Keystone State Thread

Looking for a decent mechanic in the Pittsburgh Region who can quote me for less than $1666 to do a left rear wheel bearing I want to do both at the same time to be smart, but that price is just for one and heck, thats nuts!

 

Good luck, you will likely not find that. I did mine last year both sides for under $500 with me doing the work, but I doubt any mechanic would charge under $500 a side or they'd be losing money. I would suggest you buy the tool and just DIY if you don't want to shell the cash out. When I talked to my local stealership they said they send the rear axle shafts out to a local machine shop to do all the press work, so they aren't really even doing much of the hard work, hence why the markup is higher than even a normal stealership jobber.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/how-to-rear-axle-bearing-seal-replacement.734924/

 

My mother has gone to this place for years and says they are the most fair mechanics she has ever seen: Funfar Center Garage, 7907 Saltsburg Rd., Pgh., 15239, 412-795-1050. The owner's name is Frank.

 

Lol. Same for me. Let me ask my buddy he has a trans shop maybe we can get a package deal.
I just need seals. However should I also replace the bearings ?

 

If your seal is bad, the gear oil has likely wiped the bearing and trashed it. How many miles on your truck?

 

$1600 for one bearing? Oof!

Too bad you don't live close to here. I had to do a left rear bearing on my old 2009 TRD OR and parts and labor came out to $300. Only $132 was labor. I bought a Timken bearing assembly off Rock Auto that had the OEM Koyo bearing in it. The seal, o-ring, retainer & clip came from Toyota...

This. That's what took out the bearing in my old truck. Main culprit was a clogged axle vent tube.

 

120,000.

 

I'd say you're about the half way point of the life expectancy for the bearings (assuming the seal hasn't screwed them up). I've seen people go 200-250k on stock rear wheel bearings without issue. Problem is you won't know you need them until you tear into it unless they're in really bad shape. Shake the wheel at 6 an 12 oclock and see if you have any excessive play. The difference between doing the seal and the bearing is exponential in terms of labor, the seal is about a 20 minute job per side.

 

Transmission buddy passed on it.
Second place is called techno auto care in west elizabeth. They did work on my highlander before. Timing belt and I was satisfied.
I called and got an estimate for us and they said around $500 for you(one side only) , and $600 for me(seals). I'm guessing from the replies I should get new bearings as well. If you do decide I suggest you call them and talk parts. They were asking me about quality, I said go good for price. Hope this helps.

 

Really only 20 min. Tell me more. I just may do this myself. I thought it was very labor intensive.

 

Thanks for looking into this.

I went ahead and added all the OEM Toyota Parts (Seals, bolts, rear backing plate) to a cart on a wholesaler website and its around $100 before the backing plates, which are for convenience only and ease of assembly. Two Timken bearings are $250 on Amazon so im looking at $350 in parts, plus the rear backing plates so maybe $500 in parts for both, plus labor. I could stomach paying $1200 if its for both sides. Just gotta find a shop to take my perfectly curated kits with all new parts and get both done.

Suppose I should do rear diff fluid at the same time.

 

I am considering a road trip at that labor rate!

 

I don't know if he'd do one again, it was a helluva job since the guy doesn't have a lift. Also broke his 20 ton press getting the old bearing off I have another guy that I use occasionally that has a lower labor rate that has a lift. Only charged me $65 on a trans pan for the Liberty (I bought the parts obviously). Lots of one man band garages around here.

If only the bodyshops around here were that nice and not quote me $2,000+ for rockers on the beater

 

$2000! Find a good welder who does automotive, rates should be better right?

my mechanic on the $1666 price quote said “well there’s corrosion so we’ll need to do new brake line so there’s labor and parts on that etc etc.”

 

The seal is just removing the rear e-brake assembly which is a few springs and a bolt, and the 4 bolts that hold the axle shaft to the housing. Seal is then takes about 5 minutes to remove and replace.

Corrosion for this job isn't really an issue. The only brake fitting you need to remove is the hard line connection at the wheel cylinder which I've never seen corrode.

 

Even better, I can weld



I was just trying to be lazy.

 

Found a shop about 40 mins north of me that quoted me $600 to install both rear wheel bearings. Got parts from Toyota Parts Center ordered, and the two Timken hubs from Amazon. Including labor and some rear diff fluid, its going to be $1200 altogether. whew. I can live with that. Taco lives another day

 

Make sure they're the 512294 for the left and 512295 for the right. That's what I used.

 

Absolutely. I have spent my morning completely deep frying in part numbers and recommendations throughout yours, Larzz' and 06 Gear's posts on this subject.