1st Gen 4x4 Front Diff Bearing Vibration

If you've recently lifted, might not be a bad idea to change cv. I've heard of them puking shortly after lifting (mine did). Keep it as a spare if you plan to wheel.

 

Thanks for the advice. I had to give up on getting it back together tonight. I was too frustrated to think clearly.

It doesn't seem like it's the clip that is catching and preventing the CV shaft from seating fully. I the leading edge with the splines is making contact with the splines inside the differential because, with great effort, I can turn the shaft and see my front drive shaft rotating. It takes a lot of force to spin the CV shaft though.

I really believe that it's the surface that comes into contact with the bushing that's binding and preventing it from seating fully. It's not mirror smooth like the one that I pulled out and it really seems like it's just a really, really tight fit.

 

So the axle doesn't have a smooth finish? Both surfaces should be smooth. Where did you get your replacement axle?

 

I got it from Rock Auto. It's not rough like sandpaper, it's just not polished smooth like the one I pulled out.

 

Does this issue cause vibrations in the gas pedal also? I have noticed both Tacomas I have had recently had the issue with a lift but not before. It is a 2 1/2 inch lift and have installed the diff spacer drop.

In the station for the next 17 hrs and can't go drive my truck to test it 4H. Hoping the vibs I am having is this issue.

What mileage is on your trucks that you are experiencing this issue? My 03 is fairly low mileage at 68k.

 

My 03 had 78k, vibes started after lifting. 4 hi made the vibes go away, ECGs tool and bushing fixed it.

 

Apparently all I needed was to stop working and get a good night's sleep. It took me all of 10 minutes to get the new CV shaft back into the differential. I'm not sure if my vibration is gone yet or not. I've been chasing it for about 7 years now so I'm hopeful, but not optimistic.

For anybody thinking about doing this job, here are a few things that I learned in the process that may help:

1. The bushing doesn't go all the way in. The bearing I pulled out was actually recessed into the differential by a fraction of an inch. The bushing is actually protruding from the differential slightly. You know when it's all the way in because it won't go any farther and the sound of the hammer hitting the seating tool changes.

2. For a truck as old as mine (1995 with 215k miles) this job wasn't as easy as shown in the how-to video that ECGS put together. Their bearing came out with little effort and they used a tiny little hammer and a few love taps to get the new bushing in. For me, it took the 3 pound mini-sledge to get the old CV shaft off and to seat the bushing. It also took a crazy amount of force to get the old bearing moving. I probably undid the tool to check and make sure it was seated correctly at least 3 times because it felt like nothing was happening. Eventually it started moving but still took a lot of effort.

3. There is very little room to work. I had to pull my whole steering knuckle off anyway to replace the upper ball joint. Even then I had to undo the sway bar end and lower shock absorber mount to get enough clearance to fit the new CV shaft through or pull the old one out. There was also very little room to swing a hammer at the bushing seating tool. The 3 lb sledge came in handy because there was only a few inches of clearance to swing. When there's no room to wind up the extra mass of the heavy hammer comes in really handy.

4. When people say that the ECGS bearing removal tool needs to be ground down slightly to fit, I think they are understating things. I had to grind quite a bit off of mine to get it to seat correctly.

Don't let these comments discourage you if you are thinking of doing this. At the end of the day it really wasn't all that hard, it just wasn't quite as easy as the video made it out to be.

 

Nice tips, you nailed it. And yes that tool, while helpful, takes a lot of grinding to work. That's what caused my install to go so awry - it didn't seem like the tool would remotely fit where it should, so i thought it needed to go further back, and ended up dropping in the diff.

 

I had to pull the sway bar end link on my '01 too. Didn't have to do the strut mount though. I was kinda frustrated/concerned because none of the tutorials that I read mentioned having to do this.

 

I am wondering go this too crunch, I have a weird vibe when on a long sweeping turn on power and also when I get up to about 70 and then on and off power, even just on the gas when over 70. I need to get this fixed and the tom woods d shaft didn't fix the issue.

 

If anyone needs a bearing puller tool let me know. I'm done with mine. It's already been ground down to the proper size.

 

Morning guys. I just completed my bushing install yesterday.

To recap. My truck suffered from the roaring noise that sounded like driving over rumble strips. The noise was a rurrr..rurrr..rurrr kinda sound that came and went every second or so. You could also feel the noise under the drivers feet. The noise also went away as soon as I hit 4WD.

My noise started when the truck was 100% stock and only had about 9000 mile on it back in 2003. The truck was back to the dealer a dozen or more times for the same issue and no one knew the fix or would even admint it was there.

I bought the bushing and Puller from East Coast Gear a few weeks back and finally tackled this yesterday.

Couple of notes.

1- Before you even attempt to pull the shaft out remove the lower shock bolt and pry the shock out of the lower mount and move it toward the front of the truck. There is enough play in to allow this even on my brand new OME's.

2- Once you have the shaft pulled loose from the diff you'll notice that it's still won't come out as it hits the linkage for the sway bar and a other things. You are much better off dropping the shaft out from the inside. With the lower shock unbolted you have room to lift the shaft up and drop it out the inside. It litterally falls out underthe engine.

3- The bearing removal tool doesn't fit!!!!!! Period. Buy one from someone that had done the work to make the tool fit. We ended up grinding bevels into the backside and removing a liot of material from the edges. Even with that it took a fairly good wack with a punch to get it seated. Once in place the bearing comes out nicely.

4 - Installing the new Bushing is not really all that hard. The diff has a taper that aligned my bushing just fine. I Froze my bushing in the freezer overnight and heated the diff housing with a heat gun and the bushing went in in far enough by hand to get it squared up. After that I simply used a 2x4 piece of wood and a hammer to tap it most of the way into place then used a socket to seat it. Mine went in all the way.

Over all the only part of the job that was hard was getting the tool in place. Once it was ground down I had no issues. Even the seal replacement was uneventful.

If the tool had fit correctly this would have been a 1hr job. BEST part is the truck seems to be vibration free at least in the front.

The tool is forsale for $30 to anyone who wants it.

 

One way you can kind of tell if you need to replace that bushing is if you put your hand on the driver side cv axle (the part that goes into the front diff). If it has much play/slop in it when you try to wiggle it around you should replace it. I noticed that's what the bushing fix basically did was make the cv axle fit into the bushing better.

I have removal tool and install tool for sale. 30 for removal and I have to look up how much I paid for install tool but probably 30ish too.

 

Subbed

 

Mine is still going strong since replacing it this last February. No issues and noise still gone.

 

Wonder why a slide hammer puller wouldn't work on getting the bearing out,,, anybody try that?

 

Not sure about that but... My fix done in December is also going strong

 

Anyone have a reason why East Coast Gear's shipping is so ridiculous?

Was about to pull the trigger on the bearing but for them to ship it FedEx Home (the cheapest option) 400 miles to my house it is almost $12! Maybe I am cheap or Amazon Prime has spoiled me but I think it is absurd to pay $12 shipping for a small part like that bearing. I understand they probably use flat rate boxes but are they shipping it to me in a 24" square box? The money is not going to kill me but it is the principle of it that bothers me.

Rant off.


They have 10% off until Monday. Code: THANKS

 

$12.00 is on the high end but it isn't that bad. I wouldn't worry about it too much. It's worth being vibe free, if this is indeed your problem. You'll be really ticked when you find out the extractor tool needs to be ground down to be useable

 

I know, just hate getting screwed on shipping. Just ordered several small parts from another site and paid $4.95 for USPS Priority Mail.

I lucked out and bought the last tool offered above. It is already ground down!


Edit: went ahead and paid their ridiculous shipping! Hopefully this fixes the issue.