Carrier Bearing… Alternatives and Solutions

How did you disassemble the u-joint nearest the bearing without trashing it or replacing it. Off hand would you know the spicer part # if it needs replacing?

 

To be honest with you I lucked out and had a local driveline service install the carrier bearing for me (because I didn't feel like dicking with it at the risk of trashing my u joints) for $50 done within 2 hours. It worked out well and it was a simple swap and replace for them apparently. They said my joints still looked good so they didn't see the need in replacing them anyways.

 

@12TRDTacoma, bad ass work dude, research included !

 

Great thread OP

 

That's awesome. I was going to buy an OEM Dana Spicer CB from Amazon for $50 but your poly CB seems better.

 

Been down the highway and through several roads so far and I love this mod truth be told. Not a peep out of it, no noise, no vibes, nothing. Just a confident and secure hook and take off everytime from it.

I highly recommend spending the extra dough if you got it.

Just be advised all, be prepared to create a small upper mount crossbar to keep the bushing from coming out. You can use 1/8 plating like I did or a little thicker if you desire. Very easy to make using the supplied carrier bearing mounting bracket as a "template" per se.

 

Bookmarking this for later... On my second OEM CB, and its thrashed. No vibes that I can tell yet though (last one was so bad it blew apart my ujoint before I could fix it)

 

Wow. They are such garbage and this alone tells me what I need to know about them.

 

Excellent work Rob! Thanks for all your work and pics. Keep us posted on the longevity of this. Very interesting indeed.

 

definitely on my to do list after i get my front end vibrations sorted out when i flip INTO 4wheel when going 30+km.h

 

No problem. I just never saw anyone posted about this stuff before other than about the wookie carrier bearing but there wasn't a middle ground compromise solution in between stock and the wookie bearing that could handle a beating, but be street duty friendly posted on here, so I figured it's a great time to carry over the knowledge that TTORA has to here and compile it into one thread so people are informed and aware of it.

 

BTW @Crom. You are a total stalker.

9 likes later. Haha.

 

You may know this...

The wookie CB was the product of Logan @username
He used it in his Tacoma, project Apacalypto, one of my all time favorite builds. The pics in your OP are from his build. Chris aka @nfs257 used it as well.

The middle of the road solution you found is exactly what I'd want in my truck when the time comes to swap out. I was planning on OEM until now.

Welcome! I do read a lot and like a lot of posts here.

 

Very well aware of the people who put them on and up. It's good to mention them as I couldn't remember who it was, but knew they were posters on here.

I had initially searched for polyurethane CB's, but based on my broad searching, was getting results to no avail until I found out about the wookie bearing and saw someone else did it to theirs instead. That's when it hit me that these things actually did exist and weren't just a pipe dream of mine. I have a lot of errands to do tomorrow morning so more to come for reports back on how much I love it then.

 

Ok I replaced my CB with OEM and might have found why they go bad so easily. When torquing the bolts down into the frame, the bolts start to get tight. They grab the flange of the CB and force the CB forward sliding it as you tighten. This is possible because the slot the bolt goes through is wider then the bolt. So it adds a bunch of torque on the bearing and puts pressure on the rubber almost stretching it. We put a wrench in between the flange on the driveshaft and the CB so it was tightened down without any pressure on the rubber, right where it wanted to ride. When the factory installed the CB they didn't do this which is why the marks of bolts on the original CB flange will be on one side of the slot rather then the middle of it. Hope it makes sense.

 

What are the chances of finding some instructions on replacing the CB so we could do this our self? I don't have access to a 2010 manual to see what all is required in replacing it. Any online manuals anywhere?

 

It's pretty easy there was a few videos on YouTube I watched. You're going to need a vice and a 24mm socket. I believe I used a 15/16 because the socket set I rented didn't have a 24. You have to take apart the U JOINT right behind the carrier bearing using a ball joint press which I put in the vice and it's seriously easy as fu to press them out. You just rent the ball joint press from Oreilys. It works for U joints as well. Since you have that U joint taken apart you might as well replace it with a new one. It's a SPICER 1330-1x. If you do this job yourself, make damn sure you mark the drive shaft before pulling the yoke off to get to the carrier bearing. I believe it's called a yoke aha.... You don't want the splines not to line up or your driveshaft won't go back together. Anyways there's a lot I could write about how I did it if your interested PM me. ANOTHER OPTION: Take your driveline off your truck which is like 10 bolts total, and take it to a driveline shop such as Northwest drive lines. They only charge 17 bucks per U joint and 20 for the carrier bearing. That's honestly probably the easiest thing to do and they are pros. You can bring your own high quality parts because if you do your carrier bearing you want to use OEM. Get the good spicer U joints they are nice and durable.... Sorry it's long winded. Good luck.

 

figured id post this video i took of the stock driveline way back when i was trying to figure out the problem.. its a bit long, but you can especially see the vibration around 2.30-3.00. pretty terrible

 

Excellent post OP. Subbd for when I replace mine. Still on the stocker with 162K.

 

Great info for a future to-do. Thanks.