East Coast Gear Supply Freakin' Rocks!!!

Hey Yota Fans,

I installed a 2 1/2" lift on my 2014 Tacoma, TRD Off Road a few months back. I finished the front on a Saturday and the rear on the following Sunday. When I had the front done, Saturday night, I drove it to town. I had the dreaded droning vibration from about 25 mph to about 50 mph. It bothered me to say the least. Even with the diff drop spacers installed, it did it.

I noticed that my driver side axle shaft had noticeably more slop in it than my passenger side. After some research, I ordered the replacement bushing from East Coast Gear Supply. I FINALLY got around to replacing it today and the vibration noise is GONE!

For what it's worth to anyone considering this upgrade, I didn't unbolt the axle shaft from the hub. I just removed the bottom strut mount bolt and the two lower ball joint bolts. This allowed enough room to pull the axle shaft from the differential. I had to work around the strut and the axle shaft but it wasn't too bad. In total, I think it took me about 3 hours. It would go so much quicker on a lift but a good floor jack and some large jack stands are all I have.

If any of you are considering this, I would highly recommend it. My truck has just under 36,000 miles on it now so I'll post back with an update in another 20,000 or so miles.
Let me know if any of you have any questions about this.
Winkel

 

my 11 only has 30k i guess i have to look into this soon.

 

That is exactly what I wanted to read. I did 5100s @1.75 and I get the same drone vibration with 36k........it's driving me insane. it's only been a week too. looks like I'll be ordering that......in about 3 minutes

 

I had them do mine while we were in town several years ago and haven't looked back. I could tell it fixed the problem within driving a half block.

 

Excellent! You won't regret it.

 

Good to hear. Having the same grinding drone. Hopefully it's the same problem you had.

 

Crawl under your truck and wiggle each axle shaft right where they come out of the front diff. My driver side was noticeably looser than the passenger side. That was my clue.

 

How far in did the bushing go? I'm currently working on mine and having some issues.

Won't go farther than this

Edit:
added pic:

 

It looks like you're good. Mine went just flush with the steel around it. Smear some lube in there and re-assemble.
Let us know how it turns out! I JUST finished mine about two hours ago.

 

And of course, refill for the fluid that leaked out when you removed the axle shaft.

 

Thanks! I watched the video ECGS made and it looked like it went further in, but was hard to tell.

 

Will do. Thank you for the tip

 

Should I buy the 60$ tool to remove the bearing? or will a blind bearing puller work? the straight slide hammer type.

 

don't buy the tool new. Find someone on here that has one. I ended up borrowing one from another member. The tool is specially made for this one job and it works great.

 

Yeah there's a few in circulation around here and even a thread. You've just got to pay shipping to borrow it.

 

If you can't find one, I'd buy it. I'm not sure about the other option because I haven't tried it. I do know that I'd hate to have everything torn apart and not be able to get the bearing out.

 

The standard test that everyone has been using is to put the truck in 4wd. If the sound/vibration goes away, that's (the needle bearing) the problem.

 

Very valid point

 

you should crawl back under your truck and remove that diff drop too, they're useless

 

Really? I wondered about this. Even though the diff drop spacers are about an inch thick, I assume they don't actually drop it a full inch. I assume you are running a lift without the drop?