Hi guys,
Need help diagnosing problem with my 07 TCH. At speeds of about 80km/hr (50 mph) I get a humming from the right rear tire. I initially thought it was my tires (they needed replacing) but I have since changed the tires and the humming is gone.
I'm not sure it's a wheel bearing as the sound seems to improve at higher speeds. We took a small road trip to Buffalo with a full car (3 passengers in back and loaded trunk) and the noise was much worse (at roughly the same speed range).

Any ideas? I was thinking about just changing the bearing, but shouldn't it worsen with increased speed?

Any help would be appreciated.

Best,
Tom

 

Wheel bearing......Road noise will mask the sound at higher speeds. Easy enough to check, jack it up and spin the wheel.

 

Yep.... Bearing. You're lucky too! The rears are pretty simple to replace. The ones on the front are a PITA!

I had a front bearing go last year. I was certain it was tires. I had the tires replaced (it was time). Noise was still there. Had to have the Drivers Front Hub bearing replaced. I noticed that the noise would almost completely go away in a high speed corner.

 

Thanks guys, jacked the car up this morning and had both wheels free spinning. Odd thing happened. The R side (side which I suspected was making the noise spun freely and easily. The left side was much harder to spin.
This would mean it's the L side right? Should I just replace both while I'm at it?

Appreciate the help.

 

It's the right passenger. Used this to diagnose:


Next weekend I've got a project!

 

Job done. Took me about 5hrs in total working slowly, the rotor removal sticky was key.
Also had to use a long bolt-nut-washer combo to forcd tbe heatshield off the bearing assembly. Need to have patience on this one.
Thanks for the help!

 

Never thought about asking you to take pictures and write it up for a post. Would have made a nice sticky for others to follow that have never replaced a wheel bearing on the rear.

Glad to hear it is fixed though....

 

Sorry georgia. Thought about it as well, but my hands were grimey and my wife wouldn't be crazy about a photo shoot. All in all wasn't a bad job. Here're some tips:

ukrkoz's tips on removing rear rotor were essential. I started the project friday night and removed the caliper from the mounting bracket (2 14mm) bolts. They were on really tight. Easy to access from under the car, but had to use a breaker bar to get them free. I tried and failed removing the rotor Friday but it was rusted/fused to the hub assembly. I applied a lot of penetrating oil and banged away but no luck. I applied the oil to crevice I could.

The next morning I used two M8 x 1 bolts to push the rotor off the hub as ukrkoz suggested. It was way easier than beating the thing off. The penetrating oil helped I'm sure.

After this, I removed the 4 bolts that held on the bearing assembly and disconnected the abs sensor from the back. I'm not sure exactly how the correct way to disconnect this harness. I thought my troubles were over I hammered to bearing assembly off but the heat shield came attached as well. It was rusted/fused to the assembly quite good. From here I used this tip with the carriage bolts to separate the two:
http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/10...at-shield.html

Once everything was off it was pretty easy to put back together.
This video may also help:

 

FWIW..... I rotate my own wheels and tires. If they require balancing then I will take it in. My point is that every so often I pull my calipers and apply anti-squeal paste to the backs of all the pads and inspect and lube the slide pins on the calipers. After reading quite a few threads about "stuck rotors", I had a look at mine (about 80,000 miles ago). After reading about ukrkoz's ordeal, I started putting penetrating oil around the cracks where the hub and rotor meet whenever I would rotate the tires. After only 10,000 miles/2 rotations, all of the rotors had broken loose! Now, about every 5th rotation, I pull the rotors off, clean the inside of the rotor and hubs with a wire brush and apply a thin film of grease..... Another one of those "little things" that people rarely talk about.

Again, glad it worked out well for you!

 

I always use dad's theory...Don't force it son, use a bigger hammer....

I keep a 64 oz soft face hammer to persuade them to turn loose. Usually only takes 2 or 3 reminders to make them come to their senses and turn loose.