Needle Bearing ECGS and TSB

I had the same issue with my local dealer. They said they couldn't hear anything over the wind noise of the roof rack when I never said you could hear anything but you can feel the vibration. My experience with dealers has been they do everything they can to deny work until you warranty is up.

 

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Call Toyota Corporate

 

I would if I "REALLY" wanted the TSB fix that badly. I was only going to do the TSB fix if I didn't get any hassle. I figured I'd do the TSB and see how long that worked. But, I think the ECGS bushing will be a better, more long term fix. For the cost of the bushing and the install, I don't think it's worth my time fighting with Toyota over the phone.

 

This.

Dealerships lift trucks all the time, and with shitty components. I'm sure they don't turn those trucks away when they qualify for a TSB.

 

I brought my truck into the local dealer twice. Once when I just knew there was a problem but didn’t know there was a TSB and they said it was the tires. They said they would make a note of it and see if Toyota had anything about it (they didn’t do a thing). Few months later I heard of the TSB and went in to same dealer and asked for the work to be done since my vehicle had the exact symptoms described. They straight up refused to do it because I asked for a specific TSB. They said they have people coming in all the time asking for specific TSB work to be done so they won’t do mine. My truck is now out of warranty at 62k miles and it still has the issue.

Oh, they did try and blame it on my lift but I have the TRD PRO suspension so... I doubt it. Haha

 

Just wanted to throw my 2 cents in. 2016 TRD Pro with 25k miles and 2" rough country strut spacers. I've been having this exact issue for a few days now. Thanks to this forum I was able to find a pdf of the TSB covering my truck AND learned about the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. With all this info I'm scheduled to take my truck in tomorrow morning for the exact issue described in the TSB. We'll see if they deny me because of "custom" suspension parts. Will report.

 

FWIW - I had spacers in front, blocks in back and a front diff drop on mine when I took it in. Once they had the TSB and confirmed it was the problem they did it with no questions.

 

Looks like you're right. I heard back from the mechanic today and got good news and bad news. Toyota's gonna replace the part under warranty, but it's apparently on back-order for the next 2-3 weeks. I talked with the tech when I went to pick up my truck, and he confirmed two important things. 1) there's little to no harm in driving the vehicle with noisy needle bearings as long as there's no extreme off road driving being done, and 2) he mentioned the leveling kit and confirmed that it doesn't have any effect on the issue addressed by the TSB. Got a copy of the work order and i'll hopefully be going back in a few weeks to have it taken care of.

Additionally, I just want to say thanks to everyone who's posted helpful info here and on every other thread on this website. I'm a fairly new taco owner so it's nice to have such a huge community to turn to when my truck starts making weird, taco-specific noises or does any other strange thing.

 

Resurrecting this old thread.

Salinas Toyota took 13 minutes of me being on hold and three different service reps before they admitted they didn’t know what I was talking about.

I told them there was a TSB and they said they never had anyone with that problem.

I gave them the part number and after looking it up they said they, “don’t do anything that involved.”

Told me to look for other shops to do it and if no one does then they will “think of a solution.”

 

I think I’d call Toyota and let them know their own dealerships are not resolving TSBs. (Then I’d take it to another dealership.)

 

Second dealership:

I called Santa Cruz Toyota and informed them of the TSB and told them I’d be paying since I no longer fall within the 6 years or 60,000 miles.

I kept getting transferred to another service rep until the third one said, “I’ll transfer you to Mike.” Well they must have meant “mic” for microphone to talk to myself because it went to a voicemail and I never got a call back.

 

I admittedly didn’t go through every page of this.... but I put the ECGS bushing in at like 18k miles and I’m over 190k now and it’s still going smoothly.

edit to add:

it was super easy to put in. I bought the tool and loaned it to another forum member that never sent it back (thanks dude) so I can’t loan it to you guys...

 

@Kyle01 call him out...

As for the needle bearing... If they're replacing it with the same part, why bother getting it done? You'll only be doing it again....

I also couldn't justify buying their tool to do this, so I bought this kit. It wasn't much more than their tool and does more.

$54 8MILELAKE Blind Inner Bearing Puller, Hole Remover Extractor Set, 16pcs Blind Hole Collet Bearing Race and Seal Puller Extractor Kit, Slide Hammer Tool Set

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0798GS916?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

 

I have the tool if anyone needs to borrow it

 

As long as the tool is gettin passed around it’s all good! That bushing was one of the best things I did. Now to sort out this driveshaft...

 

Play by play....
I heard the Needle bearing noise downloaded the TSB and took my Taco to a dealership and they said that there was no such thing. I showed them the tsb and they looked at me like huh.. I would not leave.
The mechanic and I took my truck for a ride and he said I dont here anything... they looked at me like an Idiot.
I then asked for the service manager showed him the TSB and said this is and Issue I drive my truck everyday and handed him the TSB.
He made an appt and replaced it. No more noise after that. You gotta be tough with some of them....

 

did the ECG replacement awhile ago as the dealer here did not want to hear about it, numerous times at the dealer for rotate, balance, and alignments, still did not want to listen. Now the vibration is gone

 

I had the same experience "we don't hear anything / we can't feel what you are referring to"; paid for the work to be done, problem solved.

 

The ECGS solution is quite simple to do...there is a video on youtube from ECGS showing exactly how to do it... i did it on my 2015 in a couple hours at a leisurely pace...in my opinion that was easier and less time consuming than getting frustrated over a dealership playing stupid over Tacoma "vibrations", which don't let them fool you, they know all about it........

 

Is this only an issue with lifted trucks? just wondering if this is the issue I am experiencing with my truck after swapping tires. I am still learning a lot about the Tacos.