Driveline Drone on the Freeway

BlackWorksInc

BlackWorksInc

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So as you may or may not know, I am in Tahoe right now on vacation. On the way up here I noticed that there was a drone from roughly the driver's front wheel area. This noise drove me nuts for the whole few hours of the drive...

Unfortunetly I am not at the shop and can't lift the truck up to check it, so I am asking you guys if you have come accross this already.

I'm pretty sure that the noise is coming from the driveshaft off the transfer case, for the following reasons:

~Becomes very noticable at around 2000rpm in 5th gear
~Between 65~75 it is loud and the vibration is noticable.
~The noise only occurs when the engine is providing power through the drivetrain (i.e. coasting downhill, or letting off the gas minimize the noise drastically)

Hoping the draveshaft yoke is just grumbling or whatnot, because a possibility is a worn/chipped front diff tooth and I REALLY hope that is not the issue.

Thanks in Advance
 
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You know, I just started noticing something on mine over the holidays. I would call it a drone as well, definitely not a whine. When I let off the gas it stops, only notice it on the highway and I am usually cruising just above 2000 rpm.

No idea what it is!
 
Reminds me of the kind of noise you get with a slightly unbalanced tire... but its gotta be the driveline or the differential because of the engine loading...
 
I notice a slight drone at those same speeds as well. Mine comes and goes it seems on the drivers side front.
I'm thinking possibly a wheel bearing starting to go out?
 
Wheel bearing doesn't make sense if it goes away after letting off the gas. Wouldn't a wheel bearing continue to make noise in this case gas or no gas?
 
Mine was roaring at 35 and 70mph, and just being noisy at other speeds. I couldn't pinpoint where the noise was coming from sometimes sounded like up front, sometimes sounded out back. I was at 57k miles so I took it in, they wound up rebuilding the rear diff under the 60k drive train warranty. It is nice and quiet now....
 
ZandT4R said:
Mine was roaring at 35 and 70mph, and just being noisy at other speeds. I couldn't pinpoint where the noise was coming from sometimes sounded like up front, sometimes sounded out back. I was at 57k miles so I took it in, they wound up rebuilding the rear diff under the 60k drive train warranty. It is nice and quiet now....
Click to expand...

Forgot to mention I noticed it getting noisy at 45k miles and replaced the gear oil at 50k miles with Redline Synth, it got worse after the fluid change....
 
BlackWorksInc said:
Wheel bearing would be constant at speed, not dependant on engine engagement of the drivetrain.
Click to expand...

Yes and no. When mine went bad I noticed it on the highway. I thought it was driveline related becuase it seemed to go away when I let off the gas. Then I realized that it went away because I was slowing down and it wasn't as noticable. It became more obvious as it got worse.

The reason I would say wheel bearing because it is so common and the noise you describe from that location sounds like a bad wheel bearing. I would look at that first before I would start looking for something more serious.
 
Any chance it's a simple u joint?? I agree, it sounds like could be a diff problem, but sometimes the transmission mounts have just enough give to a slightly different angle on the joints. Have they been greased regularly? I may be way off. And you may be able to tell if it's a fast vibrating vs bearing like humm. You mentioned similar to an out of balance wheel, that can be exactly what a failing u joint feels like, just spins much faster and can give the humming sound/feel.
Good luck!
 
I'm thinking, hoping its a U-Joint. The noise is more a pulse than constant noise. it sounds like something is off balance, wheel bearings I've noticed tend to be very consistent growl/rumble. Also, a little trick I've found for wheel bearings, is turning the wheel slightly when at speed, it temporarily shifts the load on the bearings and quiets the noise for a moment before straightening out. This noise doesn't follow that at all.
 
Well here's an update on the situation; finally got around to diagnosing the noise I heard on my trip. Unfortunetly it is coming from the front differential, not sure, could be a chipped tooth or something.

I will update the repair and what we find in my build thread when we finally get it approved through the warranty department and the new differential assembly comes in. So probably a couple weeks, depending on the differential...
 
BlackWorksInc said:
So as you may or may not know, I am in Tahoe right now on vacation. On the way up here I noticed that there was a drone from roughly the driver's front wheel area. This noise drove me nuts for the whole few hours of the drive...

Unfortunetly I am not at the shop and can't lift the truck up to check it, so I am asking you guys if you have come accross this already.

I'm pretty sure that the noise is coming from the driveshaft off the transfer case, for the following reasons:

~Becomes very noticable at around 2000rpm in 5th gear
~Between 65~75 it is loud and the vibration is noticable.
~The noise only occurs when the engine is providing power through the drivetrain (i.e. coasting downhill, or letting off the gas minimize the noise drastically)

Hoping the draveshaft yoke is just grumbling or whatnot, because a possibility is a worn/chipped front diff tooth and I REALLY hope that is not the issue.

Thanks in Advance
Click to expand...

Anxious to hear what happens; I too started a thread describing the exact same issue (to a tee). I was told to add full synthetic oil to the front diff; I did and nothing changed. I hope whatever it is, is covered by my warranty.
 
[MENTION=66389]BlackWorksInc[/MENTION] did you find a solution? What ended up being the problem. This is very similar to my issue I've been trying to chase down in my other thread. I noticed if I shift it into 4th from drive and stay the same speed it goes away. I'm anxious to hear what you found!
 
alunnrhue said:
[MENTION=66389]BlackWorksInc[/MENTION] did you find a solution? What ended up being the problem. This is very similar to my issue I've been trying to chase down in my other thread. I noticed if I shift it into 4th from drive and stay the same speed it goes away. I'm anxious to hear what you found!
Click to expand...

Sorry I just realized I forgot to clarify. I stated earlier in the thread that the repair would be updated in my build thread but I seemed to have forgotten to update it (was around the time my tools got stolen so it may have slipped my mind as I don't see pictures or a post about it on my build thread, sorry about that.)

It turned out the pinion bearing in my front differential had burned out and was starting to fail which was causing a drone/light vibration at a specific speed. The fix in my case was to replace the entire front pumpkin as it was covered under my extended warranty (the warranty company tried to get us to rebuild it, but Toyota doesn't really have us do diff rebuilds in house; we replace the entire 3rd members.)
 
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