Needle bearing swap

Planning on lifting my 3rd gen taco, deciding whether or not not doing the needle bearing replacement swap to ecgs at the same time and if so who on the island would one recommend.

 

i didn't, 70k miles later still ok. Try it out first, some people get lucky and never have to do it. some people don't.

what island? I maybe able to help you out

 

Oahu, thanks

 

@hacklerjason does them and @Dr. Emmett Brown Just did his last weekend.

 

I had a lifted 2018 and it needed it as soon as I lifted it. I just bought a 2017 and lifted it and no vibrations at any speed so not going to bother with it. Not a difficult job to do if you have the tools.

 

Also I have had my truck lifted for a year and roughly 11k miles and I have not done the swap. I have no vibrations when driving

 

How high you lifting it and are you lifting it yourself?

 

Haven't decided, maybe 2 or less

 

Should be okay without it. I swapped mine out after the lift, wasn't too bad to do it by myself.
I'm in 2.5" lift and the bearing actually was perfectly fine.

Edit. Only took me about 3 hours with some hand tools. I think now that I've done it once it would take about hour half to do it again. I spent my time looking at everything and running to the store to grab diff oil.

 

I guess the consensus

In your opinion should I just do it the same time when doing the suspension? When everything's out of the way? Dunno? If so would you consider doing it?

 

See if you get the vibrations first. Then do it

 

Since I do all my suspension work at home myself I decided to wait till I thought it was a problem. Turns out it wasn't my issue, after swapping it out, but I'm glad I ended up doing it.

So if you don't do the work yourself or don't want to spend money a second time getting it installed then I would say go ahead and put it in during suspension installation. It really can't hurt and it's so cheap for the peace of mind.

Not too sure of actual shops that do it but I'm sure there are shops on Oahu hat will. Also there are forum members on island that will do it as well. Let me know if you need the bearing puller tool. I purchased one and don't need it anymore so you're welcome to have it (for free cuz Hawaii lol) but just gotta coordinate picking it up.

Good luck with your decision. Either way you can't go wrong.

If you decide to do it yourself I'll link a video and a list of some tips that I found to be helpful.

 

That’s kinda the deciding factor right there. mid you do the work yourself and don’t mind pulling things apart again on the future if it does need to be replaced then go ahead and wait on it.
mid you’re paying someone to do the suspension work then I’d just bite the bullet and have it done at the same time. Paying to take it all apart again to put in the bushing won’t be cheap.

 

If that’s the east coast puller - I’ll buy the puller from u if that’s cool? And did I have the tool to set the seal too or just use a pic coupling?

 

You can have it for free if you meet me at windward city shopping center so I don't have to drive far. PVC coupling works, but i'm not sure what size. It was easy to use the bearing seal driver set that I rented from Oreillys for free. Just gotta give them collateral money and then they reimburse you when you return it.

 

Ok
If you can send me a pm with your contact info to set something up and maybe I can ask you some questions about the install

 

I talked to Dave at mod industries and he said they lifted tons of Tacoma’s and never heard of guys having this problem he said it might be a small number of people compared to the vast majority of those that lift the Tacoma’s. He thinks it’s guys not aligning their vehicle right away which gives people the impression it might be the needle bearing ...

 

There's TSB for the needle bearing so it can be faulty.

 

Sup Guys,
Didn't wanna set up a new thread so reviving this one. Looking at eventually lifting my truck and planning on swapping out the needle bearing in the process. Does someone on Oahu have the tool that I can borrow or buy? I figure I try asking first with assumption that most people will only need to use the tool once and then pau. I live in town (Honolulu) and willing to drive. It's a good reason for me to get out of the house.

Thanks