DIY Replacing Driveshaft Center Bearing

Recently went about replacing my u-joints and center support bearing to fix some vibrations and just complete some due maintenance. In my quest, I never found a 2nd gen Tacoma center bearing tutorial, so here's what I did, hope it'll help someone. I'm not going to cover u-joints so much as that's a more universal DIY and there's plenty of good tutorials.

Here's my 120K mile center support bearing. Notice how the driveshaft isn't centered any longer in the carrier due to the rubber sagging. This created an issue with my 2.5" lifted truck as the driveshaft was allowed to flop around in the bearing and created some drive line vibrations for me.




I recommend using ONLY genuine Spicer U-Joints and Center Bearing. I've run cheaper parts before and just trust me and many other enthusiast when we say, buy once and cry once. Spicer makes quality parts and they'll outlast anything you buy at Autozone by twice the mileage, minimum. Amazon has the high end greasable Spicer u-joints for the 4WD Tacomas for about $35 each and Drivetrain America has the Spicer center bearing for about $75.

To start, you want to mark the alignment of your drive shaft, joints, yolks, etc. Basically, any part of the drive shaft that can be separated needs to be referenced on it's adjacent connection. This will eliminate any potential balancing issues due to changing the factory orientation as well as keep the three (3) u-joints in phase.

Starting at the front of the truck/shaft and working towards the differential, the joints needing marked for alignment BEFORE removal are:

1. Across flange at the Transfer Case Output shaft (four 14mm nuts)
2. Across u-joint connecting the Transfer Case Output Flange and the First Driveshaft
3. Across the yolk that the center bearing is installed on (but that can wait till the shaft is out)
4. Across u-joint connecting the Front Driveshaft to Rear Driveshaft
5. Across the Rear Driveshaft to Differential/Pinion Flange (four 14mm bolts)

I recommend making alignment marks in both marker and a physical mark. I used a marker and a punch and punched two dots *so they would be less likely to be confused as some random dimple on the parts) on corresponding surfaces. This way if the marker gets rubbed off, you can still find the punches, though the marker makes it easy to visually realign so aim to not rub it off.

See example alignment marks here:




Now, before removing the driveshaft....

DON'T GO AND KILL YOURSELF OR LET YOUR TRUCK RUN DOWN THE DRIVEWAY

**If you remove your driveshaft, the transmission being in park will no longer hold the truck static as you're removing the part that connects it to the rear wheels. Put the truck in 4WD and put the e-brake on. This will let the front wheels and rear brakes to hold it static.**

One of the first times I removed a driveshaft, I overlooked this important concept and ran over my own leg, while trying to jump up and get into my Jeep to stop it before it plowed into the neighbors home. Trust me, you don't want learn this lesson the stupid way.

Using a bench vise or whatever to hold the drive shaft, remove and replace the front most and rear most u-joints, ensure you maintain the alignment across those joints. The alignment on the front and rear most joints can only change 180 degrees, so there's only two orientation options, so should be easy to get right.

Then comes removing the center support bearing.

Remove the center u-joint, shown to the right of the center support bearing here:



Once that u-joint is out, you'll have access to the nut that holds the yolk on (the yolk retains the center support bearing). Remove the nut and washer (don't loose the washer).

BEFORE REMOVING THE YOLK, mark it for alignment if you haven't already. Be VERY precise, unless you have a digital angle finder, because it'll need to be accurately reassembled to avoid issues.



Then you'll need a 5-7 inch three-jaw puller. Pull the yolk off the shaft:




Then pull the center support bearing off like such:



Chances are the outer rubber support will come off and leave the actual bearing remaining on the shaft. No problem, just readjust the puller tool and pull the bearing off:




Now it's time to install the new support bearing. Clean all surfaces, making sure theres no dirt and grime. I added some light grease to the bearing mounting surface and splines just to help installation. Also make sure the bearing orientation is correct (arrows on Spicer unit will point towards the front of the truck).

Once the bearing is installed, you need to seat it. To do this, first you need to reinstall the yolk on the splines, MAKING SURE the yolk is in phase with the other u-joints. Installing it out of phase will cause vibrations and kill u-joints. What do I mean by "in phase"?

The "ears" on the yolks (the pieces that hold the u-joints) need to align with eachother. Google it for better explanations. I checked to ensure they were in phase by using my digital angle finder. The closest I could get my driveline was within 1.4 degrees of perfect 0 degree phase. If I adjusted the yolk and turned it one spline clockwise/counter clockwise it jumped to over 10 degrees out of phase.

Measuring front u-joint (and zeroing angle finder on it)



Measuring the u-joint near the center support bearing



Once I was sure the yolk was being reinstalled correctly phased, I used a piece of wood to hammer the yolk down on the shaft.





Once the yolk was on the shaft enough to get the washer and nut back on, I the used an impact gun to crank down tight, seating the center support bearing in place. Then I backed the nut off till loose, then tightened it down using a torque wrench (don't know the correct torque, I did 'good and tight' or about 75 ft lbs.

Then replace/install middle u-joint, insuring the rear half of the shaft is also in phase, and reinstall driveshaft into truck.

 

Nice

 

Sorry, need to fix pictures and reword/clean up some of the process. Long day today so tomorrow I'll clean it all up!

Maybe this weekend I'll write a simple, precise and clear as hell guide to troubleshooting and fixing driveline vibrations...it'll be a better DIY than this thread lol, this was a sorta rush job.

 

Good job. You’re about 2 weeks late as I couldn’t find a tutorial and just paid $261 to have a new carrier bearing put in and slip yoke regreased. No more clunk on stop and start. Since my new carrier bearing is non OEM I’ll probably need to do this in the future. Thanks again.

 

Thanks for this. Will be replacing mine soon for preventative maintenance and hopefully help with some mild vibrations.

Noticeable difference for you?

 

When i replaced it on my truck. I quickly re-attached the front piece of the drive shaft after separating the middle u joint to the truck, that way i didnt have to clamp it in a vice to undo the big ass nut (trans in park holds it just fine). same thing goes for re-torquing it back on.... something about clamping a balanced driveshaft in a vice didnt sit right with me.

Also. Proper seating of the bearing and yoke goes as follows (according to the FSM). Place bearing on the shaft, place yoke on the shaft thread nut on, tighten to 134 ftlbs. Yes 134ftlbs. then LOOSEN completely. Then do a final torque toe 51ftlbs and stake the nut or use some good locktite on it.

either way great write up.

 

Thanks fellas. I only had notable vibs on long trips. My theory was the rubber would warm up from the slop over many miles and make it even looser, which gave me highway speed vibs. Haven’t taken a long trip yet, but already feels really good.

I have a very, very faint ~25 MPH vibe, but had to complete this repair before measuring shaft angles to correct any out of range/balance numbers. That’s next.

Very good information, appreciate it!

If it’s ok with you, I’ll incorporated it into the thread when I clean it up. Real numbers are better than ‘good and tight’ and the trick of attaching the front flange back up and using that as resistance for the high-torque nut is a great hack...lord knows the vice did mar up the shaft pretty good. I’m going to give it a go and see how it does over time before taking it to get balanced.

 

go for it man! if you need any pages from the FSM to put in your OP let me know.

 

when exactly did you have the clunk noise?

 

just did this job and there are a few good write ups out there but this is another good one to add to the list. my u joints had about 250k on them and were almost disintegrated. anyone else getting ready to do this do yourself a favor and get the right tool to get those bastard u joints out. i bent 2 6" c clamps and hammered for a long time to get them out. good job op!

 

It happened when I started rolling or a millisecond there after and just at the point when I stopped. It didn’t matter if I was stopping or accelerating mild or hard. I have a new axle due to a wreck, the 4 leaf TSB replacement, and I’m stock height with the u bolts to torqued to spec. This wasn’t axle wrap. The fix could have been either the warn carrier bearing or the slip yoke binding or both.

 

damn it..

my truck is at the shop getting this done now. looks do-able for sure! mine was getting squeaky. mystery squeak until i jiggled the slop in that bearing.

 

Thanks for the write-up... been looking to tackle this as well

 

So quick update here: I recently started having some take off vibrations up to around 15 mph. Being lazy, I took it to the local 4x4 shop. Their diagnosis: driveline angles all looked good, but the center support bearing has over an inch of slop. Contacted Spicer about a warranty and haven't heard a word back.

The shop said Spicer is all they use for these, but they have seen a few Tacomas in where this specific part number for out trucks tend to have some softer/sloppy rubber.

Frustrated.

 

Could you post the part numbers of the Spicer center bearing you used?

There is another post talking about the center bearing, and Spicer makes 2 for our trucks - 2WD and 4WD.

I'm not sure there is much of a difference between the two, but perhaps that is the source of your vibrations.

 

Hey Scott, I don't know the numbers right now, but I know mines the 4WD unit (or rather, the right fit for my truck). Confirmed through many searches and via a part number comparison between the dealership and Spicer themselves.

The best I can determine is the slop was gone, and slowly creeped back over the last several thousand miles. So it did fix them, but only for a while.

 

Great post any tips or suggestions on how to get my yolk off I’ve tried a jaw puller didn’t do it I tried heating it up and anti seize! Nothing has loosened it up at all may help is must appreciated!

 

I used a bearing splitter to hold the shaft in place, then used a press to remove. But, it came out very easy; you can use a rubber mallet to knock it out. To install, I used the bearing splitter to hold the shaft by a weld seam, then used a small (about 3/16") punch to gently tap the carrier bearing into place.

 

jaw puller + impact + luck usually works. mine slid off no probalo.

 

I ended up having to use a press to get it off definitely cleaned out the splines and put a little grease on them so it’s never that bad again hopefully