wheel bearings and river crossings

[GeEkBoY]

Bought the truck from the dealer, registered to Toyota Canada in Ontario for 2000km, registered to Vancouver dealer until 34000km.

The front wheel bearing failure (both at the same time) occurred with just 45000km on the truck and came on fast this winter with no previous signs more that a couple weeks earlier. The only off roading has been BC logging roads. I only did the one water crossing twice (out and back to a no longer secret fishing hole) but it was a big one. Max of 24" deep and the hubs were submerged for over a minute. The crossing was not a large river but washed out the road so it was almost 100m long of water.

I have been reading this forum, FJs, tacos, hiluxs but can't find an upgraded seal that will keep the water out. I know about the aftermarket bearing hubs that guy is selling on the taco forms for less than 200 bucks a side but it is just a replacement. Aside from changing out the bearings after a long swim does anyone know of an upgrade or mod that will keep the water out of the bearings?

I really wish I could just repack the bearings like I do with the bigfoot trailer. Soo easy and cheap!

 

[GeEkBoY]

OK update! Problem persists after both front bearings have been replaced and worsened with the wonderful weather up here in Calgary. Noticed the noise reduced with vehicle in 4wd due to the recent snow. Waiting for parts but the dealer is replacing the front diff guts and a half shaft under TSB. The tech said bearings were likely fine. Keep this up Toyota and I'll have a new truck by next month.

stay tuned...

 

[Jeremy556]

What kind of noise?

It would be incredibly unlikely for both bearings to fail at the same time, and certainly not from 1 water crossing. Bad bearings are usually very easy to diagnose with a lift and stethoscope. I am a bit concerned that your dealer replaced both hubs without much/any diagnosis.

I would start looking for easy stuff, like brake shields rubbing, before I brought it back to have them start replacing more parts of the front axle.

 

[GeEkBoY]

It wasn't the bearings:

T-SB-0175-10

Some 2010 model year part-time 4WD 4Runner vehicles may exhibit a growl or rumble noise from the front differential assembly when the vehicle is in motion in 2WD. Follow the procedures in this bulletin to address this noise condition.

Parts Information
41110-35901 Same Carrier Assy, Differential, Front 1
43430-60080 Same Shaft Assy, FR Drive 1

while mine is a 2011 the VIN confirmed it falls withing this TSB. The techs have never seen this issue on a 4runner, but once they found the TSB they realized it is the same issue they have seen on some other 4wd models. Before they switched out the bearings I had not realized that the sound went away in 4wd. That would have convinced me it was in the drive train.

 

[Ol'Baditude]

I've been through ~15-20 water crossings in the past couple years in my 2011(maybe 10 actually over the hubs) and bearings and diff fluid have been unaffected.
Very glad to hear you got this sorted.
On another note, are you CT? I'll be out on the trail run this Sunday, maybe I'll see you out there.

 

[GeEkBoY]

This was the crossing, not me but a ram truck following me through

No, I'm not CT.