Aftermarket carrier bearings/center support bearings?

Hi Everybody, I have 2004 Taco 4x4 with all IRD suspension. It sits a few inches higher than the average SR5 4x4 Taco of that generation. I have been having a HELL of a time with carrier bearings. I had been eating up carrier bearings, and most recently, at the end of 2017 I got all the angles of the drive-line happy and got a brand new carrier bearing installed at the same time. (I think it was a Moog). Here we are in the beginning of 2019 and the rubber of the bearing is completely smoked. My driveshaft was just wobbling around in the outer metal ring of the bearing. So now that I have been through almost a new bearing per year for a few years now, I created the final solution and I would like to share that with you here. I hope you enjoy my write-up. Maybe it will help you. If you are as fed up as I am, and at wit's end, I could probably even make you one of these if you buy the parts.

First, there is a difference between the 4WD version and the RWD version. Its basically just an extra metal ring that acts as a dust cover / shield. Either bearing will mechanically work in either truck (RWD vs 4RD). Second, there is a large range in the quality of parts available. There are $25 Doorman bearings, $275 Tacoma OEM bearings, and everything in the middle. Yes, the OEM are actually Spicer / Dana and you can get them for $100 probably somewhere. There is a difference in rubber thickness and quality of the material. I find it almost impossible to distinguish a $25 bearing from a $100 bearing by looking at a photo. So if you are trying to save money, I would stay away from Amazon sellers due to counterfeits. You get what you pay for.

I started by buying a brand new carrier bearing from Rock Auto. They offer a range of $11 - $72 bearings (at the time of this writing). I chose the "National" brand. It is usually $65 at Rock Auto, but they are having a wholesaler closeout, so it was $31. This one made by National sells for $75 at Autozone, and I have seen them sell for more. The point here is that I started with a higher-end bearing, and I did get the 4WD model. So start with the best.

STEP#1:
Now if you look at the part (OEM showed below):

You see how the rubber curves from the outer metal housing, down into the center where the bearing is located. It creates a little "valley" in the rubber around the outside of the bearing. The most stress on the rubber is right at the edge that is bonded to the bearing. That is where the rubber will fail first, and once that breaks free the whole thing will hand grenade soon. So the first thing I do is "preinforce" this area on the new one.

Loctite makes a family of products called Hysol. Hysol is a structural polyurethane. The key word here is "structural." There are different varieties of Hysol, but we want the one that bonds to metal and rubber, U-05FL.
The amazon link below shows a picture of the *wrong* stuff, but it is actually the link to buy the right stuff. Good luck. I got mine at Granger.

Adhesive, Urethane, Hysol U-05FL, 50mL

https://www.amazon.com/LOCTITE-Adhesive-Urethane-Hysol-U-05FL/dp/B00E2Y26XY



This stuff is similar to a binary epoxy. Squirt from both tubes simultaneously and mix it up on a cardboard palette. Its a 2:1 ratio, but the tube diameters do that for you if you just push them in the same amount. Now I filled that "valley" in the rubber that circles the bearing.



The stuff only has a few minutes of working life before it sets up, so do it little by little. Do both sides. Only one side is shown here, but they look the same. I ended up using the entire 1.7 fl.oz. tube. After the "valleys" on each side were filled, I used the rest to basically make a solid surface of structural poly that went from the ridge of the rubber down to the edge of the bearing.



After both sides looked like that I just let it dry for a day. Now, the structural polyurethane provides added strength. It should help keep the rubber from drying out and disintegrating. It also bonds to the rubber and metal on the outside of the bearing in the center, which should keep the rubber from "pulling away" from the bearing, which has happened to me in the past. This poly does actually flex to absorb vibration, so it does not transmit the vibration like a solid block of poly would.

STEP#2:
Step 1 might have been enough. But not for Captain Overkill! So the *outside* of the rubber has been reinforced... but the part is made with two sheets of rubber joining the outside of the center bearing with the inside of the outer metal ring. There is an air gap in between the two sheets of rubber. The air gap lets the rubber dry out and obviously provides no structural support. So the next thing I did was buy a tube of black polyurethane and fill the gap completely.

Loctite black polyurethane for roofing will also bond to just about anything. The nozzle on the tube easily fit into the openings on the outer metal housing.


I moved the nozzle around to various angles and filled the air gap with poly. I did this for both sides. It took a while to dry. I think it was 4 days before I had time to get back to this project. The poly I added to the inside took the flimsy rubber sheets and made it into a brick. The poly actually dried softer than the rubber. I don't know how much extra support it will provide, but I do know:
1. It will be more than the air did.
2. It seals the rubber from hot dry air that had to contribute to killing it.

I had my shop install this to just to verify that angles were still good, shaft was still balanced, U-joints weren't smoked, etc. I have been driving it about a month. I am sure this bearing does transmit more vibration to the truck / my butt. It would about have to. But it hasn't been enough to bother me. I don't notice it. You know what vibrated more than this? Have the driveshaft wobble freely being held in place by nothing other than that outer ring of metal and no rubber. So I will see how long it lasts and report back.

But that is my recipe for Taco Mayhem's Bomb-Proof Bearing. Hit me up with questions.

 

I've been injecting urethane in to the bushings for a while now with great success. It takes a few days to a week to cure, but it doesn't dry out the rubber like silicone does.

 

Or just buy the IEDLS bushing, set up at correct angle and be done with it

 

Daves

 

Well, Dave. I think I'm finally ordering one of these to replace my original.

 

Carrier Dave approves

 

https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/293120901714

Anybody find this deal too good to be true? I’m guessing it’s a crap center bearing since they only specify the brand of the u joints.

 

https://www.driveshaftparts.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=516

 

The dealership replaced the u-joints on my truck under TSB no-cost coverage ~5000 miles ago. That did wonders for the vibration, initially. I've started to notice vibration again, but only in the range of ~49-51 mph. It's an '08 taco with 120k on the clock. Recently the vibration in that same range seems to have become much more noticeable. My first thought is that it's probably the carrier bearing, then I wonder if it could be the u-joints also. Seems very unlikely, given that they have about 5000 miles on them. I was hoping you folks would throw out some feedback on the possibility of worn out u-joints from excess driveline stress, which could have been caused from not replacing a worn out carrier bearing at the same time as the u-joints.

I also wonder if it might be the transmission support bushing; it's plausible the vibration is the result of driveline misalignment at the tail end of the transmission, that only occurs under torque and at a very specific rpm frequency/speed interval. Thoughts?

Obviously, it's anyone's guess...but I thought I would throw it out there to those with more experience than myself.

 

You can buy the identical OE Toyota part from a dealer that sells Spicer for ~$70. The PN is 5002007 for 4WD. I replaced mine over the weekend and injected it with clear silicone a few days prior. We'll see if the silicone lasts. I've done this once before on a car and drove it 150-200k miles with no issues but several here have said the silicone fails shortly.

edit- the PN is listed on the page prior

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dana-Spicer-DRIVE-SHAFT-CENTER-SUPPORT-BEARING/233180198429?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

 

I used this carrier.

$54 Beck/Arnley 101-7913 Driveshaft Center Support Assembly

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01DLEHW52/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Instead of silicone, use black urethane. It wont dry out the rubber. Just have to let it cure for longer.

 

I replaced the support bearing and u-joints with a very small improvement.

It wasn’t until I installed solid engine and trans mounts that the oscillation went away. Pretty expensive and somewhat difficult install, but I was going that direction anyway.

A friend suggested I check the slip yolk and I did notice a good deal of slop pulling it side to side. It’s probably the result of shortening my drive shaft for SUA long travel.
Might be something to consider though.

 

@Hawk373 Thanks! Thats the kind of info I was looking for.

 

You bet. I chased the problem for a while. Read a ton on other Toyota and auto forums. There are so many potential causes, even vibrational dampeners that LCs have located throughout their chassis.

My buddy’s Super Bee ate its own transmission from a similar oscillation.

My noise was extra annoying because the reverberations would syncopate with the exhaust tone. My only defense was the volume knob.

 

Like I said, I used clear silicone in another vehicle, on the original bearing, and ran it for 10+ yrs and 150k+ miles with no issues. Where is this "silicone dries out rubber" coming from? I've never heard of this and have never experienced anything like it. It didn't dry out the rubber surround in 10+ years so if it didn't happen by then it's not gonna happen. It stayed in place, had no adverse affects, and still offers some compliance and damping. Are there better products? Probably. But for $6 I'll give it a try again. If it fails and gets squeezed out, I'll have the stock configuration and change the bearing again in 10 yrs and 100k miles if I still have the truck. I'm at about 110K now. I'll have another 4k miles on it in 6 weeks so I'll know soon if it'll stay put.

 

You shouldn't run both solid engine and transmission mounts- too much rigidity and can lead to a cracked transmission case. Google it, it's common when you have all 3 mounts solid. You should use a rubber or urethane transmission mount.

 

I guess we’ll see... I shouldn’t have done most of what I did to my truck if I didn’t want things to break.

Not sure if it matters, in regard to those cases, but my “solid” mounts have urethane bushing isolators.

Edit: something like this. Mine are by DMZ.

 

Discussion is convoluting the information. If my next statement is correct please make it a first page sticky.
After info is verified I will try to locate sources by price and edit that in as well.

Rwd info based on 2007 Taco TRD Prerunner Sr5 Access cab, using the vin to be sure of parts.

Drive Shaft Center Support Bearing
-Toyota Rwd 37230-0K040
-Spicer Rwd 5002334

-Toyota 4x4 information needed
-Spicer 4x4 5002007

Rumor is that these are both interchangeable, and that that the 4x4 bearing has a dust seal or additional liner of some sort. So I am guessing that if they are inter changeable that the 4x4 version is the more resilient version.
Can anyone verify that the 4x4 bearing will fit the Rwd shaft, and that it is more resilient or not?



Other aftermarket options

 

I would remove the Timken all together. It may work just fine, but I vote to keep it with OEM or OEM provider (Spicer). The part number is different between 2wd and 4x4 for both Spicer and OEM, so you would need to add whichever is missing.

Given the cost difference, I would simplify it as such.
-Spicer 2wd part number: 5002334
-Spicer 4x4 part number: 5002007