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2wd front wheel play, 2003 taco

jimmyjim

Member
this is all good bearing news. but dont forget to check the shock absorber mountings, the axel bolts, and so on. and the advice on tightening the nut is excellent. when you remove the calliper, remember to support it. i use a small waste basket turned upside down to rest it on, so as not to stress the brake flex line. maybe one of the bearings or bearing races is cocked? thats where tightening down will work to seat the bearings and races in the rotor really helps.
hope you are having good weather to work in. if you have to tap a race into place, use a wood dowel, not a metal punch. hope you get er done today.
 

paulmars

Member
It must b seated already but i can do that again. why am i removing everything? I haven't yet and m not sure why. They looked fine 5k miles ago. If i remove the rear bearings i will need a new seal.
 

jimmyjim

Member
you are removing things so you can make a visual inspection of all the parts that could be causing the problem. the new rear seal is cheap compared to a complete bearing failure. if the bearing is bad, it all has to come apart anyway, but you cant tell till you take it apart. not fun, i know, but needs to be done.
 

paulmars

Member
U think they went bad that fast? Is that why i can wiggle tire 12&6 o'clock, but not 3-9?. Can't wiggle though with tire w\wheel off.
 

69FJ-2.4LTRTDIESEL

Active Member
100 Posts
That's because you have zero leverage. Try tightening it first and then back it off. Put the tire back on & see if you eliminated the play. What drove you to pack the bearings in the first place, were either side making noise? Here is a video from 1A Auto that shows you an install on 4WD but the bearing on the inside was broken, came apart into two pieces but it's supposed to be a one piece like 2003 Tacoma should be. Different bearing but same principle.

A1 Auto replacing front wheel bearings
 
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paulmars

Member
My oem Taco service manual says do every 25k miles or 24 months. Sounded too frequent. Other year 1st gen taco ser manuals dont say that.Everyone told me forget that and do when u change brake disks. So that i did. Now no one believes me my brakes lasted that long.
 

paulmars

Member
Im gunna order the seals, cleaner, and whatever else i might need. After i ck what i hav here. I might hav enough grease and new cotter pins. Then i take it all apart...again.

So tomorrow i put back together and wait for parts.

If bearings r trashed then i order new. How do u get the races out?
 

69FJ-2.4LTRTDIESEL

Active Member
100 Posts
Press them out to keep from damaging the hub. I learned years ago to throw the hub (clean or PO the wife) into the oven at 450 degrees and the race in the freezer. When the hub is hot the frozen race will fallright into place but don't cock it because it will set fast when the race heats up. I learned that trick on early model EL & FL Harley Davidson cases and it works great.
 

paulmars

Member
and the other doesnt list disk or drum, but what else is there? Ive always wondered why they list disk or drum, does that even matter, since its for wheel bearings?
 

69FJ-2.4LTRTDIESEL

Active Member
100 Posts
Grease has no shelf life expiration other than the supplier wanting you to buy more. My bench can is over 10 years old, covered with a hub for weight and I use it all the time. I buy mine at equipment outfits for heavy equipment, very thick consistency & high temp.
 

paulmars

Member
ok. grease can says 1995 on it and says 525°. otherwise neither says hi hemp. maybe can better then the timkan i used last time.

Im looking to order the seals. Recomendations? I asked timkan where I can order theirs from, a direct supplier. Too many pirated parts floating around, especially on the internet, including from amazon. Hopefully I wont need anything more, but if bearings bad, then I order those and races.

p
 

jimmyjim

Member
decent video. but, it would have been nice if they had done a good inspection of the bearings and races to show what defects look like. also, if you are not replacing brake pads, you can take the caliper and its retainer as a unit so you dont have to bleed the brakes. but then you need to know the tricks that go with doing that, such as removing 1/3 of the brake fluid from the resivoir first, using a wood tool to push the caliper piston back into the caliper to make it easy to reinstall. and then refilling the resivoir. this video shows another point of interest, that all 5 bolts that hold the hub to the disc must be equally tight, and not cross threaded. note he uses carb cleaner, same as brake cleaner to keep any grease off the rotor or pads, because grease there will make the brake useless. and this guy must have gone thru a box of gloves. if you do it his way with the calipers, then put a drain hose on the bleeder nipple to direct the brake fluid into a glass jar so it doesnt just splash all over the place. return used brake fluid to the place you bought it, just like oil or coolant. if they wont take it, find a mechanic who will. some states have laws about this, such as calif. some dont.
your truck has a dirt shield inboard of the hub assembly. to inspect the axel mount bolts this may have to come off. maybe not.
also check the wheel mount bolts to make sure they are tightly intalled in the hub. they can break sometimes or not be fully seated in the hub. you can put a bit of wood on the underside of the bare axel and see if it is loose by jacking it up and down a bit with a floor jack.
look up bearing failures if there are any on youtube to find out what bad bearings and failed races look like. hope you can solve this. wobbly wheels are very unsafe.
 

jimmyjim

Member
tighten it down slowly. when it starts to get to the point where the wheel doesnt want to turn easy, then back it off just enough that you can spin the wheel with ease, but not so much that it wobbles. you might want to do this two or three times just to get the hang of it.
 

paulmars

Member
Fixed.

My right bearing nut was loose. Maybe the left was too.

Remember 4 February 2021 both wheels no wiggle left to right, but slight wiggle top to bottom. Right side slightly more.

Repacked all four bearings 5k mi ago. No wiggle after 500 and 1k miles, but now top to bottom wiggle.

So, a few days ago I removed the wheels and then could not right left or top bottom wiggle. Reinstall wheels and the added leverage allowed me to top bottom wiggle. However, the wheel weight was stopping right left wiggle (I think Id have to lift the wheel slightly to right left wiggle). On right side w\o wheel I could pull push the hub-rotar and feel, hear, and see it move in and out. Still, i could not right left or top bottom wiggle it (not enough leverage?). I reinstalled wheel and that extra weight prevented pull-push movement.
Cleaned and inspected all bearings, races, and spindles. All were fine. The right spindle had some black marks, but felt smooth. Lucky me.

I did notice something with my upper ball joint(s), but that is unrelated, so I started another thread for it. See "Ball joint issue?"
 

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