dirtypuke

i have a 98 4runner and its grinding when i drive down the road i have noticed that there is slop in the drive shaft where it meets the rear axle. can i replace the pinion bearing with normal hand tools or do i need special tools? is this a huge pain in the a** job? do i have to pull the half shafts?

seaflea

To replace te rear pinion bearing you will need special tools.
It is a fair bit of work even for an experienced mechanic.
Have you checked the U-joint? Maybe that is what is bad.

4Crawler

iTrader: (3)

If it is not too far gone, try tightening the nut on the pinion shaft. Unbolt the sdriveshaft, unstake the nut, tighten the 30mm nut to ~90 ft.lbs. to take up any slack, restake the nut and put the shaft back on:
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTri...eal/index.html

I had to do that on my old rear diff several times.

dirtypuke

well i decided to take it to the tranny shop, and i know the guy pretty well. he looked at it and sure enough the ring and pinion bearings were shot. i am just going to let him do it. he is charging me 175 labor and what ever the parts cost. i figured that didnt sound to bad. there goes putting the jaos skid plate on this month.

thanks for the imput

getitdone

imput...hahahahaha