Hello all,
I'm a Jeep guy, trying to get my fiancee's 4runner fixed. I apologize in advance, this is a bit long-winded as I've been chasing this for a few weeks now.
Started a few months ago with a BAD vibration that I traced to a utterly toasted driveshaft rear ujoint. I swapped the joint out and that cured the problem 90%. What remained was a slight vibration at about 70mph that went away at 65 or below, 75 and above.
Fast forward a few months, while driving very slow speeds (10mph or so) I noticed a clicking sound, similar to what it sounded like when you put cards in your bike spokes as a kid, but pretty hard to hear (coasting, stereo off, windows up, and only then barely audible).
I jacked up the rear end and spun a wheel (other side spinning the opposite direction, open diff) and sure enough I can hear a clicking noise. With the tire off, I could actually feel the clicking in the axleshaft. This occurred on both sides, even with the driveshaft disconnected, holding one side and spinning the other, vice versa, etc. To me this said something was definitely up inside the carrier.
I pulled out the third member (stock 3.73 4 pinion open), found slivers of torn metal in the fluid and on the magnet, and also found what seems to look like some damage to the inside of the carrier. I was able to replicate the clicking noise with the diff in my hands and an axle shaft in one of the side gears by spinning the axleshaft, same as before.
I grabbed another 3rd from a junkyard, a 3.90 2 pinion open from a 91 4runner. Drop it into the 2000, sure enough, clicking remains exactly the same, at speed vibration has worsened quite a bit and moved from 70 to 65.
SO.....What gives?
1) is it possible that my junkyard diff has the exact same problem as the one i pulled? I find this almost impossible to believe. It looked fine, no chipped or galled teeth, no unusual play, good backlash, pinion felt good.
2) is my driveshaft still messed up? out of balance? front u-joint bad? I've searched and found a handful of threads where people have diagnosed faulty driveshafts because of the bonded 2 piece design. I found one thread in particular where a member said his dealership encouraged him to replace the entire shaft because even after replacing one u-joint they are still prone to vibe problems. Is this that common?
3) wheel bearings? With everything apart, i spun both wheel bearings, both feel very tight and smooth.
4) out of balance tires? I have searched and now understand that 4runners require a lugcentric balance. She's got Mich LTX M/S on there, they've been fine for a while. Hesitant to believe these are the source, but not ruling it out.
Has anyone else every heard a clicking noise when spinning tires with the rear end jacked up?
I'm at my wits end with this thing. :shrug::shrug::shrug:
I appreciate any help the community can offer to a toyota newb. Thanks in advance!
I'm a Jeep guy, trying to get my fiancee's 4runner fixed. I apologize in advance, this is a bit long-winded as I've been chasing this for a few weeks now.
Started a few months ago with a BAD vibration that I traced to a utterly toasted driveshaft rear ujoint. I swapped the joint out and that cured the problem 90%. What remained was a slight vibration at about 70mph that went away at 65 or below, 75 and above.
Fast forward a few months, while driving very slow speeds (10mph or so) I noticed a clicking sound, similar to what it sounded like when you put cards in your bike spokes as a kid, but pretty hard to hear (coasting, stereo off, windows up, and only then barely audible).
I jacked up the rear end and spun a wheel (other side spinning the opposite direction, open diff) and sure enough I can hear a clicking noise. With the tire off, I could actually feel the clicking in the axleshaft. This occurred on both sides, even with the driveshaft disconnected, holding one side and spinning the other, vice versa, etc. To me this said something was definitely up inside the carrier.
I pulled out the third member (stock 3.73 4 pinion open), found slivers of torn metal in the fluid and on the magnet, and also found what seems to look like some damage to the inside of the carrier. I was able to replicate the clicking noise with the diff in my hands and an axle shaft in one of the side gears by spinning the axleshaft, same as before.
I grabbed another 3rd from a junkyard, a 3.90 2 pinion open from a 91 4runner. Drop it into the 2000, sure enough, clicking remains exactly the same, at speed vibration has worsened quite a bit and moved from 70 to 65.
SO.....What gives?
1) is it possible that my junkyard diff has the exact same problem as the one i pulled? I find this almost impossible to believe. It looked fine, no chipped or galled teeth, no unusual play, good backlash, pinion felt good.
2) is my driveshaft still messed up? out of balance? front u-joint bad? I've searched and found a handful of threads where people have diagnosed faulty driveshafts because of the bonded 2 piece design. I found one thread in particular where a member said his dealership encouraged him to replace the entire shaft because even after replacing one u-joint they are still prone to vibe problems. Is this that common?
3) wheel bearings? With everything apart, i spun both wheel bearings, both feel very tight and smooth.
4) out of balance tires? I have searched and now understand that 4runners require a lugcentric balance. She's got Mich LTX M/S on there, they've been fine for a while. Hesitant to believe these are the source, but not ruling it out.
Has anyone else every heard a clicking noise when spinning tires with the rear end jacked up?
I'm at my wits end with this thing. :shrug::shrug::shrug:
I appreciate any help the community can offer to a toyota newb. Thanks in advance!
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