Front drive shaft bearing failure

[Loose Screw]

{mods - feel free to move or merge]

Background: 09 D4D SR5 dual cab, bought new 06/2009, all services bar one at Toyo dealers. Used off road but never hammered. 4WD H & L used when appropriate (not on sealed surfaces). Bull bar + winch + dual battery fitted, Ultimate Suspension 2" lift fitted to correct nose-down attitude & bring back to normal ride height + a little bit. Wheels regularly balanced, wheel alignment done at 80K service (Toyo).

SWMBO took it to a Toyo dealer in Canberra the other day for its 90K service and to investigate an ocasional clonk underneath from somewhere up the front. They call her at work, she calls me, something about front wheel problems, cost = $lots, she hasn't a clue what all the tech stuff is about. So I ring them, eventually get through to the right bod at the right service dept. Short & sour of it is the offisde drive shaft will have to be replaced. Service bod mentions various things includign one or more rubber boots being shot, thus the joint probably scuppered through contamination. "Weird" I thought, cos I'd given it a good tub at the weekend and when I did the wheels and hosed some cack off under the wheelarches I would have seen grease everywhere. So anyway after some negotiation I gave them the go-ahead saying that if there was any chance if it was not down to something like puncturing a boot with a stick or a rock (which would be weirder still cos it had not been anywhere near dirt since I cleaned it) I would be pursuing it as a warranty claim. Service bod says if it is a warranty issue Toyo keep the part, if not we can take it.

Yesterday SWMBO picks up the car, rings me and puts Service bod on the blower. Turns out a bearing had failed at the diff end, they accepted it as a warranty claim (car has 90K on it and <3 years old). So that's good news (claim under warranty) but not good news in that
1) is the other side going to go bang shortly?

2) it makes me wonder about the quality of materials used if a drive shaft bearing can go at only 90K under normal use

3) I hope the diff casing is OK.

Will update when I get a bit more info, but given the number of posts and threads on front drive shaft/ CV joint problems is it worth putting up a thread to catalogue what went wrong at what mileage on which models, with info on suspension mods etc? Is there one already that I missed?

[09lux]

Toyota replaced my inner drivers side diff seal at 43000 kms just the other week, leaking diff oil badly, came out of nowhere but thankfully under warranty.

[djyates]

My R/H output shaft bearing was changed @ about 120,000klm when a replacement driveshaft didn't stop the click/clunk in the front. This still didn't fix the problem as the replacement driveshaft was faulty (recon unit- fitted as warranty fix on extended warranty). The original shaft was refitted, after it had been regreased I believe, & is now starting to get noisy again. They are going to fit a genuine replacement soon. 126,500klm now on odo.

[Steve9R]

I dont think this is as 'popular' a failure as you think.. I have only read of one or two people on here who have had front bearing failures... and we have a LOT of members..

bearings go.. there's not much you can do about it..

Steve

[fridgie]

Agree with Steve ^^^

I work in air con, deal with a heap of bearings in different environments and loads. Worst one I remember was a fan shaft bearing. Replaced the shaft and bearings after a big failure. Brand new 3" solid shaft 3M long and 6 bearings spread across. Get job done, all good. About 3 weeks later, the closest bearing to the pulley failed for whatever reason. Ended up snapping the shaft and destroying the unit in the process

Sometimes they just f#@k out

[danmcccc]

yer there is random occurances in manufactured goods at my work too...im a diesel fitter, ive had brand new alternators shit bearings in under a week, brand new tyres blow out instantly once weight is applied, not at my workshop but our one in blackwater, hurts me to say that the tyre incident resulted in the death of the fitter...


these things happen

[Bushbound]

The Rhino (05 SR extra cab) has started leaking oil out of front RHS diff seal at 80,000km, just what I need 2 weeks before heading to Northern Flinders as I have plenty of things to do already.
Geoff

[Loose Screw]

@ Steve9R, fridgie, point taken, bearings can fail, sometimes for no apparent reason.

There is a corollary to all this that happened today that could have resulted in very serious and possibly fatal consequences.

I can't say any more at the moment, but I will let newhilux.net members know what happened when I am able to.

[dazza609]

Hi
Sorry for bringing up an old thread.

I have a small clunk that occasionally comes from my front end and also have my passenger side diff seal leaking again ( was only replaced along with drivers side about 5 weeks ago i think). were was the bearing that you had replaced?

Cheers Darren