rjfortuna

wheel hello dere......

RE------> intermediate driveshaft support bearing aka center support bearing.

I'm not sure if a good deal on a center bearing is acceptable for a thread, but I had some difficulty paying Orillley's $150 for one.

I even saw them as pricey as $165. Which seemed just absurd to me.

I found one here.

http://www.driveshaftparts.com/Produ...ield4=&field5=

$45.00.

It seems that they stock either style bearing used on the older 4 runners and pickups.

That is a 66% (+ - ) discount from the local parts house.

I am not endorsing them, I'm just going to buy my center bearing from them because I cant bring my self to pay Orilley $155 for a little bit of metal and rubber.

Buy from whom you like...I just had a hard time finding an affordable one and thought this might save another YotaTech subscriber some time if they operate on a budget as I do.

Yes, and OEM might last another 40K miles, but for another $50 I'll just install another one of these.

Mine is toast. Will order, install and after oh.....5000 miles check the durability of said product and post results on this thread.

RJ.

crafthorse

I bet you wont have any problems with it.

rjfortuna

Me too. Just trying to circumvent some of the potential inevitable follow up posts.

rjfortuna

The Center Support Bearing ended up costing $55.50 with shipping to Texas.

rjfortuna

I installed this this evening, took me about 40 minutes. Had to put an idler arm in too...(idler arm took longer because the PO rammed the idler arm into a rock or something and buggered up the castle nut and I had to get the grinder out to get the cotter pin out) Other one was fubar, actually both items were fubar..... Drove the truck. It made just an amazing amount of difference in the vibration. Now I just have to get a steering stabilizer, put on new tires, balance em and the ole truck should be riding like a caddy.

So far I recommend this carrier bearing. In a few months I'll let you all know how it holds up.

Quick point on the install. After you put the carrier bearing on the shaft, and get it under the truck it will look like the wrong one because the braces on the sides of it are angled down. Put a nut on one side and bend the other side up (you can do this by hand, or at least I could). Then take that nut off and do the same to the other side. Then you can get both nuts on. Snug em down a bit, this will flatten them out to the cross member...then take a hammer (gently tapping, GENTLY NOW I SAY. Dont crank the nuts down all the way) and get the pads on the mount to line up where the other one was riding (my truck is real dirty underneath so it was very apparent to where the other pads were.) If for some miracle your truck is clean, I'd mark where the other one came off by tracing around the pads with either a pick and scratch it or use a paint pen, I like white.

Oh, and make sure before you pop the flange off, you mark very well where the teeth go, because if you are off even one tooth it will vibrate like crazy. I used a paint pen I had laying around and it worked great. It was white. I just put a dab on the flange gear (?) looking thing and a dab on the rear end of the front drive (Intermediary sp) drive shaft.

Make sure also you mark with paint pen, or by scraping where the U joints bolt up on the 3 connections so it all goes back together the way it came apart.

oh. also, my carrier bushing (the rubber around the bearing) was so far gone, that I just ripped off the old one and tapped off the old flange, GENTLY with a hammer and did the same to the flange after removing the center nut....

I rate this repair as a 2-3 on a scale of 10 for me.

Anyone wants help with this repair or more details PM me. Will be glad to try to help.

So my total cost on the carrier bearing repair was $55 and about 40 minutes time. Seems like a good deal.

Good luck!

RJ

peow130

why not just get a solid driveshaft all the way through?

rjfortuna

I'm actually thinking of punching a hole into the rubber and filling it with Great Stuff expanding PU foam. Any one done this before? To extend the life of the carrier bearing rubber?

rjfortuna

Oh, you know peow, I was thinking of that, Just didnt want to mess with it. Plus my truck is a Custom Cab so it is crazy long. I figure that carrier bearing is there for a reason.

peow130

Well, isn't your driveshaft two parts?
I think the later model pickups are two parts, and alot of people swap to a single shaft.

yoterr

well if im not mistaken his truck is like having an ex cab long bed, it has to have a carrier bearing... i believe..

rjfortuna

Yes, 2 parts. And I think Yoter is right. I thought of putting in a single shaft, but my truck is about 4' longer than most trucks with a 6 ft bed. Frame was cut, and made longer. It has a full sized back seat.I figured that $50 bucks was a cheap enough fix. I considered the single axle, but lots of rigs that run long shafts use the center bearing setup, I think it has to do with keeping down vibration. again, I figured a $55 dollar fix was a good deal. Shouldnt have to look at the center bearing again for another 100k plus miles. If it F's up again soon, I'll look into a single shaft.

bugs1961

Hey, what's the socket size for the bearing nut? I'll be doing this next week and am limited in sockets where my truck is. I'll have to pick up a socket at Sears before getting started. Thanks much.

rjfortuna

Gak. Um. I don't remember. (wasnt real big I remember I think like 1' or + - or so...) I just pulled out the deep impacts and sized it. I'm not sure if mine would be the same as yours anyway. Some of these nuts in the flange are staked, some are crimped down. Mine was neither. In hind sight I wish I had put some lock tight on it to be sure the summabeyoch dont decide to rotate loose going 70. I might pull the rear d. shaft and do that when I get around to it. Oh well if life aint a little dangerous it isnt interesting.

Sorry I couldnt help. I gotta get a digital cam to document some of the stuff I do.

Just take your time, it was really pretty simple.

Oh, in my details, I didnt put that you should pull the rear D shaft 1st, then remove the nut or at lease loosen it while the c. bearing and front shaft is on the truck to give resistance to the impact. I didnt do it this way, I usually do about everything a little different than the norm, but it didnt give me any real trouble. Guess I have strong knees. HA HAHA. (Um, I held it with my knees while I used the impact on it...just to clarify.)

Anyone have any input if pulling the rear D. shaft and lock tighting the flange nut is a good idea or do you think its kosher the way it is? I had no steak or bend to hold the nut on. Weird.

Good luck and thanks.
RJ

rjfortuna

Oh, and it made a impressively vast difference in driving. Mine was so bad when I had it off the truck I just ripped the rubber and housing away from the bearing by hand.

You will be pleased with your ride when completed.

RJ

rjfortuna

Oh yah, also I cant stress enough to mark the teeth that join in the flange (which hooks to the rear drive shaft) and the front drive teeth, it would be BAD to get it apart and not know exactly which teeth go where. You would be taking it apart and putting it back together NUMEROUS times to get the insane amount of vibration out of your rig. I have seen some other posts where people did this and couldnt figure out how to get it back to right, and I cant fathom how either and there has to be a HUGE number of trys before you get it right.

Ok. Last post.

RJ

bugs1961

Thanks much for the info. I have a pretty good vibration and will be replacing all the U-joints as well as the center support bearing. I sure am looking forward to getting rid of the vibration. Take care.

rjfortuna

Let me know, via this thread how hard the u joints were to do. and a quick walk through please? I want to do mine, just didnt do them at the same time like an idiot. Where'd you get your replacement u's?

Can you do the u's with the shafts in the truck? I bet not.

rjfortuna

Center bearing still working great. about 3k miles on it.

rjfortuna

Still going strong. No issues. Good deal.

RJ

rjfortuna

Goin strong. Workin great. No issues. Now I just need to get a new harmonic balancer in and the yota should be in pretty good runnin shape. Thanks all and take care. RJ