How to tell if I got a bad carrier bearing?

Recently my vibrations have gotten worst; it started out about 3000-4000 miles ago truck is now sitting at 65,000 miles, it was just a small vibration at highway speeds up from 65-75mph. I got my tires balanced; alignment redone. Vibes were still there, so I chucked it off as a tacoma thing and left it alone.

Well today I just noticed it's gotten worst, Upon acceleration from around 45-65 I get really bad vibrations, my steering wheel shake has gotten worst. It would smooth out sometimes for a few seconds then come back. I get the feeling something is worn and I suspect the carrier bearings; how would I know if its bad? Can I go under and shake the driveshaft to inspect for play?

I have a very minor lift; 1.75 on 5100 up front and Toytec 1.5in AAL in the rear with 5100s; maintenance always kept up; driveshaft always regrease every 5000 miles and just changed my diff fluids again yesterday. For the past 50-55k miles I have never had this issue and I lifted the truck around 15k miles. I tried engaging 4wd and driving; my vibrations didn't change and I pulled on my front CV axles they are nice and snug so I'm thinking the front diff bearings are good. So in 4wd and 2wd its still the same.

I do have an extended warranty and is still effective, thinking about taking it in but worry they may void it due to my small lift modification. Who knows?

 

you can take the rear drive shaft off and use 4Hi to drive around... if the vibe goes away you know its in the rear driveshaft. Carrier bearing flexes and is not greaseable by zerk. If its under warranty try and take it in...the lift isnt much and shouldnt affect it but the dealer might give you hassle.

 

There's a thread somewhere around here that details how to replace the stock carrier bearing with one meant for a Ford Ranger that is supposed to fix the weak Toyota design. That's probably part of the issue. You still might have tire balance issues if your steering wheel is shaking, though.

 

U joints ok ? I had similar vibrations and had a bad u joint

 

I may just end up having to pay Toyota to rebalance the tires as part of their diagnostics to eliminate the vibes I'm getting. That way they can say they have rebalance the wheels and the vibes are still there. This sucks; I was happy when I did the lift and everything was silky smooth and thought I was never going to be a victim of the tacoma shakes but here I am at 65k miles and I got it.

 

Your carrier bearing is not causing your steering wheel to shake. That's the front tires. I would guess the tire monkeys overtightened the first couple lugs before the wheels were properly centered. I loosen and retorque my wheels every time the tire shop works on my truck. I get the same vibes otherwise.

They check to make sure the lugs are tight enough before sending the vehicle out, but I've found lugs tightened as high as 120 ft/lbs. speed is their aim, not accuracy.

Edit: I used to be a tire monkey, and probably did this to many vehicles. Live and learn

 

I went under the truck; its raining out so it sucks. Pulled on the drive shaft right by the U-Joints and no signs of bad play in the joints; decided to grab the grease gun and re-grease all the u-joints. Went out for a drive and the vibrations have almost completely gone away.

I am suspecting a bad u-joint at this moment but I'll schedule an appointment with Toyota in a couple of weeks when I get some time and have them deal with it; make my warranty money worth it.

 

Once it quits raining I'll go back out and re-check torque on the lugs.

 

L

Loosen them all and tighten to 30 pounds. Roll the truck a few feet to make them center themselves and tighten to 85. Retorque after 20-50 miles.

 

Is the carrier bearing suppose to have grease? Feeling it and free spinning it; it sounds like its dry? Shaking the drive shaft up and down it makes that noise like when you don't have grease in the bearings. Just curious if thats normal.

 

my truck was vibrating bad, as soon as the new u joint went in vibrations went away. When they had it apart I kinda wish that I had them replace them all. I was at a similar mileage to you.

 

If you're replacing one u joint, replace all 3

 

When I had these issues (still under warranty) my dealer just replaced the entire shaft.

 

Might want to read through this thread.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/just-fixed-driveline-vibration-for-free.153050/page-2

 

Google brought me here... having a slight vibration at 5-15 mph. Thinking front alignment or wheel issues since I did my rotors and pads. But they seemed ok... suspecting carrier bearing or u-joins.

 

65k is way too early for the carrier to go.

Have you tried having the dealer road force balance your wheels/tires? Only way I could get my Falken wildpeaks to balance decent was to have my dealer do it. They have a special adapter for our bolt pattern/bore size.