tacoma seems to like to eat rear axle bearings. I have a bone stock Sport version, no off roading, no lift, no heavy duty towing or loads. The rear bearings were noisy almost from the beginning. Dealer replaced them at about 35k miles and now they are noisy again at 55k. Started making noise intermittently now more constant, just like the originals. What on earth is going on? I have had about 10 vehicles in my days all kept well north of 100k miles and NEVER had a rear axle bearing fail... until my Tacoma. I am thinking of doing the unthinkable for me... trading the thing in. Otherwise in perfect shape to go another 10 or 15 years... <sigh>

 

It's amazing they last that long with just shipping grease lubricating them. Pack a set with some quality synthetic grease and forget about them for 150K. Nobody cares about your truck like you do. It's not a hard job to do right.