Best center support bearing for 2002 Tacoma

Like a sharp ring kind of?
Try shooting some grease in your ujoints.

changing the CB is still a good idea though at that mileage. Can’t hurt anyway

 

Don’t think the clunking when shifting is from the carrier bearing...

 

You won’t know until you check out the rest of the DS. Could be a number of things. Excessive play in the CB is alone a reason to remove and inspect.

Greasing the zerks like @JKO1998 said before removing it would help to diagnose if any of their components are causing the noise.

 

When apart you can move a UJoint much further through it's arc than in place so it's a good way to find a bad one.

KEEP YOUR ORIENTATION IN SYNC!!!

Search on here about driveshaft marking and proper phasing.

Just in case you dinnit know.

 

You know what’s interesting - I have people that have taken the DS apart and put it together without making match marks more than once and had it never become unbalanced. It’s getting to be where I’m thinking they might have only balanced half of the DS at a time from the factory or it’s not as big of a deal as people make it out to be. For instance in that write up there’s no way the OP could have made the flange holding on the carrier bearing match anything on the front half of the DS or at least didn’t mention anything about it. Then the match marks at the connection between the two halves is meaningless.

 

I think it is 1/2 and 1/2 or there should be a blank notched spline.

edit: What that means for total balance, I don't know. When on other makes and I mark them, some have called me nuts.

 

Yeah I watched a how-to video for CB replacement on YouTube and the guy didn't give one thought to marking the driveshaft or putting it back together the exact same way lol. For my own peace of mind I plan to when I do it, I made sure to mark it when I took the slip yoke apart to grease it by hand. Doesn't take much more effort and worth the peace of mind imo

 

You’ll have to devise a way to keep that flange in exactly the same orientation it is to the front half of the drive shaft while torquing the staked nut. If you don’t, any other marks are ineffective.

 

Either some of us have been really lucky over the years or it is just not as critical on these low horsepower engines .

Like when you mix and match drive shaft parts from two vehicles.

I am sure asking at most average shops you would get a blank look then what are you talking about.

I know what will happen next time I am at one of the drive shaft builders I will not even give this a thought to ask about.

 

It depends I guess, I had a pretty violent drivetrain vibration that wasn't solved until I phased it exactly with a digital angle finder. I was 3* out of phase and it's now below 1/2* off and it finally drives smooth.

Funny story about driveshaft shops: when I built my crawler the first time I took my rear shafts to a local heavy truck drivetrain shop to get them shortened. I walked in, told them I needed it shortened 8" flange to flange and balanced and phased, and the dude at the counter with a marlbro hanging off his lip just says "what in the f*ck are you talking about and even need"... I told him shorten this front piece of shit 8", he said ok makes sense grunts and told me it will be done by the end of the day.moral of the story, don't try to use lingo at a driveshaft shop LOL

 

Replaced mine earlier in the year. Used genuine OEM.

 

Genuine OEM is genuine Spicer.

How is anyone proposing to keep the flange in the identical place it was before removing the CB - any phasing or balancing at the factory will no longer apply if you don’t.

 

Unless you have a very new vehicle the drive shafts have no doubt been out several times .

I can`t recall if I marked anything on my Tacoma when I changed the carrier bearing over the years I changed so many they tend to all blur together.

 

There was a thread on this awhile back. Even compared the Spicer to the OEM. I used match marks for the prop shaft and also attempted to get the bearing flanges installed in the same location

 

Also to clarify, the phasing of a driveshaft depends on its operating angles. IIRC the pinion angles to be more specific. So if you lift your truck the DS is going to be out of phase and that’s why some people get driveline vibrations after lifting.

 

I just wanted to thank everyone for their comments. I read them all and will not be changing anything out without the support of someone who has worked on cars. I was able to actually find an OEM part from a dealer in Miami for $113 bucks. I'll also be changing out the U joints made by Spicer, just to be safe. She is 18 years old. Again thank you for all of the input.