I own a '98 Runner, 4WD, 3.4L, auto, 303K miles- I'm about to replace both CV axles, and I'm wondering if I should go ahead and replace the wheel bearings at the same time. The bearings are original I believe. I get a grinding noise when I corner moderately hard, in 2WD and 4WD. When I put it up on jacks, the front wheels do not have any side to side or top to bottom play. In the past 15 months I have replaced the steering rack, new tie rod ends, new control arms, new struts (Bilsteins), sway bar links, and UBJ and LBJ's. I hope the noise is in the CV axles, but I only like to replace things once.....
Last edited by 98rennur4; 09-21-2023 at 10:40 AM.
Reason: more info needed
I just did front bearings a little over a month ago and they acted the same way. 421k on the originals and they had no play when checking them but made noise in corners. Afterwards, noise is gone and it seems to not follow road groves like before. Wish I would have done them when they first started making noise.
If you decide to swap out your wheel bearings, the video
@infamousRNR
and I made will help you out.
Beware of letting shops do this job for you. It's pretty common they don't support the bearing properly when pressing in the hub and they screw up the bearing and dramatically shorten it's life.
__________________ "My old man is a television repairman, he's got this ultimate set of tools. I can fix it!"