2021 with bad wheel bearings

Please post again after the dealership's shop does their thing.
Inquiring minds want to know what the outcome is.

 

Hopefully it’s not bad axles and the bearings were prematurely worn out.

 

I had my front wheel bearing go bad, well after I slammed that wheel hard into a curb. Dealer replaced it without issue. I failed to disclose the curb part.

 

It’s very unusual for an axle bearing to go out this early, let alone two. QC maybe hitting TOYOTA also, there’s a lot more issues with it for other manufacturers going on right now and its weird.

Glad the dealer came around and did the right thing by OP, which is also weird that they did not want to cover it under warranty

 

The bearings are a manufactured part, sometimes some less than perfect ones get out the door.
Sometimes something goes wrong during the assembly process at the factory.
Sometimes something goes wrong at the worker level in the factory too.

They are covering it under warranty so drive on and "keep an ear on it".

 

I am going to go out on a limb and say that you probably only have one bad bearing, but the dealer being the dealer is too lazy to figure out which one and called both thinking it wasn't under warranty. I could also see where they would deem the wheel bearing as not part of the powertrain. I mean if your fronts went out on a 2wd, it wouldn't be considered powertrain. Kind of a grey area, but glad you are getting them replaced.

 

could be the first part, I wouldn't be surprised.
I totally agree on the second part- I wouldn't be surprised if they had no idea, no interest in finding the source, and quoted something semi related and a FO price, trying to run him out. So, it's funny OP called em on their shenanigans and now they are on the hook to replace and convince big Toyota they diagnosed and repaired both sides

 

Sorry you have to deal with that. I drive very similar to you (lots of highway and high miles every year) and still have the stock bearings. Hopefully this doesn't become a recurring theme for you!

 

Just a point of clarification here but no Tacoma has a transaxle. A transaxle is a combined transmission/ differential unit that many front wheel drive vehicles have. Tacomas have a front and rear differential, a transfer case, and a transmission. All are separate units. Don’t want anybody to get confused over referring to components by incorrect names.

 

The difference is that both your pickup and 4runner were made in japan. I have had many 90s toyotas and still do, they are overbuilt and are the main reason toyota has the reputation it has today.

 

The Warranty manual under power train, and under rear axle, says plainly bearings. We could debate it was the drive shaft or differential but it small claims court, you'd get them to admit that the wheel bearings are part of the rear axle. I just hope I don't have a bad axle!!

 

Some dealer that was. I am surprised at bearing gone at such low mileage. I have 40,000 km on mine and no issues at all. Hope you never have that kind of experience dealing with dealer again.

 

That's really weird for the op's wheel bearings falling with only that mileage. I had a 2001 tundra with just short of 300k miles still with all the original wheel bearings. Japanese wheel bearings are known to be some of the best in the world.

 

I agree you have a left and a right rear AXLE bearing that could be causing your noise. You also have rear differential bearings, but like I said no Tacoma 2WD or 4WD has a TRANSAXLE

 

as suggested above, you wonder if the dealer diagnosed it correctly and resorted to the FO price not knowing it was covered under warranty or pretending it wasn't. i'd be tempted to get another opinion only because wheel bearing failure especially at this mileage is very odd.

 

I am at the dealer now and they are doing the work. Here’s the ODD thing said to me:

if I drive off and it still makes the noise, they will take a look.

if I drive off, and because it’s under warranty, and in 1600 miles they break again, I am out of luck with the warranty because they deem the truck “out of ware at 60,000 miles.

had I paid out of pocket, I have a 12,000 mile warranty. That totally makes no sense. Because it’s “free” it’s 1600 miles but if I paid its 12,000.

if I truly was coming out of pocket, I would take it back to the mechanic who diagnosed that it wasn’t an unbalanced wheel or the pinion or differential bearing (however he didn’t think it was a wheel bearing when he road with me. He worked on my 2016 4Runner and found stuff like a worn bushing but my shock was good so just a repair on the bushing, etc.) I probably would have been $1000 out of pocket with the guy. This dealer told an old guy who put 5000 miles on his truck in a year that his oil change and tire rotation was $379 because he had not been there in over the year, the Jiffy Lube down the street is $141 for the same service. This is a Lithia owned dealer. By the way, this guy is completely wrong on not warrantying these parts for 12,000 miles. It shouldn’t matter who pays for it. Toyota ultimately pays the dealer warranty work.

 

I miss spoke, you are correct. The manual refers to the rear drive system. My mechanic called it a transaxle. He's a good dude so I will correct him.

 

Absolute bullshit. They make a repair and it only lasts 1600 miles, they or Toyota are on the hook for that. I'd find a new dealer if I were you or go straight to Toyota corporate if you end up in that scenario.

Im at 83k on my 21. Do a ton of highway miles but wheel on and off construction sites a couple times a day. Gas, tires and oil(s) is all Ive put into it.

 

Oh I am such an escalator! I have been in the Car Wash business for 34 years. I have been on the other side when a customer would bring me a damage claim. You have to really analyze the issue and what was funny besides the "unknown" scratches one has on a dirty car which cameras pre-wash would pick up, you can almost solve any issue with the cars owners manual and what the words say in it. Many claims that were made were easily directed back to the dealer for a warranty or recall issue (Kia and Hyundai Shark Fin Antennas for example) and settled. Or it was a proven pre-existing issue. The only claims we ended up paying were when we visually saw an equipment malfunction or an employee doing something stupid. OUR FAULT! We owned it immediately. I have battled many dealers on their issues and won with the manufacturer.

I have put a stake in the ground reporting an issue before the warranty was up. They diagnosed the issue as being bearings. If the noise is still there on drive off, they didn't fix it. If the bearings go bad in a few thousand miles, its the axle and I made a claim yesterday under warranty which means their diagnosis was wrong. Either way I would win on a fix in small claims regardless of what this dealer says. California has pretty strict lemon laws too.

One funny note, when I bought the truck here in 2021, there were NO DEALS. It was the only 4x4 Tacoma within 100 miles, besides two white ones which had smaller engines and one was a stick. I have the army green SR5 with blacked out wheels and logos. I brought them a Mini Cooper to trade with 120,000 miles. Every dash warning light would come on at 65 miles an hour because the turbo was bad. I could get the lights to go off restarting it three times in my drive way. They test drove it around the block and gave me $9000 for it. So I sort of "won" already here. I was expecting $3000 for the trade.