Driver side steering knuckle/bearing assembly

I am looking for a knuckle for my 2001 Tacoma. Get one price and was 598!! Another place… unavailable. Any ideas where I could find one?

 

Tons of them come up on FB marketplace, craigslist, this very forum, ebay, etc.

You can source one from a 1st Gen Tacoma or 3rd Gen 4Runner. Keep in mind that depending on the vehicle its sourced from (4x4, 4x2, ADD, manual hub) will determine if you need to press and install a compatible wheel hub.

Aside from that, wheel bearing and all else is the same.

Make sure you get one with the tab for ABS if your truck has it (it should).

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/forums/1st-gen-tacoma-parts-marketplace-1995-2004.121/

 

Just what is wrong with yours?

 

So the wheel bearing is bad. I just bought the truck and the owner told me about it. The bearing gets pressed into the knuckle but the bearing went bad. The outer ring of the bearing which should be stationary and the bearings roll on that….. is not stationary but spins with the complete bearing assembly so the knuckle is worn. What would you recommend? New knuckle and bearing probably?

 

I'm going to say its the bearing. The knuckle itself, that would be a surprise to see it completely shot like that. Go and watch this vid and it will give you an idea of whats involved with pressing out the existing bearing and pressing on a new one. It's not rocket science. If I can do it, you can too provided you have the tools to do it. Be leary about aftermarket bearings... personally, I'd go with OEM. Skip ahead to about the 20:00 mark to see how they press out the hub from the bearing.

https://youtu.be/Dj-2IzO9RFk

 

Thanks! Helpful. I’ll see what I can find.

 

If the bearing spun in the housing you'll need both.

 

Shoot me a PM if you still need help finding anything. I have new bearings, seals, gaskets, hubs and knuckles ready to go.

 

Hey guys I’ll just continue on this thread since I am having similar issues. So to begin with, 3 studs came loose on my Taco so I proceeded to tackle the job. I removed the hub assembly and took it to a shop where they pressed out the old bearing and hub, and pressed in a new hub and bearing. That also replaced the seals. So I take it home and put it all back together and take it on a test drive. It’s all ok until I hear a sudden grinding noise off and on. I slowly drove it back and took the wheel off and the axle nut was slightly loose. I tightened it up and drove off only to hear the same noise. I took it back apart and found the bearing seal shredded as well as the bearing housing. I also noticed the rim of the cv is compromised. Any ideas as to what went wrong??? Thanks

 

You have no bearing nut only a spacer or tone ring and then an ADD spacer. The bearing was probably seated since the c clip couldn’t fit if so. Looks like your CV nut was never properly tightened and seated causing the bearing work its way out. There is a bit more to pressing in the bearing and hub than most give credit. The bearing is a one time use and cannot be removed and reused. If it isn’t properly supported on both sides when the hub goes in then it destroys the seat for the roller bearings. The casing for the bearings are easily damaged. The ADD system doesn’t use a bearing nut or any locking mechanism like the manual hub or 2WD hub do. The ADD hub and bearing are only held in position by the outer CV joint. If that joint is not properly seated then you destroy the bearing and eventually just lose the wheel. I have seen this happen more than a few times when ADD setups are test fitting long travel or some other suspension and they leave the CVs off.

 

Those parts are the roller bearing casing for the inner half, that is the part that usually isn’t supported properly when the hub is pressed in from the outside. They crimp easily and are worthless. The whole bearing is done and must be pressed out and thrown away. Here is the backside should look like.

 

I'd have a conversation with the shop. Sucks bud, sorry to see this.

 

So you are are saying that when the shop pressed the new bearing in, they forgot a spacer which gave the bearing room to wiggle out? Or did they just damage the bearing housing when they pressed it in? Also do I need to replace the cv axle and knuckle or would you run it with that damage?

 

Based upon what I can see in your picture, the height of the hub coming through looks right. I think all the parts are there internally. Either the backside of the bearing was damaged from install or the CV shaft was not properly seated leaving wiggle room for the bearing to destroy itself. If the outer CV nut was loose when you took it off then that is your problem. A manual knuckle gets 203 lb/ft torque to apply preload on the bearing. Your outer CV nut serves the same purpose and should have the same relative torque applied. I don’t know that torque spec off the top of my head, but it is a lot more than “loose”. The knuckle is fine and the bearing outer race protects it even when the bearing eats itself. The CV looks fine as well but needs another outer seal since your pic shows it mangled up.

 

Ok, that makes sense. I won’t try blaming the shop for pressing it in wrong; they did it for free anyway. If I remember right, I had it turned to the right when I was torquing the nut so that could have had something to do with it coming loose. Those are Duralast parts so they’re under warranty. Thanks a lot for the help!

 

I’d be interested in hearing what y’all got available as far as a knuckle. Price? I’ll post a picture of it later. It was the same one as the other person listed in the thread. Thanks!

 

Huh?

Just refer to my first post.

I found a set from a low-mileage truck for $100

 

Well I’m back. I had a different shop replace the bearing. The guy there said the reason it had failed was because whoever pressed it in the first time never put the snap ring back in. So that made sense, right? They pressed a new bearing in and put in a new snap ring and seal. I mounted the assembly back on my Taco, and made double sure everything was properly torqued. Everything seemed fine on the test drive but after about 30 miles I heard the awful noise again. I limped it back home and took it apart AGAIN! Every thing was still right expect the hub was wobbling inside the bearing. The bearing is all chewed up again and I am at my wits end. Here is a pic of the assembly before I mounted it for the second time.

 

Can't see a pic if you posted one. My guess is the bearing got pressed in, again, unsupported.