Needle Bearing - Will delete if needed

So hear me out before I get the search button que.

I tried searching for some solid answers regarding a TSB that came out for the needle bearing. Never really looked into it because I only lifted my truck 1” and it’s been fine since it was installed at 8k miles (now at 21k). I read through quite a bit of the thread but I started skimming towards the end without a solid answer..did this new TSB fix the dreaded issue that occurs after lifting the Tacoma? Has anybody had this done that can vouch for a yay or nay regarding if Toyota stepped it up and fixed the bearing or it’s just a waste of time.

The rear of my truck seems to be experiencing some sag and it’s starting to look lower in the rear than it first did when I lifted it. It has a 1” block so I know that probably contributed to wearing down the already known weak stock leaf pack. I want to add an AAL so that’ll give me about 1.5”-2” lift in the rear so I will have to raise the front (5100) shock to the 4th setting (1.5” lift) or I may pursue the route of ditching my stock coils and going for the 885 EMU coils for a 2” lift and then I’d consider an aftermarket leaf pack fiend the rear. It’s dependent on knowing if this needle bearing issue potentially got fixed or it did not, as I may continue to drive it until it NEEDS replacing or if I can pull the trigger now and lift it.
Just trying to avoid any uncessary spending is all.

I would appreciate any feedback from those who can vouch for the TSB and if this post is a great annoyance (repeat thread) this can be deleted as that is not my goal.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-cyclical-groaning-grinding-noise-tsb.532596/

 

As far as I know, the TSB will just replace a suspected bad needle bearing, with another needle bearing. I don't think they are replacing with the ECGS bushing (which is the longer term fix), and not going to do it unless the symptoms have developed.

Not everyone seems to need to do the swap after a lift; or at least not immediately. However, it's not too terribly difficult of a job to just do while installing the lift, since most everything is already out of the way to do it anyways.

Note that I didn't do mine at same time as lift, but it wasn't long before I got the symptoms and did the ECGS bushing swap.

 

That’s what I was trying to dig and find was wether or not Toyota successfully created a new bearing that would not cause issues with a lift. It’s about $200 and I’d rather spend them on other things if I don’t have to. I’m going in to my dealer Thursday so I’ll bring up this TSB and ask if it’s any different than what they’ve done in the past. One of the employees there told me that as long as the shop that installs lifts is ASE certified, that it’ll be covered under warranty if anything goes south..problem is if they’re replacing the needle bearing with the same damn thing it’ll just be a ticking clock before it’s another trip back. Thanks for the feedback.

 

There’s no new Toyota bushing. They’ll only swap it out with the same one, if needed.