Zig's 2022 Tacoma TRD gets REM Super Polished Revolution 488 Gears
(37 BIG pics loading)
SEPT 5 2025

Zig's Taco to be shown here soon
The front 8" clamshell will be first. Only 36 pics....488 polished gears and an Eaton elocker..... as can be seen there is a Revolution 488 gear set that has been super polished. Revolution is one of the few online stores that offers this optional REM super polish. The magnetic ring assembly and the Eaton elocker carrier to be installed. The 8" clam is shown with the tubular arm still attached. That arm needs to come off....an E14 socket will remove the 4 long bolts.
Arm removed and so has the stub shaft.
The 10 bolts that hold the lid on were wizzed off with the cordless impact.... out comes the stock open center carrier. If the stock open carrier was to be re-used, I would recommend the ECGS teflon bushing to eliminate the driverside vibration problem that many of the tacos have. The elocker eliminates the issue by having a high quality side gear with no slop.
There is no way to get that last 1/2 cup of gear oil out so I prop it up and let it drain.
This pinion flange almost looks new.....maybe 100 offroad miles on it?
Which means all 4 bearings will be in like-new shape and OK to re-use in the case of FRONT applications. These pinion bearings are just fine.
Now is a good time to install the coil magnet with the 3 pushrods....rounded end up.
Inside the bowl, there are 3 ribs that must be clearanced for the magnetic ring.
A solid 1/4".....better to clear 1/2"
A grinder or even a flapper wheel will do the job. Then be sure to blast out all the grinding debri....I like to blast it with starting fluid myself.
DO NOT put the the ring gear on yet....first we need to verify that the grey magnetic ring actually clears the 3 ribs that we just clearanced. With the magnetic ring installed and this one carrier bearing, now the elocker carrier can be dropped into the bowl and visually verified that it clears. With the ring gear installed, we cannot see a thing near the ribs.
I call this location "The Valley of Death"
But I prefer to drill the .480" hole for the rubber grommet here in "The Cow Pasture". Mark the location 3" down and 1" away from the electric fence.
The rubber grommet is about .500" so let's drill the hole to .480" which will offer a good snug fit. But, notice that the wall thickness is only about .125" so this means the rubber grommet will have very poor sealing.
To make the sealing issue go away, MIG weld a steel bushing in place and drill it for the same .480" hole.
The portable 120AC Hobart 140 did a good job.
.074" will be the first pinion shim to try.
Backlash check....a long lever style dial indicator makes this task easy.
Drive side...centered from left to right (toe to heel) but pattern is too deep.
Lousy detail on reverse painted drive side.
Coast....too deep.
Reverse painted coast...too deep.
Even the pinion tooth is telling us too deep. Excess edge on the crown outside and a much smaller edge on the inside root.
Pinion bearing is pressed off and the 074 is being replaced by this 069 shim.
Drive side...much better.
Drive reverse painted...nice.
Coast side ...nice overall balance.
Coast reverse painted....sometimes the reverse paint gives a fresh perspective.
The pinion tooth gives a 3rd perspective...notice the overall balance from the inner root to the outside crown. Looks loosely like a rhombus or parallelogram and, that being the case means the pinion shim is spot on.
Genuine Toyota part number pinion seal. Nothing is quite as good. These are for the later model 8" clams.
For this particular seal the packaging is over the top.
With pattern depth verified...carrier bearing preload and backlash verified, now the Toyota FIPG 00295-01281 (1281E) is applied.
Red loctite and 37 ft/lb on all 10 bolts. The oil retainer can be now tapped in place and then the stub axle is tapped in.
Now to record the backlash in my notes for 20 different places (every other tooth).
The 2 cv axle seals can now be tapped in place.
And here are the notes for the front 8" clam install. I am waiting on genuine bearings for the 8.75" rear 488 gear install will follow here in about a week or two.