How many miles since your ECGS bushing install (fix for diff bearing vibe)

nimrod712, and Taco'09 thanks for the quick response on the miles. Please keep us all posted on what you find out for the long run. Still sound like a better alternative to replacing the flawed needle bearing with another flawed needle bearing!

Cheers!

 

I've got about 5k on mine without any issues. I installed it myself, and took good care of the CV axle while replacing the bearing. Mine looks smooth and polished. Haven't noticed any wear at all, at least from any vibration indicators. I don't really plan on inspecting it until the CV's need to be replaced. So far so good!

 

Mine wasn't making noise but I went ahead and replaced it just cuz when I lifted it. Probably 8-10k on it. No issues.

 

Just ordered mine

 

Currently I have 47k miles on the bushing. I just did my 90k mile service on the truck which includes replacing the front diff fluid. The fluid was clear and bright, and the drain plug magnet had very little metal debris on it, as with my transfer case and rear diff. The only time that I think I would tear it down and take measurements would be if I had a CV or diff problem, or if ECGS sent me a new bushing so that they could take measurements of mine with the high mileage. So far, the deflection of the CV in the diff is only slightly more than when I originally put the bushing in. I am very satisfied with the ECGS bushing, and would recommend it over taking the truck to the dealer to have warranty work done. I've done, and helped with many of these bushing installs, and the only bad part about it is getting the new shaft seal seated correctly so it won't leak. The bushing must be driven so that it is flush with its surrounding metal race, and the seal must be driven in as far as it will go to create the best seal as possible.

 

^^ Thanks much Texoma for chiming in. I was going to PM you but you beat me to it. As I noted a few posts above I am getting increased deflection with rather low miles on mine but I had issues with a rough-milled CV bearing surface from the factory, as described in the post, that may be chewing up mine.

Did you put a new OEM CV shaft in at the time you did yours, and do you have a rough guess on how much the tulip actually deflects now?

 

I had the dealership warranty my diff 3x, and all 3x they replaced the CV. So I only had about 7k miles on the newest CV before I did the bearing to bushing job. Upon inspection of that CV, it had very little wear on it, so I re installed it with the bushing. As far as how much deflection the shaft has now, I haven't took an official measurement, but I can tell you it is not nearly as much as it was when the needle bearing was there. I'll have to borrow a gauge from work to get an accurate measurement when I get a chance, or remember to. When I do, I'll post it in here, along with exactly where on the CV I took the measurement so if any one else does, we can get some accurate data.

 

This thread kept me from a buying a Tacoma seven months ago when I joined this forum.I had already found the one I wanted and was going to go buy it the next day, but since my vision for my truck included a lift I backed out.
Today I bought one(It'll be here Monday) and I kinda used this thread while haggling.
The salesman wasn't buying it and I told him I can show you hundreds of people with this issue. Of course he didn't want to look. lol. You shoulda seen the look on his face when I told him I was gonna install the bushing first thing and I wanted that subtracted from the price of the truck. They ended up paying TTL. oops wrong thread.

 

Great. I started a log on this. I do it the easy way. I got the cheap Harbor Freight dial gauge and stand and just set it on a small piece of sheet metal on the floor to anchor the base. I am measuring deflection on the metal part of the tulip right where the rubber of the CV boot ends and steps down to the metal part of the tulip. The vehicle sits in its natural position with its wheels pointed straight, and the drive train unloaded.

 

ECGS Labor Day sale, 10% off your order, code: LABOR. Got an email today, and thought I'd pass it along. Good until midnight (EST) on 9/2/13.

 

Taco 09, did you do the tear down and inspection? Will you please update ?

Thanks, alpinebob

 

I have 54k miles since ECGS bushing install. No vibes, smooth as glass.

 

^^ alpinebob, I remeasured again earlier this fall and the deflection seems to have stabilized. In a relative way it is still so much better than when it had the needle bearing that I have not been motivated to do a tear down at this point. I did a large scale drawing to try and figure out how much clearance in the bushing produces how much deflection at the point of measurement. The answer is not very much.

It appears that just tolerance stacking between the I.D. of the bushing and the O.D. of the CV's race could easily cause substantial differences between vehicles.

I was hoping a few would come on here after doing theirs and just give a "wiggle test" report update of whether it seemed to have loosened up much or was still very tight.

 

I just rolled 130k miles (exactly 10k with the bushing) and no noticeable degradation in performance. Over the last couple weeks, have also used 4WD quite a bit, and it runs perfect. So glad ECGS manufactured this part for our trucks.

 

Know there have been more than a few postings on this but has anyone run a poll on to see how many people have lifted their trucks and out of that how many have reported issues? I am concerned since I just put an Icon Stage 3 lift on my 2014 Tacoma 4x4 DCLB and certainly would not like to see the vibrations show up later. How many trucks does this actually effect and is there some commonality that determines which ones end up with the vibrations?

 

You did the passenger side as well if I remember correctly. How is it holding up?

 

I would suggest checking, front diff oil level first. If you keep oil level so the needle bearing is submerged even when driving on pass tilted road, you should be fine.

 

No, just the drivers side. No issues from passenger side.

 

^^ I believe that would be me. Not aware that anyone else has done the passenger side too. It would require a complete tear down to get to the passenger side as it is not located where the CV shaft enters the ADD tube on the right side. There the CV shaft directly enters a ball bearing. The needle bearing is the identical part number on the right side and is located adjacent to the spyder gears. That is why I could use the ECGS bushing on the passenger side as well.

So the answer is: don't know.

 

I think this affects a large fraction of lifted trucks. Mine showed up much later than most, I had the vibe show up at 294k miles, which was about 75k miles after lift installed.

It is a really easy fix, any decent mechanic should be able to swap in the ECGS bushing, which appears to me to be a real and long-lasting solution.