Building my 2005 and up 2WD Tacoma/PreRunner/4Runner front bearing assemblies

After several people have suggested it, I have decided to create a thread showing how I build the 2WD hub bearing assemblies for the Tacoma, PreRunner, and 4Runner trucks.

Some people have asked WHY they should use a full unit like this, instead of pressing out their original hubs and reusing them. The answer is pretty simple. While the original hubs may be perfectly fine to reuse, getting the entire assembly saves time and as we all know, time is money. Sure, you could save yourself some money and buy the bearings and seals yourself, then take them down and get the old hub pressed out and the new bearing and seal pressed together. What you do have to concern yourself with is the condition of the wheel hub itself.

The seal contact surface must be clean and smooth (this applies to the 4WD wheel hub as well) because any pitting or wear at this location will quickly ruin the new seal, allowing water and foreign material to enter the bearing. This results in premature bearing failure, and another trip to buy a replacement bearing, seal, and of course a new hub unless you want to do this again soon. If you look at the photo below you will see a brand new Toyota factory wheel hub.



Note the silver tipped pointer. This is where your hub needs to be inspected. Many of the 2WD and 4WD hubs wear here. The reason for this is that as the bearing fails, it allows the wheel hub to wobble, putting it in contact with the metal part of the seal. This then causes damage to the wheel hub. If this damage goes unnoticed then you are going to be having bearing failure again in the near future, as this damaged area will destroy a new seal in short time.

Now that we have shown WHY you should replace the entire unit, I will show how it is assembled so that you get a quality part, at a good price.

First thing of course is to obtain and inspect all of the parts needed to build these units. The following are all of the items:

Genuine Toyota 2WD wheel hub assembly:



then 4 genuine Toyota hub mounting bolts:



Originally I was using National brand hub seals, but I have found that the Timken seals are a faster supply for the demands. I have been ordering these in lots of 20.



And of course you will need the genuine Toyota hub nut for the 2WD models.



Lastly you can use your bearing of choice. Here I use either National or Koyo/Timken based on current supply. National bearings have become harder to locate with the official National stamp on them. While any bearing assembly with the same part number uses the National bearing, not all of the places that make the entire bearing/housing assembly obtain their bearings from a supplier. Many buy them direct from the bearing manufacturing plant. I have obtained a contract directly with a Koyo bearing manufacturer plant, and will be using them as my primary supplier. Once the National bearings that I have in stock are used up, I will be shifting to exclusive Koyo brand bearings except when I may run into shipping delays which will force me to order the National or NSK bearing units.

Once I have all of the parts together I first press on the seal to the bearing unit. This guarantees 100% uniform mounting with no dimples. As of this posting, I am the ONLY company that has picture proof that I install the seals in this way, which is the best way to ensure uniformity and proper installation.





After the seal is installed I lubricate the lip of the seal with bearing grease. This is an important step, as it ensures that the seal is not dry when the hub begins to rotate. Imagine a dry seal against a piece of metal turning at 50+ MPH! Not pretty, and not good for the seal.



Once the seal is lubricated I place the bearing onto the adapter for the press as explained in the opening post of my thread on the bearing assemblies. This MUST be done to protect the roller bearings and the bearing cages. If pressed together improperly the bearings can chip, causing premature failure. The below video shows how to tell that the bearings are not under load when pressing in the hub. (Note that the mounting bolts are already inserted. This is because once the assembly is pressed together, the bolts are locked in)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BhHbOe5SSZc

Once the hub is properly pressed into the bearing assembly you can remove the unit and install the hub nut. I am not sure where some of the information has been gathered from, but according to Toyota, the proper torque of the hub nuts on the 2WD assemblies is 203 Lbs-ft. The proper SST tool MUST be used to protect the assembly.



After the nut is torqued, then I locate the small indentation tab on the wheel hub and using a small drift punch I stake the edge of the nut. This is done to prevent the nut from possibly backing off during use. Also note that a properly pressed in assembly will only have one thread of the nut showing once it is torqued down. If more than one thread is showing, then something was not pressed together properly.






And there you have it! A 2WD hub assembly ready to be installed in your Tacoma, or 4Runner! Any questions feel free to ask! I hope this was informative to those who wanted to know.

Get yours here!!!

2005 and up 2WD and 4WD front bearing complete assemblies!

 

thats my reason. great write up!! thanks again...hopefully mine come in asap because my driverside is starting to feel really worn enough that i can feel it while driving and its my DD

 

Jerez, yours are shipping out in the morning, how does that sound?

 

dude......no homo...i love you lol thanks sounds perfect

 

Boxed up and will be at the post office this AM to you.

 

I like the way that bearing assembly looks and this is a great write up!! I like being able to see all individual pieces and how they come together and are supposed to look A great piece of mind knowing Im paying for quality and professional work

 

Great write up and a professional that's for sure. I have seen him press in the bearings on a 1st gen and it is QUALITY work

 

Hubs cam in thanks Bama


Will install tomorrow

 

So how did the install go Rod?

 

Very nice write up. Just ordered one for the drivers side. After watching the press video, I can see why this one failed in a little over a year of my replacing it.
I was so excited about finding this I didn't even notice; does this come with the seal for the back side of the knuckle where the CV axle enters the hub?

 

I have ran out of stock for the rear seal, but to be honest you can buy them from a local parts store for what I would sell them for. I do say you need to replace that seal.

 

Thank you Sir. That seal will waiting patiently for the bearing this afternoon.

 

I will be having 8 assemblies heading out first of the week.

 

Got it in the mail last Friday. Thank you very much. You included the O rings, very nice. I can return the 2 I bought. It's going in tonight...

 

I highly recommend everyone invest in a set right now. Both of mine went out in my FJ last week and it was a $800 repair. This was after I dropped $400 on new front calipers, pads and rotors. Toyota 4 piston calipers are another issue.

 

I forgot all about this build thread on my bearings. I should do a 4WD assembly write up and add it to here.

 

Hmmm. How should I put this so that I don't hurt your feelings.....










































LMFAO