1st Gen Wheel bearing replacement issues

Hello everyone, I’m doing some prep work to my Tundra in anticipation of the suspension upgrade I will be doing next year. I got two new Steering knuckles from Toyota had gussets welded on them and did a complete brake system overhaul. I had to buy spacers from Spidertrax as recommended by Chaosfab due to clearance issues caused by the gusset. These issues will be resolved when I upgrade my suspension.

The problem I’m having is on the passenger side. The first time I did the wheel bearing, I took it for a drive and I could hear a scraping sound. I jacked up the truck to inspect and found the wheel had a lot of play. I took off the tire and the bearing was busted. I assumed since this was my first time pressing a bearing I made a mistake. I ordered a second bearing from Toyota and replaced it yesterday, this time I was very careful and when I finished I was sure I did everything correctly. I put everything together and my wheel was solid with no play. I test drove the truck and I had no noise coming from the right side. This morning I jack up the truck to make sure everything is tight and I have play on the tire like before. While the truck is jacked if I place my hands at 12 o’clock and 6 o’clock there is play again.

Anyone have any idea what is wrong, how could everything be nice and tight and after one test drive get loose like that. I’m pretty sure the bearing is shot again. I’m going to look into it further but I’m lost here. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Btw the driver side is solid, no issues this is only happening on the right side.

 

Balljoints you wiggle at 12 and 6. Bearings 1:30 and 7:30 and Tie Rods at 3 and 9.

 

I got new ball joints.The first time this happened I was able to confirm it was the bearing. It was completely torn to pieces. Everything was snug and tight until I took it out for a test drive. I also got new cv axles, everything is from Toyota.

 

What was your hub nut torqued to? Spec. is 173 Ft-lbs. Was the lock nut and cotter pin installed correctly?

 

Torqued set to 173ft-lbs. Lock nut and cotter installed correctly as far as I know.

 

Any chance the spindle got warped when welding the gussets on?

 

After I did all my press work the new wheel hub turned smoothly with just one finger.I do remember, after I installed and torqued everything, the wheel was very difficult to turn. Could I have overloaded the bearing? I used my torque wrench. This is the second time this happens and is the passenger side the driver side is fine.

 

I had a shop do it and according to them they took precautions to avoid over heating the spindle.

 

OEM balljoints, or aftermarket? There's a pretty substantial difference.

 

If you press the wrong parts of the bearing when installing you can damage the bearing.

It’s tricky to figure out where to press.

 

All parts are from Toyota.

 

I pressed them correctly, I own a sleeve set and made sure the bearing was supported properly while pressing in the wheel hub and later the spacer.

 

I'll be replacing mine soon. This is the kind of stuff that keeps me up at night about this job.

 

Guys I think I know what happened. I was told both cv axles are the same but after talking to a local shop about my problem the gentleman was convinced I overloaded the bearing when I torqued the axle. He said even a slight difference in length would cause the bearing to be overloaded.

I have both old axles, I saved them to send them out and have them rebuilt. There is definitely a difference in length, and now I’m confused because everywhere even Toyota has told me they are the same.

Can anyone chime in? If the CV axle is shorter then torquing it to spec would overload the bearing. And what is the deal with the axles aren’t they suppose to be the same on both sides?

 

The axles will 100% be the same part number for both sides. How much of a difference are we talking? Are the splines the same length?

The CV axles as a whole assembly are not a fixed length. The side of the CV axle that goes into the differential, where the joint meets the axle shaft, is a plunge joint. The axle shaft will move inside the cup that houses the joint causing the axle to "change length" (it has to be able to do this to account for your suspension articulating). You should be able to plunge the joint by hand with the axle removed; with the boot clamped on, it will probably return to its resting length.

 

Here is a picture of the two axles I removed, there seems to be an obvious difference in length. The oem remaned ones I got are both the length of the shorter axle. WTH..

 

Thank you for pictures, that helps a lot. Top axle is OEM. Bottom one is an aftermarket axle. It looks like the aftermarket may be longer to me... Since the axles are being rebuilt anyways, I would cut the boot and fully extend the plunge joints on both and get a measurement to verify.

Dealer won't take the aftermarket one for a rebuild core even if it was the right one. If you're using someone else to rebuild or reboot them, I'd try to find a used one that looks exactly like your OEM one.

Get the correct CV axle, re-do the bearing work, and I bet you'll be having a better time.

43430-0C010-84 is a Toyota part number for a re-manufactured CV axle that is completely ready to plug and play on both sides, but it's not always available for order.

 

Thank you for your input. I went out side and since I got the boxes where the reman axles came in I was able to verify the part number. I got the correct axles.

Now I’m back to square one. Why is the passenger side bearing blowing out? A shorter axle would answer that question but if they are suppose to be identical, the question remains. I did the driver side no issues, but the passenger side, where the after market longer axle was keeps blowing out. I’ve blown two bearings, within minutes of completing the job, while test driving the truck.

 

Also the two remaned cv axles I got from Toyota did not look identical.

 

I hope others can chime in and provide input, I have limited experience on doing these bearings so far.

How so? Color differences on the metal, texture differences on the shafts?

 

They were shaped different. I wish I could get a picture of them side by side but they are on the truck.

I have spoken with two local guys who do this type of work. Both pointed me to the axles. After explaining everything I did step by step, they believe the problem lies when I torque the axle, which in turn over loads the bearing.

I have a feeling that reman axle from Toyota, the one on the passenger side, is the problem. The boot on the side of the diff is stretched out. As if is being constantly
pulled on. Does that make sense?

 

This is what the passenger side drive axle boot looks like on the diff side. Is this normal? Could this have something to do with over loading the bearing?

 

The boot is just spun (twisted?). Grab it by the Oetiker clamp and rotate at the clamp to get it straight. As-pictured, the overhang of the clamp should be mid-shaft as currently positioned.

It looks like you've got a pretty nasty valve cover or half moon leak from above, btw.

 

Good eye. That’s from a brake line that busted on me, at the worse possible time, while out of state.

 

Ooof, man ... get that brake fluid off, then! Gonna rot the metal. Brake fluid is caustic af.

 

Don’t wait too long, mine got hot and almost welded itself to the spindle. My bearing exploded when pressing it off then I had to use a bearing separator to get the seized piece off, and I bent the bearing separator.

I didn’t want to buy a new one from Toyota for like $300, and I ordered one from Dorman, but returned it when I was able to get the bearing off.

Blew the snap ring off.


Bearing Separator pretty much maxed out the 20ton press. I was hiding behind a piece UHMW.

 

It's only been about 2 years

 

I don’t know how bad mines is now but the first one was in the same condition as yours. It was hard to remove the race from the wheel hub. When I get home I’ll do the job over again, I spoke to a local Toyota dealer, everyone so far seems to lean towards the axle’s nut torq as the culprit. I’ll remove the axle, measure it inspect it and replace the nut. I’ll torque it little by little while checking to make sure the tire spins freely. Also it might be my torque wrench but I doubt it, is new from CDI.

 

I’m having similar issues with my left wheel bearing on a 2001. I’ve done the left rear 3 times now today I put in a new Dorman axle assembly with bearing and backing plate I’ve done the front right once and the front left twice due to my own fault leaving the abs ring out intentionally thinking it wasn’t needed do to not having abs not knowing that it is also used as a spacer. I realized when my brake rotor would scrape in turns. The left rear issue I can’t figure out.. the new Forman assembly has unusual play right after install. The same play I had when I did the bearing the first two times. I don’t see what the problem is because the axle flange doesn’t look bent and the bearing, collar and retaining clip all look correct. I feel your pain

 

I’d be tempted to hit a JY and grab a used axle at this point, start over