ECGS and never look back! I had the same problems you all did with vibration/grinding occurring in 2wd and went away in 4WD. My Toyota rep stated it was the needle bearing and they would replace it with another needle bearing. I elected not to have them replace the defective needle bearing with another needle bearing that would most likely fail in the future. Install took about 4-5 hours.

Attached Images

 

Were they able to repair and remedy under warranty? I may need your help, I've got a 2016 purchased used back in the fall that had a level on it, and they did a warranty repair with a diagnosis of the front drive shaft, which obviously didn't fix it. Nowww they're claiming after market parts and won't repair under warranty, but are only claiming it's an axle issue. I've since found the TSB and going round and round with a corporate and regional rep. They won't even pull the TSB up in the system.

Honestly, if they're fighting you like that out the gate I would try another dealer if there's one reasonably close to you. I just mentioned symptoms only, even though I knew about the TSB and my service rep was the one who mentioned the TSB and warranty fix and jumped right on it. I also have 2.75 lift, he didn't even mention it, just test drove it and fixed it. Basically some dealers are in well with Toyotas warranty dept, others not so much. Find one that is and it will be smooth sailing with no issues...that is if you 4Runner is still under power-train warranty.

You're probably right, but I've bought two trucks from this dealership over the last 14 years, not this 4runner as it's the first we've owned. I'm only at 46k miles so still under warranty for this. I think the real issues are they misdiagnosed the problem out of the gate, and now have a black eye after I've turned up the TSB. One of the corp reps I spoke with said the service tech told her I should take it to a 4x4 shop. I just laughed. I want the new carrier assembly and I can get the bushing after for a long term repair. I just spent almost 20k upgrading my 2018 Tacoma including regearing because these asshats can't get their engineering designs right. And now major recalls on airbags and fuel pumps across the board.

Yup, bail on that dealer an go elsewhere. They probably know Toyota warranty would come down on their ass and make them eat the labor costs if they started doing warranty related TSBs on your rig this late in the game. Find a new dealer, describe symptoms, mention TSB if needed.

Well I finally got the truck to the dealership and low and behold the tech heard the "noise"! They said the differential is back-ordered as everyone else said I was told an eta of Jan 30th so we shall see. I was pretty happy that everything went smooth and the dealership knew of the issue and didn't give me any grief. I presented the TSB to the service girl and she made a comment about how many Tacomas have been there and fixed.
Updates to come!

A lot of good info here.

Just wanted to check and see if anyone with a later build 2019, VIN outside of the TSB has this issue.

My March 2019 build does, most noticeable in colder temps.

Curious as to the updated fix and what Toyota did with the replacement DIFFS to fix. I am assuming a production change was made and my truck has it but still have the noise.

I watched this video and I’m not onboard with this guys analysis based on what he has shown. 50 thousandths is a lot of slop for any bearing and I’m sure there is a reason why the cage isn’t machined.

Haphazardly sticking a solid busing into a location where an oiled bearing used to be IMHO is asking for trouble. Seizure at highways speeds, loss of control etc. I would want to see this guy do some sort of cyclic testing at least on bench before I would consider this mod.

I have 20k miles on my ECGS bushing, no issues so far

Having gone through this myself, I don’t understand why the dealerships fight us so hard when we describe the groaning/vibration and present the TSB.

I was armed with knowledge from the two threads on the needle bearing issue both times I went to the dealer. I had the additional problem that the groaning/vibration became unnoticeable in warm weather & unfortunately the weather had turned warm when I went to the dealer the first time the groaning/vibration arose. When the weather turned cold again & the groaning returned, I almost felt lucky that the service tech felt/heard the groaning during the test drive & agreed it was the needle bearing covered by the TSB. Mine was still under warranty, so I was willing to get the Toyota part rather than getting the aftermarket part - my reason simply being to exhaust the warranty option before shelling out $ for the aftermarket part.

My advice if you are having this issue is to stay diligent with the dealer.

The dude’s story above about “walking in mentioning the TSB, replaced no questions asked” is so foreign to me I almost think it’s fake. I think it will take a solid 3-5 trips to my local dealer to get this done. Debating going this morning because I have the time, it’s cold, and this will be the 2nd time they tell “yea I can hear it a little, but it’s not loud enough”.

I got this winter, plus 2 more to get this worked out under warranty.

The only advice I could give others to try and speed up the dealerships participation in this matter would be to bring the truck on the coldest day possible. I realize for many around the country thats not as easy as it was for me in New England. I took mine in on a low 30 degree day which i'm sure helped greatly identify the noise.
Hang in there stay positive and continue to bring up the issue until its fixed. If all else fails try another Toyota dealership!

Hello all! 1st post here

Just visited my dealer with this issue and they quoted the TSB on the service estimate and are ordering the differential to be replaced under warranty. (41K miles on my 2016 4Runner) no idea how long it will take them to get one.

Has anyone had the chance to look at the difference between diff # 41110-35A91 and the new diff # 41110-35A92 ????

The ECGS solution is very interesting and they claim to have sold over 5500 bushings so far with no issues for the 8". In some photos it does appear that there's an oil galley that allows fluid into the needle bearing, no? With the ECGS bushing no fluid can get in?

Seems like Toyota had a definite bad design issue here and hopefully the new diff is better. We'll see.

so I had this issue around 30k on 2017 4 runner SR5. for me, it occurred when the temperature was less than like 40 degrees. I ended up taking it in on a night when it was about 27 and you could hear it in the cabin the entire ride.

I told them what it was and mentioned the TSB (make sure you tell them it goes away in 4wd). With past experiences with Stealerships I came there ready to fight. 1st the tech drove it, then they had a master tech ride with him and they did confirm that was the issue and fixed under warr. all dealers are different though, I didn't expect for it to be this easy and I don't think other dealers will be.

my advice is to take it in on a cold day and don't drop it off. make sure its not a weekend, because they usually have small crews just doing brakes and oil changes on those days. I was very specific about what it was and like I said I wasn't rude or anything, but I was ready for an argument if it got there. its been about 1.5yrs later and 20k miles and still no issues. average temp right now is like 35 degrees so I always listen for it out of habbit, so far so good.

Dealer was the Newark Toyotaworld in Delaware

My dealer didn't want to do it for 2 visits. Was there recently and took the mechanic for another drive. He said - yep sounds like the bearing, and they replaced under warranty. 2015 with 55k miles (toyota platinum care extended warranty - I'm out of the TSB 5 year window). It may be that the TSB doesn't pay as well as the extended warranty?? Either way - its silent again. I have the ECGS bushing but they wouldn't install as a warranty replacement so I'll wait until next time. I understand why they wouldn't swap them under warranty.

Anyway - annoying issue that should have been fixed by Toyota a long time ago.

Edit: just FWIW, my 4Runner has ~ 2" lift and 33" tires. No problems at all with respect to the lift or tires voiding warranty.