Noise fixed ! 2018 front differential replaced under TSB 0018

Any ideas? Headed there now. Said they drove it like 15 miles and no luck.

 

So the ryhtmic hum or vibration is between for me was 30-40 mph. The key is that it's more audiable when the truck is cold!! I had the head mechanic at the dealer take a ride with me to confirm the noise. He heard it with me and said okay, I hear it and its not normal. They took care of it from there.

 

Fuck toyota dealerships. They told me F off, went to Subaru traded it in today. Not worth my time. Oh it was cold, probably too cold. And there’s only 1 toyota dealership within 600 miles.

 

So just to confirm it's a rhythmic/pulsating hum/vibration that happens from low speed up to about 40mph, the speed of the hum doesn't' really change all that much with higher speeds either, and then I guess the sound goes away more because of just too much road noise? And if you pop it in 4HI the sound will go away confirming it's the needle bearing?

Sounds like my issue. But mine only seems to happen when it's really cold outside, like sub 40F and is definitely louder/can feel it in the peddles more at lower speeds and deceleration. I have 1.5in lift in front with King 2.5ext and no lift in the rear with King shocks, so not an aggressive lift at all. On a 2016 4cyl 4x4 SR.

 

**UPDATE** drove it yesterday morning when it was around 32F, rhythmic humming/grinding vibration started, so once I got to about 20mph, I put it in 4Hi........noise stopped immediately. At only 48k miles too on the truck. Was going to do front and rear diff oil changes at 50k since I do use 4WD quite a bit hunting and what not. Any one know of a reason I shouldn't wait the 2000 miles until I hit 50k and just do it all at once since some gear oil will come out when I pull the axle out anyways?

 

It's not the needle bearings fault, it's the side gear floating in the diff. Poor design, they rely on the cv shaft to support the side gear and the only thing supporting the cv joint is the needle bearing. On the right side there is a longer shaft that is supported at the other end, so no problem on the right side. The needle bearing has to do double duty supporting the cv joint axle assembly and the side gear. the noise we are hearing is the side gear and spiders spinning. the noise stops when we engage 4wd because the cv joint spins at the same speed as the diff (except when turning). the correct repair would be to replace the diff with one that has side gears that are supported in the diff. Watch the ECGS video that shows the way the diff in the Toyota is made compared to a Dana unit. Off course the bushing that replaces the needle bearing fixes the problem due to the gained support, but it's a band-aid and the right way to fix it would be to redesign the diff. Who Knows, maybe that is what Toyota did in the new front unit that is installed in t sb 0011-18. The end.

 

put the ecgs bushing in. I got a new diff too and then drove for about 2 weeks before the brand new needle bearing shit the bed again. took it to my guy and had the ecgs put in the new diff. No problems, just drove it for 14 hours.