Joseph, please understand the mechanics of these vehicles before spouting off. The bearings are pressed in and the CV is not responsible for holding it in place. This would a poor engineering design something like Daewoo may use. The 2wd bearing may be different but the spindles are the same IIRC, otherwise a 2wd to 4wd conversion would be less practical. I have conducted many multi hour trips with my T4R missing the third, both with and with out cv's (remove the cv's if not running manual hubs). Here's a not so great picture of the back of the spindle
Oh and the third is out along with cv's so I can do some motor work......again nothing has happened. Another point I should add to your pile of rubbish is that while the manual hub tacomas and 4runners that are floating around out there require an 12mm bolt and washer to retain the cv end where the ADD only units do not further making your claim inaccurate. For example if the cv held the bearing in place and no retention kept the cv and bearing together other than a snap ring what's to keep it together at all?
I am going to contest this here, because I don't want someone with less knowledge to see your post and think "Oh I should be fine." Because that's not the reality of it, and here's why:
First off, and I'm sure you're very aware of this, is that the CV outer joint protects the bearing from dirt, grease, oil water coolant rocks and so on. Easy solution? You could duct tape the hole, doesn't matter. Cover it somehow.
Second, the hub is held against the outer bearing race because of the torque on the CV nut. Without this pressure, the hub will at some point become loose due to lack of tension and you'll get some wheel wobble. No matter if the bearing is pressed in or not, this is an essential engineering design for an ADD truck.
This video is a great demonstration of it, even though it isn't toyota.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMyTWMnOO0s
Third, your argument that it would be poor engineering is, well, poor. Toyota designed the 4wd bearings, engineered them around having a CV spindle inside of it. I'm not sure what Toyota did with their 2wd bearings and hub. They did not design their 4wd trucks, however, to function without one, even if yours have held together (and I hope they continue to do so, for your safety.) If you can provide me a FSM or any documentation stating that Toyota considers this safe, I will eat my words. And as for why yours haven't failed yet? Luck, coincidence, but definitely not by "engineering design."
Couple other threads:
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/139884-driving-without-cv-axle.html
Driving Without cv axle/front diff - YotaTech Forums
"The stock ADD/permanent flange basically uses a
semi-floater design, so the outer CV is absolutely necessary to be in place to hold the hub/spindle against the wheel bearings. Do not drive without the outer CV properly bolted into place to hold everything together!"
Source: Step 10 of the 3rd gen CV DIY most of us have seen:
Toyota Maintenance: CV Axle Replacement on 3rd Generation 4Runners and Tacomas
OP, I apologize for cluttering your thread with this. Again, I just want to ensure that no 4runner owner considers leaving the CV completely out of their truck should they need to perform service like you did.
