New project Tundra. ~ 2002 Toyota Tundra

[rickc5]

Picked up a 2002 Tundra Access Cab 4x4 Limited with V8 yesterday. See my post in the TTC Coffee Shop forum. I'll be posting the work I do on it here on this forum--it needs some attention.

Here's the only photo I currently have of the Tundra--the one the seller posted on Craig's List:

 

[rickc5]

Drove the "new" Tundra to town yesterday and heard what may be a wheel bearing that needs attention. Since I also got the factory shop manuals with the truck, I'm going to peruse the section on the front end and see if this is something I want to tackle myself, or should I take it to some professionals and have them fix it. Years ago I replaced many front wheel bearings in 2WD cars, but never a 4WD.

 

[tbplus10]

This one has sealed "non serviceable" bearings.
Not hard to do.
Just remember when putting the two bolts in at the bottom a arm you use lock tight. The bolts have a bad habit of getting loose.

 

[rickc5]

I looked at the manual yesterday. To me, looks like the outer front bearings may be easy to do, but NOT the inners. The entire front suspension has to be disassembled to get at them. Yikes! Made my butt pucker.

Are the bearings you mentioned the outers? If so, those look doable, but the inners? I simply don't have the tools or desire to tackle those.

 

[kennythewelder]

The bearings are a unit. The race and bearings are together. We do this kind of work all of the time @ the shop where I work. You need to remove the complete axle hub asembly. It comes out in 1 piece.The bearing and race unit, has to be pressed out and the new unit, pressed back in. We only do the press work @ the shop. Here is a video that shows how to do it. The video doesn't really show this, but you need to make sure that you put the bearing in the same way it comes out. It will fit in upside down, so be careful to put it in the same way you remove the old one. Also, we put a little thin coat of grease on the outside of the new bearing race after the hub is clean. This helps to stop anything from binding during the pressing process.

 

[rickc5]

Hey Kenny! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for posting that video. It completely convinced me that changing the front wheel bearing is something I don't wish to tackle. I realize I can farm out the pressing part, but I'm not sure I have the tools or strength to do some of the other things involved (at 71, my physical strength isn't what it once was). If it took that woman over 40 minutes to do one side, it would likely take me 2 or 3 times that. Just something that seems best left to the pros IMHO.

 

[toyotafan]

More pics of that new truck please.

 

[rickc5]

More pics of that new truck please.

Absolutely! Once it warms up some. We're still averaging "below freezing" for high temps during the day.

However, I started doing some cleaning in the interior yesterday. Even though it looked OK, after 283K miles, there was still plenty of dirt that could be removed. Actually LOTS of dirt! No shampooing yet though--stuff would never dry in these temps!

I looked over the body and while there are lots of chips in the paint, there are NO dents or major scratches. The bumpers have a couple of small dents. Then I crawled underneath to look for rust. Amazingly, NO rust either. Looks like the frame was treated long ago with some sort of (permanent?) rust preventative. Everything is flat black, except the exhaust system, which is pretty rusty. Made me feel good about buying the truck.

The truck goes in today to have the suspension/steering checked out. Our local suspension shop will do the diagnostic. I'll report on the results.

 

[rickc5]

Results of the front suspension diagnostic: 1) All 4 shocks need replacing. 2) Sway bar end links and bushings need replacing. 3) front brakes are worn out.

The shop will replace the shocks (with Bilstein 5100s) and sway bar bits. I'm going to do the front brakes myself. Doesn't look too difficult, but I need to remove a wheel and see what type of front caliper I have--there are 2 different types used in 2002--and pads are different. I could do the sway bar bits too, but it's just too cold for lying around on the cold concrete. Plus, I'm feeling lazy.

Actually not too much needing to be done considering 283,000 miles.

 

[rickc5]

Update: The Tundra is back home. The shop couldn't find Bilstein 5100 shocks for the front (say what?), so I bought all 4 shocks from Rock Auto and I'm having them delivered to my house. Saved $100 over what the shop would have charged too. So my window for getting this stuff done at the shop has closed until Jan 31st. No big deal.

I'm also re-considering whether or not I want to change the brake pads. I did pull the left front wheel to determine which caliper I have. Finally found the casting number at the bottom front of the caliper: S13WE--the smaller of the 2 calipers. The rotor looked nearly new. While I had the wheel off, I again looked for signs of bad rust. Nope, just a few small spots of surface rust on the front suspension & frame. Looks nearly new compared to some of the rust buckets I've seen on YouTube.