Which way do the arrows go?

Here's one that I found quite interesting. I had quite a bit of shake in my new old Taco and found time over the weekend to start trying to troubleshoot.

The driveshaft carrier bearing and u-joints were on the list as suspects given the play in the carrier bearing and the fact that the person who had bought the truck new said the u-jounts were factory. Taking the advice from Tacoma World's offerings I sought out Spicer Life U-joints and a Spicer brand Carrier Bearing for the install.

All as expected with the install until I saw a pair of directional arrows on the top of the carrier bearing. With no reference anywhere and no one to call on the weekend, I basically flipped a coin and ended up pointing them towards the transmission.

With the weekend over I started calling a few local shops hoping for confirmation of my decision. With this, I ended up with 50/50 results as to opinion of proper direction with only a couple of "IM SURES".

Not willing to give up I was able to find Spicer's Tech line and thought that they would be the end-all source for this information. But NO, believe it or not, they, the manufacture actually were not able to provide the information. But did offer the phone number of a shop in Austin that was said to be well trained by spicer and did a high volume of their product installs.

Well in the end, according to this shop, the Arrows are supposed to point towards the transmission So a good thing for me. But quite a surprise at how hard this information was to come by.

In closing, I offer Kudos to Joey at my local NAPA on Lamar Blvd in Austin and Joe Freeman in Lexington (Freeman's Auto) as they were both sure of their advice on the proper placement.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/how-to-replacing-carrier-bearing.260283/

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/what-else-can-it-be-shake-shake-shake.737126/

 

yeah, i recently went through the same thing replacing the carrier bearing on my 2007 DCLB TRD. No instructions in the package from Spicer with any description of the arrow. I ended up just installing it by the flip of a coin. I don't even know which direction I ended up putting it in and just decided to live with it as was and replace it if it went bad prematurely. I was putting mine on in the evening so I couldn't call anyone for advice. Looked around online a bit and finally just made a guess and put it on.

 

I don't think you will have a problem out of it even if it is installed backward. The guy that Spicer sent me to for the information told me that the Tacoma bearings were not tapered and that it wouldn't make any diff what so ever. If I had not lucked out and happened to get it right I would not have given it a 2nd thought. My guess is that the housing may be used in other applications where it does matter and is carried over to the Taco offering for reasons of cost.

 

^^ I agree.
Typically, arrows on parts are supposed to point forward. Some piston crowns have arrows indicating the forward direction. "Toward the transmission" is forward, so I think you are good but it probably won't make a difference either way and I wouldn't worry about it.

 

If youre 4x4 I'd look into swapping in a 95-97 Ford bearing. Cheaper and stronger than the oem carrier bearing. Been running mine for about 4 years now

 

This is the kind of information I really value. I'll never forget having 4 wheel disk brakes on my 66 Mustang. All because someone knew enough about it to know that the 72 Grenada was a swap fit. Got to appreciate this kind of experience and knowledge. Many Thanks

 

No problem. Here's the part #



Requires a couple extra things but super easy swap. There's a polyurethane version too. More money but more better haha.

Here it is on my truck. The red arrows are the items you need to make for the install

 

I just installed this spicer bearing, got disoriented and ended up installing the arrows towards the rear. Now I’m anxious. I also noticed that the housing seems to touch the “frame” when bolting the two two 14mm bolts in to hold the center bearing, is that okay?