OFFICIAL 2nd gen 4x4 front differential bearing vibration thread

Managed to get my bushing installed today. Toughest part of the job was removing the old seal.
First test drive and the noise is GONE.

Thanks East Coast Gear Supply for coming up with the fix.

 

I dont want to start a pissing match, so I shall begin with IMO, while I agree that this is not a precision application; the cause of this vibration issue is play between the shaft and the bearing/bushing. We are trying to remove the vibration by replacing the bearing with a long lasting bushing. The more play you can remove the better.

Everyone's wear on their trucks will be different, as well what they can afford to replace, and how particular they are on repairs. I certainly am guilty at never cutting corners because it's been beaten into me for 15 years. So how people approach this repair will be up to the individual. I would not say that it is not required to replace the CV shaft though. We can leave that up to each individual to decide if it is or isn't required then.

My shaft had smearing marks like the one you posted. I opted to replace both the driver and passenger side with a new Cardone CV shafts. Both shafts were 8 years old, so I know I wont have issues for a while on the trails. The Cardone cv's are ISO 9001, 2008,14001, TS16949. The quality of this parts is every bit as good as the Toyota and only $600 cheaper. I agree with you that you do have to check the quality of the aftermarket parts you buy though. I just replaced the wind shield wiper cam arms and there is no way I'd buy anything but OEM for that!

Either way the ECGS bushing is the way to go.

 

talk to the dealer.... im pretty sure if you contact ECGS they will tell you toyota dealerships are one of their biggest customers of the bushing to fix this issue.

Have the dealer replace it under warranty .... worst case you pay for the cost of the part.

 

I replaced my bearing with a ECGS bushing and my hub assembly with NJ636's drop in assembly. Honestly the only trouble I had was the dust cover on the hub assembly it was a little onry but the rest went fine. I followed the instructions in page 1 of this thread. Now to go put my LED interior lights in that were waiting in the mail box when we got home from my buddies tire shop. Having a friend with 2 lifts sure makes life better. This site is a great help to us do it yourselfer's!

 

For sure go to the dealer and see what they say. Can you feel slop in the drivers side CV? Also verify it going away after engaging 4WD? If it's true Toyota is the biggest customer of these bushings then they must be putting them in the special edition (lifted) trucks?

 

Just started looking for some Baja related info on this forum - I need to try the 4HI test on the way home but I think I'm experiencing the early stages of this issue. I have a '14 Baja with less than 6k on the meter. I can't hear anything but started to feel a minor pulsing vibration through the gas peddle about a week ago that does not vary by speed. It's most prominent between 20-40mph and I don't feel it at higher speeds. From what I've read it sounds like ECGS has a fix, I just need to see if the dealer will cover it.

 

awesome, glad it worked out for you

 

Got my ECGS bushing today and installed. Pretty straight forward. Just removed the lower skid plate, drained fluid, removed the two 19mm bolts on the lower control arm, and the sway bar end link which gave me enough to get the CV out of the diff.

The tool worked great, rented a bushing install kit from Oriley's for the night which was worth it. Almost 2qts of oil and was back in business.

The only issue I have is I have some grooning sound driving very slow and turning slightly. Could just be the tires, will have to check tomorrow. No leaks or other odd noises so should be good.

 

Well on the way home last night I tried the 4Hi test when I started to feel the pulse and sure enough - it stopped immediately. Ug! I'll talk to the dealer. Thanks for all the info!

 

Going to try and get in for an alignment and maybe try rotating the tires for that low speed groaning. That is the only thing I can think of, everything turns fine with no noise while lifted up. New oil looks good too.

 

Interesting. Let us know what the dealer says.

 

Haven't checked the CV movement, but it definitely goes away when 4-hi is engaged. I doubt that the front diff is any different in a Baja than a regular Off Road truck. They didn't list anything in the marketing materials, and the bumper sticker doesn't mention anything either. I have an email into my local dealer to see if they'll install the ECGS bushing, either under warranty or for cash. If anyone was successful in getting their dealer to do it please let me know. The precedent might be helpful.

 

The dealer installed the ECGS bushing and a new shaft after talking with the service manager and explaining the issue and sending him links to the discussion and video's how to install. Replaced it under warranty. However, they won't re-replace the bushing since it is now aftermarket if something were to go wrong. I've got 40,000 miles on it now and still fine.

 

And you had an aftermarket lift, and they still warrantied it? What kind of lift? Findlay here in Las Vegas won't consider doing anything to mine under warranty (and I only have 15K miles). I feel suckered for having bought the 100K platinum warranty...and they won't even do anything for me on this. Super dissapointed in Toyota all around on this....a well known and common problem that they ignore. BS.

 

maykevin, like mbond, i'm wondering what lift you had installed as well. did you purchase the ECGS bushing or Toyota covered the entire thing? bushing and shaft.

think i'm going to ask my dealer what their stance is on this. would be great to have them do the work under warranty. i only have 11K on the truck.

EDIT: if ECGS drops in here at all, it would fantastic to know approx how many bushings you've sold for the Tacoma. good talking point with my dealer.

 

So, PaulK and Corpunk have the Baja with factory 2" lift. I'm curious to see what the dealerships do.

 

Long time lurker on here and I believe this will be my first post but I can't think of a better one to contribute with. I have an 05 2nd gen Tacoma with 15,000 miles (found a super good craigslist deal earlier this year). I've had the wheelers 1.5" AAL and 5100s lying around since mid-summer and about 3 weeks ago I decided to throw it on the truck.

I threw the shocks and AAL on the rear and then did the front struts the following weekend. I set the bilstiens to 2.25" up front with stock springs. Immediately after this, I noticed the infamous front differential/axle vibes (slight vibrations in the floorboards, a little tickle on the gas pedal). For a while I wasn't sure if this was the rear driveshaft or front diff or what. I did notice that going into 4Hi made the vibes go away so I had a pretty good idea it was the front axle bearing. I also checked the play in the front axles where the leave the diff and the driver's side one had significantly more play... FAIL

To be thorough, or maybe it was wishful thinking, I tried a number of things first including a carrier bearing drop, followed by flipping the carrier bearing support over, then axle shims and finally a front diff drop. None of this cured the vibrations.

I finally made the decision to make the trip down from Baltimore to take the truck down to High Tech in Chantilly VA. It's about an hour drive, but this shop actually knows of ECGS and the shop manager had spoken to Chase at ECGS about the bushing install. All in all, after about 3 hours at the shop, they had completed the install and THE VIBRATIONS WERE GONE. Thank God, because I was going crazy.

As the truck sits right now, there is a slight driveline vibration that I can feel mainly at highway speeds so I'm going to play with the axle shims and carrier bearing drop to try to remedy this. When all is said and done though, I'm very happy and ready to move on and away from this issue.

 

This is almost word for word my experience with my 2006 DblCab.. I did all the same things you did to the rear and drive line. The ECGS fixed my problem. I also had a slight vibration after and found 2 more problems.
#1 Rebalance the tires!! This was half the cause of the vibration.
#2 driver side wheel bearing was bad. This was the other half.
The post ECGS vibration was minor, but now that I replaced wheel bearing and balanced tires it drives like a Cadilac!

 

Heading into the dealer this morning - will update later today.

 

Well that was quick! I took the truck into the dealer and they had a young tech drive with me to experience the issue. We got to a spot that was flat and smooth and got up to 45Mph and at first he didn't feel anything, but after a few seconds he felt it and said "Oh yeah, that's weird". I had him put it into 4HI and it went away. He did that several times and acknowledged there was some sort of issue. I gave him the details from this forum on what other owners had said about it, the needle bearing, how folks felt this after installing a lift kit, the bushing from ECGS, etc and he asked if it was from the Tacoma Forum, that they read the forums and learn a lot from them, that they're a good source for understanding what the owners are experiencing! So great job sharing the experiences.

He put the truck up on a lift and felt the play in the shaft, came back and said "Yep, something definitely wrong there". He's going to contact Toyota to see if they have a fix and will call me on the next steps. I gave him the ECGS link and let him know others have used the bushing to fix the problem, but it's not a Toyota part. We discussed the futility of replacing the diff every 10k miles, and he agreed. With a 5 year warranty that would add up.

He said I did a good job bringing it in now, with such low miles (I lied, I have 8600 miles, not 6000, must have been busy ). He also said this helps him make a compelling argument to Toyota that it's a defect that needs a fix. I was in and out of there in 45 minutes, no charge for the diagnosis.

I'll update when I hear back from the dealer.