i think i made a mess of things, please advise

Rear u joint bad, bought used 2005 Taco with 200k. dropped the drive line and the rear u joint was dry and sloppy, figured i might as well change everything including carrier bearing. bought 3 u joints and carrier from rock auto. the existing carrier bearing has 2 arrows pointing forward. i borrowed oreilys autos u joint kit, worked great, knocked off the old carrier which felt pretty good actually and compared with the new one and found from rock auto, no difference regardless of which was i held them together as far as i could tell. i studied them for 20 minutes and thought it didn't mater which way the new carrier went on the drive shaft. added glue and torqued it on. the drive line went all back together and i was cautiously feeling OK about myself. i hung the drive shaft and the carrier bearing didn't line up with the mating surface as well as the one i originally knocked off the shaft (btw, no arrows on the carrier i bought from Rock Auto, i should have studied longer). Glued and bolted the shaft to the manual trans end and to the differential end, that went ok and then i really screwed up driving up the carrier bearing to the cross member ( see pics ) First i realized there's not the same mating surface area between the cross frame and the bearing flange and then like a total creep i stripped one of the hold down bolts with the impact by cross threading when i started to run in the bolt. Man im in severe self flagellation over that bonehead move, trust me!
i was lucky and drilled out the stripped hole with a 3/8th drill, ran to the store and bought grade 8 bolt, washer, lock washer and 2 nuts to double lock the ridiculous fix i came up with ( see pics) and slapped it together. it looks absurd.

i drove the truck and the vibration went away, feels great but i feel like crud with the way the install went.

Here's my questions, Please: 1) does it matter which was that carrier bearing goes on the drive shaft? it looks like it might be on backwards. there's about a 1/4" less mating surface with the cross member and 2) what to do about the stripped out hole. lots of bad things can happen when one tries to tap out and hunk of steel. i have to find the next size MM bolt that will live above a 3/8" size hole, i have to find a bolt of good quality in MM and i would like to cap it with a lock washer and a nut on top just for fun

Should i leave the carrier bearing alone?
should i leave my ridiculous repair to the stripped out hole alone?

your thoughtful consideration is so appreciated....i feel like crap!!!!!!!!!


the 3rd pic is the bearing i believe i should have bought. at least it has arrows for idiots like me

thank you so much in advance.....Max (idiot mechanic)

 

I have an 06' and had to replace the U-joints. It has about 227,000 mi on it. Rear of truck began shaking at speed, and diagnosed it to the U-joints being worn out. Decided to replace the Carrier bearing as well. ended up taking the drive shaft off 3 times because of GD! moments inflicted on myself. The carrier bearing flanges are slightly off center. I remember it being a little wonkey when I put it back on the first time, because the holes on the carrier bearing flanges are wide ( I guess it is so it can move and adjust for variances in tolerances, but I never understood why you would want want to introduce a new axis of rotation into a system like that). I had to take it off a second time because after the initial U-joint repair, the shaking was still there, but less.

Right around 55 mph, then a smooth ride until about 65 mph. I was worried I put the carrier bearing on wrong. After examining the one I took off, I realized the flanges were not on center of the bearing. Took the shaft off and turned it the other way (upside down from the first way I put it on). The one I had did have arrows, but no up or down indicators. Put it all back together and still shaking. Turns out the shaft is weight adjusted, like the balancing on a rim after a new tire is mounted. I didn't pay any attention to that when I was taking it apart the whole time, and now that it had been dissembled twice before, there was no hope of ever getting the exact factory tooth alignment back. The third time I took it off I ended up just eyeballing it, and putting the weights on the drive shaft in opposition to each other. Worked well, and is smooth now. Been riding on it about 40,000 so far, no issues.

(My opinion) I believe in your case as long as the homemade bolt solution you used is tight, and wont rattle off, you should be pretty good on the bearing. The bushing inside of it is going to absorb a lot of the shock from rotation, you just need to make sure it doesn't fall off, which I can see you did by adding the second nut to lock it. (My opinion)

 

Dear Goat Guy,
thank you for your courteous response. my truck would shake around the same speeds you're speaking of. clutch in, clutch out, slowing, several scenarios but about the same issues you were having. i went into the truck today to flip the bolt fix around feeding the bolt in from the bottom like the other side. used glue, flat washer, lock washer and 2 nuts of all grade 8 3/8" hardware. then i backed off the other side to add glue on the threads and upon tightening down the 14mm head bolt i realized it was stripped out as well. well hell! so tomo i guess im going to make a sacrifice to the toyota gods b of enlarging holes and try to step that hole up to 3/8" and do the same trick with the grade 8 hardware, glue and locking devices. im really frazzled at this point. i tried to put the carrier bearing on the proper direction at first and studied both units and found no differences as much as i could tell but of course the old unit had the bearing pried out of it. it all looked the same no matter which way i compared them but it sure looks like its n backwards. i did however catch a youtube video warning me about which end of the bearing faces up plus the arrows were a give away. i did mark all the joints and drive shafts with punches and liquid paper before i scattered the drive line so i know it went back together the way it came off. upon first few test drives its is smooth as silk so other than enlarging that hole and ditching the stripped bolt, going with SAE 3/8" grade 8 hardware, im not going to mess with it further. the carrier bearing is not going to be wrecked and im not going to install a new one. im scared ill screw it up further. if it gives me hell in the future i feel fairly confident i can scatter the components and reinstall with good quality hardware even though its no longer metric

again sir, thank you for your kind attention and input.....best of luck going forward
Max

 

jobberskid,

Sounds like you got a plan. Probably best not to try to fix something if it isn't broken. Once you get done with the bolt rework you can get your "custom Toyota part fabricator" merit badge. Good luck!

 

thank you sir!