Wheel bearing??

You said the hubs get a little hot after driving. Have you removed the wheels to check the rotors? I would have ruled that out first before ordering wheel bearings. That being said, if it were the bearings, spinning the wheels may not reveal bad bearings because the load is off them, and wheel play is not always present with bad bearings. That was the case with my bearings. Both mine were pitted. I could feel a little vibration at the steering wheel from 30-45 mph and I had no wheel play, side to side or up/down.

Removing that axle nut can be a doozy. I used a pry bar to keep the rotors from spinning. The bar went through the lug bolts and locked on the ground. I saw that on a youtube video and my concerns about damaging the threads were unwarranted. Good luck.

 

I actually wedged a metal rod through the wheel/brake and then put a cinder block up to keep that rod from moving - thereby preventing the wheel from rotating. There are zillions of ways to do it. I did have to go buy a breaker bar, though. I didn't have one with a 1/2" drive or whatever the 35mm socket has.

 

At that mileage I would think it's wheel bearings. I've had 3 05's now and all three have needed bearings before 100k. Stock size tires/wheels and very little off road use too. Make sure you change the inner seal the CV shaft rides on too. It's been torn on all of them i've replaced.

And regarding the wheel falling off from a bad bearing... I don't think that could happen with this design. Or most wheel bearing designs in fact. My second 05 I bought really cheap because it had bad front bearings. Like so bad it was all you could hear driving it. Absolutely deafening and the whole truck vibrated once you drove it a few miles. Truck had 112k on it and they probably went at 80. I drove it 3 hours home on the highway and when I got here the front hubs were so hot I wondered if it would burst into flames... But I changed them out and the truck was smooth as glass afterwards. Those were so shot with the wheel off the ground the tires were very difficult to rotate by hand. I probably got 10-12 MPG driving it home.

 

HELP!

I have a 2009 Tacoma 4X2 that needs front wheel bearings. The configuration that I have on my truck does not seem to match any I have seen on this site. They don't look like the bolt-on assemblies I have seen here. The hole in the center of the hub is M8 & threaded. Any help greatly appreciated!

Here are some pix:

 

You have a 5 lug. They are completely different. You have to remove the entire hub assembly and then there is a 36mm nut behind the cover on the back side. Then the axle is pressed out of the hub assembly.

Send me a PM with your email address and I'll send you a copy of the PDF from a 2006 which should be nearly the exact same as yours.

 

Replaced both hub assemblies from bumper2bumper. Noise gone. A little of a pain changing the seals, but it's a good idea.
whole job less than 3 hrs. And Im an old guy
Greg

 

So looks like mine are dead at least the passenger side is. Going to order the bolt on set up from bumper2bumper. What's the seal that I should also replace? And looks like I might do a passenger side alxel as well. When one goes should I just replace both?