First Gen Tacoma - Replacing the Rear Axle Bearings - My Experience

I'll start of with that the rear of the first gen Tacomas are semi-float, not full-float. I recommend that if you want to know more about semi-float vs full-float, read THIS! It'll go over all the basics and difference of both.

ANYWAYS! On to this exasperation.

So I thought I'd share a bit of the pain that my dad and I went through this weekend. So long story short, I originally saw a bit fluid on the side of back driver side wheel. Upon closer inspection it turned out to be fluid from the rear diff which meant that the inner seal was worn and bad.



Inner seal was bad, and so before even pulling my truck apart, we order a new inner seal and o-ring for the job, only to have everything apart, put the new seal and o-ring on and then realize that the bearing as well is shot.



Short video showing the movement that the bearing had. Normally it has some play, but this was excessive. Sorry for the terrible video/quality.

After taking the whole drum brake assembly off, dad and I tried everything to get bearing out of the backing plate. Nothing. Later after a bit of a parts run, we learned that we need a special tool to do the job. We also called up a local Toyota dealer to see if they would be willing to just press out the bearing and everything. With the estimate being about $250 ( ), it was a pretty quick no from both myself and my dad.

This is where we basically went to the point of making tools specifically just to get this thing apart. The retainers we ended up just cutting off to save time. First tool we made was to get the part for ABS off (Don't remember what it's call.. Sorry)



In short, it's two short pieces of angle iron and some 2x2 scrap steel that was laying around that we stuck bolts through at the top. Then we used our 20 ton press to get this piece off.

Then we proceed to make a tool to press the axle shaft out. We took 2 .250" steel plate and welded them together. Then we marked the bolt pattern of the housing/backing plate and drill holes do the backing plate would fit on and be able to bolt down to it. We also had some scrap 2.5x2.5 square tube laying around so that would be used to branch up the axle shaft and create a place where we could weld on some more square tube up higher so we could hang it on the press.



The whole thing worked like a charm. Axle shaft popped out easily. and then with the bearing came out with a bearing press kit that my dad has. One hit and it came out as well.

Reassembly wasn't terrible, except for the freak springs. OMG! Those are a nightmare to get back on. I mean, having an extra pair of hands help, but man they are so annoying!

Needless to say, besides the spring being annoying, we used the press to press everything back on and we were able to have the truck back on all before noon... the next day.



Here's the whole assembly back together and cleaned of any oil/dirt/grease/etc... To give you a comparison, here's the assembly just after we pulled it off.



Filthy, right?

Anyways, truck is back together now and brakes have been adjusted. Still need to do the other side next weekend, but at least I have the tools to do the job.

As for future reference, I'll be taking a look at this. It's a full-float conversion by Front Range Off-road Fabrication. If the first gen Tacomas were full floaters, then this job would have been a piece of cake. Definitely going to be looking into this if I have the truck for a while... which I probably will.

Here's the truck now on all fours!



I'd say all in all, if you're willing to take the time and make the tools you'll need to do the job, I'd say got for it. It wasn't terrible after we built the tools we needed, but before that it was a nightmare. If you're not willing to tackle this job and you just take it into your local Toyota dealer, then be ready to fork over a bit more then $1000. That's what they'll charge you forever thing.

Anyways, I hope this helps someone or at least enlightens someone to the rear of the first gen Tacomas. As painful as these things can be to work on, they're fabulous vehicle and I love mine to death!