Mine is a 2022 with only 1400 miles on it. They are following the 0012-19 but they said they were told to put in the part based on vin .. so I assume the same style.

Agreed that there are easier ways out, and not much cost, and less hassle, etc ... but I also think they should be held responsible as much as possible. They won't bother to issue fixes if everyone fixes it themselves and they don't hear about it

Just my take. I am not interested or capable of fixing it myself and could use the money on other things

LOL seriously? Do you have a 4in lift and bomb the Baja every weekend? How does that happen.

Baja? ... pffftttt ... way more exciting than that! Take my kids to school each day and haul my butt to work and ice fishing. About it for the moment

Mine is all stock. As much as I would like a lift and be out playing, it just isn't going to happen. Too many other things more important at this stage.

That's a bummer it came that way, hopefully the new diff helps. My 21 has 14k miles with a 2in lift, no diff drop and I love going fast on dirt. No issues thus far

So, does the ECGS bushing make this better because the bore that the needle bearing sits in is actually oversize? For the life of me, I cant figure out how a bushing is so much better than a rolling element.

Yes it does....per their website.

"One Sintered PTFE Bushing, metal backed, bronze inlaid, PTFE coated CV axle bushing for Toyota 8" front clamshell differential. Fits all 05 to current year model Tacoma, FJ Cruiser, and 03 up 4runner DOES NOT FIT AWD 4RUNNER AND FJ CRUISER. Replaces Driver side CV axle needle bearing with bushing to help control Vibration and shaft float common on these differentials. Replaces Needle Bearing Part # 90364-35010 and 90364-35008."

Correct. I got tired of that drone noise after two years and my local dealer didn’t hear anything. It only occurred when cold, as in winter temps, presumably went away in the heat of summer due to component expansion.

My local off road shop installed the bushing from Nitro Gear. Same thing. Has been dead quiet since. The needle bearing looked fine, the CV shaft etc. It’s just excessive play that makes that damn noise or a lift which may raise the CV angle and make it louder which is the typical scenario my shop tech advised they use the solid bushing for but of course they’ve had other lucky customers like me too on stock ride height come in with the same annoying noise they wish to be rid of.

Was cheap enough for the bushing and labour so money well spent for me.

Thanks for all the feedback everyone, I posted this several days ago and came back and read all the posts, this is good stuff, I decided to order the ECGS bushing and have installed. Surprisingly enough my local Toyota dealer said they would install for me for one hour labor. Said they installed a couple of these in the past. My 4R has just over 10K mi and has made the noise since I took delivery. No sense at all putting another needle bearing in the left side if it's not going to make a diference.

FYI everyone, called Toyota dealer to schedule repair on my 2020 ORP and they told me they have two 2022 4R's in shop currently waiting on front differentials to fix the exact same issue as me.

Yeah, I just called my dealer today to find out the status of my part. They told me that they wouldn't have anything in until April 25th. Backordered. Said that there wasn't any in the whole country as far as he could see on his computers

2021 SR5 Premium with 10,500 miles. I've posted elsewhere but wanted to add to this PROBLEM!! Had the noise at about 6,000 miles, dealer heard it first time. Identified it as "mismatched gears" and replaced the front diff. Before a few hundred miles the noise is back - less cyclical droning but clear as a bell, vibration from about 42 mph down to about 32. Totally smooth in 4WD.

Service manager says it's not a defect cause a brand new 22 on the lot does it too. That does not make it right. Toyota should be embarrassed.

My thinking is the stock 5th gen is lifted from the 4th so it affects most! Definitely mine. The dealer registered with a TAS case and I registered a customer complaint case with Toyota as well.

This is totally unacceptable and calling the dealer again today to follow up!

I had several 4Runners 1st, 2nd, two 4ths and now this otherwise wonderful 5th gen. I put 225K on my two 4th gens with never ever this problem!!

Thanks for listening. I bet I'm headed for the ECGS bushing!

YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE THIS BUT I'M HOPEFUL! The Toyota Customer Care folks AND the TAS submitted by the dealer resulted in a regional Toyota tech coming to check it out. They took it all apart and are ordering another full front diff and a new driver's side axle. Including the original diff - this will be the 3rd one! The noise has subsided with the over 70 degree heat but the tech clearly was digging in hard. Parts on order and I'll keep you all posted!

I often wonder if I have not had this problem with 2 5th Gens because I wear hearing aids🤔🤷*♂️🥴😂😇LOL

Is there a way to tell if your needle bearings are fading without hearing the noise...I don't notice a noise, but my tires are loud and I am old. Mine is a 20 pro with about an inch over stock pro lift...48k miles

Another great thread; subscribed.

So to clear up some confusion, the vehicles being covered outside of the TSB range are likely being individually approved/recommended through TAS and the DSPM. This is something we have run into sometimes when we get a vehicle that has exactly the same issue as described in a TSB but is out of the vehicle range.

As for the new differentials "fixing" the issue? In my experience? It's 50/50, some of them get pretty noisy and a new differential certainly is quieter than before and the customer is usually pretty happy with it; but most of the time you can still hear it a little bit if you're dialed in to that noise (which most people end up doing).

So it becomes this weird grey area where some noise is considered "normal" (because they all do it to some degree) and the best we can do from a warranty standpoint is to make the noise quieter rather than eliminate it.

In all our lifted vehicles we throw a bushing in the differential just to save ourselves the trouble. I don't know why the needle bearing is so noisy; perhaps clearance issues or maybe they need a different style of bearing there?