Elow007

Hello all,

I have a moaning, groaning, droning, grinding front wheel bearing. Actually both front wheel bearings were doing this. We changed the right front bearing several years back and then I had to park the vehicle. I am in the process of reclaiming it and after my tune up I'm ready to tackle the left front wheel bearing.

The symptoms are a cycling moaning-grinding noise that does not go away in 4WD and is more prevelant at low speeds, at high speeds it sounds more like tire noise. I think its the fronts cause I can feel it in the steering wheel but at 200K miles it could be the rears as well. I've changed the fluid in the front and rear diff to address this but it didn't help. So, I'm after the front this time. I would like to ask a couple of questions, your insight will accompany me with the FSM and a decent set of tools.

When we changed the front a long time ago I don't remember if we removed the shock absorber. The FSM says to remove it, but honestly I can't see why. I should just be able to take off the CV, lower ball joint, upper ball joint and tire rod to remove the steering knuckle. Then i will take the knuckle to a shop that has at least a 50 ton press to press out the old bearing and hub and press in the new. Anything wrong with this? Do I really need to remove the shock absorber?

Also, I am buying a timkin sealed bearing from Rock Auto to replace it. Since this is a sealed bearing then I shouldn't need to purchase the oil seals. You need the oil seals for a bearing that is not sealed. With a sealed one I can just reuse the old ones as a dust cap, maybe?

I need to purchase a 35mm socket for the nut on the CV axle, correct?

All I need to do is get the steering knuckle off and the shop can take care of the rest, right? (seals, snap ring, spacers, press out hub, press out bearing, reassemble).

Am I missing something here? It seems like it should be more complicated than this.

Thanks in advance.

Terrys87

iTrader: (1)

I am just verifying, are you meaning first generation Tacoma? When I see first generation I usually think of the pickup or 4runner. If you mean Tacoma then you are in the correct section. Some accidently post in the wrong section and I will move it need be so that those that might be able to answer your question.

Elow007

The vehicle is a 1996 toyota tacoma with 5vz-fe engine. Sorry for the confusion.

wyoming9

iTrader: (1)

Removing the bottom shock bolt allows more movement making things easier to get out

Have you changed the lower ball joints ?? Now might be a good time

J2F42C

Use a Koyo or OEM bearing. Nothing else unless you want it to go bad within 30,000 miles.

Just remove the knuckle and get the bearing pressed out. I didn't mess with the shock. The outer oil seal may be bad after the amount of said miles; it is sold on Amazon for $15.

Elow007

I ordered the sealed SFK (Spelling?) off Rock Auto . Its was warrantied at 50-60k or something to that effect. When I opened it up I was happy to see made in japan, and Koyo stamped on the side. I also ordered the inner and outer seals

I looks like I can remove the ball joint from the upper control arm and swing it up to get the clearance I need to remove the knuckle. The lower ball joint, tie rod and lower control arm are bolted to the bottom of the steering knuckle. The lower shock mount is on the lower control arm, but I shouldn't need to move that component to get the steering knuckle off. All the ball joints are getting replaced soon, but for now I am trying to tackle the wheel bearing issue. I've replaced the passengers side and its still growling, so if I get rid of it after replacing the drivers side then its on to the next project - ball joints and differential oil seals.

With 200K on the truck there is quite a bit that I could do "while I'm in there", but I'm trying to tackle it in chunks. Besides I don't do this kind of work often, so I still think its fun.

habanero

Good to order all the hub bearings and seals, stuff usually gets mangled when the bearing is pressed out.

35mm for ADD hubs, yes, unless they were replaced and the replacement nut was a different size. Almost always, though, 35mm.

Just the 4 lower ball joint bolts, the ball joint and connected tie rod end will stay with the a-arm.

The upper ball joint will stay with the spindle. Spec for upper ball joint: 82 ft lbs

The shock does not need to come apart. For movement and to get the lower ball joint close enough to put back together later I loosen the upper a-arm bolt. Only re-tighten after the truck is back on the ground- and don't forget to re-tighten. Spec on those 4 ball joint bolts: 59 ft lb and loctite

Might be a nice time to replace those lower ball joints as maintenance (see failures) if they have 200,000 miles.

You'll also have to remove the caliper so you can remove the rotor. The caliper can hang by a bungee. Spec for those: Brake caliper bolts 90 ft lbs

If you want to replace the brake backing plate this is the time because it can't be removed until the hub is removed without some cutting.

Nothing wrong with double checking my torque specs, I got them all from the local Toyota dealership's FSM.

Manual hubs are similar in most of these respects but you would not need a 35mm socket and there are some extra steps.

Elow007

Success!

So I managed to get this done thanks to the advise here (and elsewhere). I searched the forums for a good write up and couldn't find one, so it occurred to me that I ought to create one, but I was pressed for time and didn't.

I will however offer some advise for anyone that comes along and reads this. On the first generation pickup all you have to do to remove the lower control arm is remove the four bolts that hold the lower control arm/ ball joint to the spindle/steering knuckle. When you unbolt that, you'll find that it removes the tierod, and balljoint at the same time. The axle nut under the dust plate comes off easliy enough with a 35mm socket and breaker bar (+ 4 ft cheater bar).

The tricky part for me was getting the upper ball joint out of the upper control arm. I tried putting the castle nut back on the ball joint upside down and hitting it with a hammer, but I was afraid of hitting it to hard. I also tried hitting the upper control arm up to break the tapered joint of the ball joint bolt x upper control arm. That didn't work either, probably because I wasn't using a big enough hammer and I was afraid to hit it hard. I ended up going to autozone and renting two kinds of pitman arm pullers. The standard pitman arm puller was not wide enough to fit on the upper control arm and the adjustable one would not adjust far enough out. The bolts for adjusting that puller were only 4 inches long, so I swung into the parts store again and picked up a similar 6" bolt and that gave me enough room to mount it. At that point I was able to crank down on the puller and pop the ball joint out of the upper control arm.

I didn't press the bearing out of the steering knuckle, I took it to a shop and let them do it. When it was done reassembly was a snap. I did end up putting a screwjack in the wheel well to force the upper control arm down (since it has tension on it and wants to stay up). Doing that I was able to squeeze that tapered bolt into the upper control arm and tighten up the castle nut.

Make sure you torque the lower ball joint bolts to 59 ft lbs, and check them often if you don't use lock-tite. Lots of thread about them coming out.


The above link shows the tool I used to get the tapered fit ball joint bolt out of the upper control arm. I just had to replace those bolts with the wingnuts on them with a 6 inch bolt to fit the upper control arm.