Rear Wheel Bearings

2012 Double-Cab 4WD with TRD package. A grinding noise started in the rear of the truck about 97000 miles. I did some research on the forums and found the wheel bearings were the most likely cause. I took the truck to my local Toyota dealership and they determined the wheel bearings were bad. Of course the wheel bearings caused the brake pads and rotors to wear unevenly and they advised the differential fluid be changed because of possible contamination from the failed bearings. I got hit with a big repair bill that I believe is caused by Toyota's faulty design. Sealed bearings should last the life of the vehicle and there is no maintenance that can be done on them. I seldom carry loads in the bed, and have pulled a trailer for less than 2500 miles.

This appears to be an on-going problem with Tundras and Tacomas. I reported the problem to NHTSA and advise anyone else who has had this problem to do the same. Toyota won't fix this problem unless they are forced to. I also filed a report with Toyota customer service. Let's see if I get a response!

 

My wheel bearing in the front is making a sound!

 

Good luck with your inquiries, but your truck has almost a 100k.

http://www.counterman.com/how-long-should-sealed-wheel-bearings-last/

Average lifespan of a sealed bearing is 80k to 120k.

 

Damn I'm going on 130k on my 08

 

My truck sounds more like a womb womb womb or a vuv vuv vuv and gets a tiny worse turning left. 85k on my dash

 

Sorry for waking an older thread up. Are the rear wheel bearings sealed then?
2013 here.... Just blew my diff and trying to replace and repair it properly... if they are sealed then they might be good still?

 

How u blow it up? Just asking

 

@Bmxrider1331 Cross pin popped out, ate my pinion. Burning out might have done it idk
Metal shavongs/paste throughout the entire axle housing, which might have wore down bearings and spider gears a bit. Gear still looks good though. Replacing entire third member for less than cost to rebuild. Hoping the bearings on the wheels are good though

 

160k on original bearings here. I’ve had a whu whu whu sound since 130k. Hasn’t worsened sound wise. Service station estimate $1700 total materials and labor.

The bearing kits for all 4 corners run around $600. That means labor of $1100.

This is one job I’d gladly pay someone to do. Anyone paid to do theirs? How much?

 

It's honestly worse when I turn left. At that speed when I turn left it's very noticeable. thought it was my tires but 35s make same sound. But the slower I go the more noticeable. But I do feel a vibration at faster speeds

 

I can't answer the question on a 2nd gen but on my 1st gen Tundra the bearings are sealed plus there's a seal inside of the bearing. The way it works, from inner to outer is there's a seal, a tone ring (metal gear looking piece) for the anti lock brake, and then the bearing with has it's own seals. I even think there's another seal on the outside of the bearing. Looking at the pictures of the replacement bearings on the 2nd gen it looks like the tone ring, the bearing, and the housing all come as one unit. It looks like the tone ring is still on the inside of the bearing so I would have to guess that the bearing is sealed to keep grease from getting into the tone ring along with a seal to keep the diff oil from getting into the tone ring.

If you're worried about the bearing being bad I think a simple check would be to remove the ABS sensor and look at the tone ring. If you see no oil then I would say you're good to go. The ABS sensor could be hard to get out though. They are plastic and fit onto a hole drilled in a machined steel block that also holds the bearing. Those up north will find that the steel rusts and the sensor plastic will break before it comes out.

I personally love anti-seize paste. The stuff seams to stay put no matter what. The sensor has a seal on it so nothing inside of it should rust. What I like to do is remove the rust and then put a coat of the anti-seize on the outside of the seal so it keeps the moisture out.

 

Just curious, Did you buy this truck new ?

 

Edit: Crud...just realized I posted in the wrong forum...Not sure how to move it,,,Sorry folks,

Did my RR wheel bearing today. 109785 miles, and 2 months shy of 3 years old (March 25 2016)
No noise, but it took out the ABS sensor.
Around $600 in parts.
I will say the repair is not for the fainthearted if you dont buuy the special puller/pusher tool.
I also purchased parts for the LR that I will do after I get the tool.

When I bought my truck, it came with a 20/200,000 power train warranty, but they said because the rear wheel bears are not lubricated by the diff oil it’s not covered. (Yup that’s what the fine print says) so I said cancell my appt, I will do it myself.

 

Did you look into the full assembly? And what do you mean by took out my abs sensor?!

 

The reluctor rimg(tone wheel) is on the inner bearing, when the bearing comes apart the ring hits the abs sensor and shaves it in half.
This made all my dash lights flash and gave me a trailer brake warning. This was the first hint that anything was wrong. When I hooked up my snapon scanner it had the code for rr wheel sensor so when I pulled it out I saw that it was damaged.

As far as the full assembly, yes I purchased the assembled hub and bearings, but you still need the shrink ring, snapring, oring, and axle housing seal.

If there is a different full assembly, I sure would like to hear more about it.

NAPA kinda disappointed me, they sold me the assembled hub, oring, and axle seal, but they said they did not see a shrink ring or snap ring. so I ordered them myself from toyotapartsdeals.

 

If I buy the hub and bearing assembly do I need a Press still?

 

Ive got a 2016 4x4 tundra with a speed sensor and rear wheel bearing issue. 68,000 miles. Both rear wheels and maybe front right. Won't know for sure until rears are replaced because they are so loud they can't tell if front right is bad too. $1000 per wheel. Was on hey 4 hrs from home and went to closest dealer. They said 99.99% sure that it was speed sensor. So I went with it and had sensor replaced. $550. 125 miles down hwy and same lights came back on. They said that came from grease being splattered on sensor, and different issue than sensor. Coincidence of both happening at same time. I call bs. Dealership at home in Greenville, sc said Greensboro Dealership misdiagnosed issue. So I'm like ....BS! Very disappointing. I do periodically use my truck as a TRUCK by carrying firewood, Gravel, mulch, and towed a 18' boat about 25-30 times. I should be able to do truck things with my truck! If Toyota doesn't cover this then I may jump to different brand truck next time. Thats straight up cheap! Fyi, beware, as 4WD does not work if you have this warning as traction control fails to be open/engaged. I had brand new tires put on last week before my trip to beach and got stuck in sand at outer banks, nc. Meanwhile everyone else was flying up and down beach no problem.

 

You have a turd gen problem (2016). My buddies with turds trucks are too heavy and lard out in the sand. 1st Gen Floats Like Butterfly and Stings Like Bee.