Intermittent Problem

[Tek23]

Your quest to figure out your issue sounds like mine trying to figure out the cause of the weird bump at a stop or just rolling from a stop that myself and many other 3rd Gen owners are experiencing. It sometimes feels like somebody bumped your bumper from behind.

I wonder if your issue could be a wheel bearing. Do you notice the noise more on turns where the pressure on the bearing is enhanced and causes the noise?

I think somebody already mentioned CV axles as a possibility, and I know for a fact those can make a decent amount of racket when they're going bad.

Maybe you're mechanic friend could drive it with you so he can hear what it sounds like driving down the road.

Mine does the same thing. Apparently, Its a common issues with most 4runners. Two friends of mine with 4th gens do the same thing. I greased the slip yoke last week, but it still does it from time to time. Mechanic buddy said not to dwell on it too much.

Like I mentioned before, the biggest setback is that it’s an intermittent problem. I went out last night for a couple of hours and the truck didn’t make a peep. Earlier in the day after i left the shop, it did it on the highway, but not in the city, which is when it first started happening.

Pressing down on the gas in Drive puts the truck into a ‘load state’, which is when the noise occurs. I’m almost certain its something in the driveline. Unfortunately, nothing seems to catch anyones eye when visually inspecting. Its driving me crazy!! lol

 

[Tek23]

The noise has become an on going issue here to stay. Threw the rear up with a floor jack and recorded this. Buddy of mine thinks its the front U joint in the rear shaft.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Fyhem2ANSI

 

[mtbtim]

Mine does the same thing. Apparently, Its a common issues with most 4runners. Two friends of mine with 4th gens do the same thing. I greased the slip yoke last week, but it still does it from time to time. Mechanic buddy said not to dwell on it too much.

Like I mentioned before, the biggest setback is that it’s an intermittent problem. I went out last night for a couple of hours and the truck didn’t make a peep. Earlier in the day after i left the shop, it did it on the highway, but not in the city, which is when it first started happening.

Pressing down on the gas in Drive puts the truck into a ‘load state’, which is when the noise occurs. I’m almost certain its something in the driveline. Unfortunately, nothing seems to catch anyones eye when visually inspecting. Its driving me crazy!! lol

I think I might have figured out a fix to the slip yoke binding. Check my thread, "Slip Yoke Binding Fix" to see what I did. I basically pulled the slip yoke and re-greased it with a specific slip yoke grease that Ford makes. I've driven a few hundred miles so far without any symptoms but time will tell if this is fix that will last a long time. Due to how the zerk fitting feeds grease into the slip yoke, I think one might have to pull the slip yoke on a regular interval to re-grease it to prevent the binding unless you pack it with a ton of grease that will slowly make it's way to the upper splines.

 

[mtbtim]

The noise has become an on going issue here to stay. Threw the rear up with a floor jack and recorded this. Buddy of mine thinks its the front U joint in the rear shaft.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Fyhem2ANSI

You know, unless it's really expensive, why not just get the u-joint replaced because it's most likely the cause of the noise. With it up on the rack, I'm sure you were able to detect where the noise was loudest. If it's not the u-joint, maybe it's a bearing on the output shaft of the transfer case.

 

[GangsterOfLove]

I've had 2 3Gens, and at about 170 K they both developed oddball driveline vibrations/noises. In both cases various experts shook the bones and waved the chicken and declared the u-joints and driveline sound, and in both cases changing the u-joints and balancing the driveshaft solved the problem .

I think the FAQ's should suggest changing the u-joints and balancing the driveshaft at 150K is normal maintenance, right along with ball joints and trans coolers. It's cheap and seems to solve a whole lot of problems.

 

[Tek23]

Next step is to take out the driveshaft and run it. Isolate where the noise is actually coming from. I'm getting different answers from different people. Some people say it's the yoke, some say shaft, some say u joints.

I got a quote from a local shop I regards to replacing both u joints(figured get both done since its there). If I bring them the shaft, they're charging me around 100 to swap joints.

 

[Tek23]

:: UPDATE ::
We took the driveshaft out and tested it. No noise. Pretty confident at this point it's the u joints.

Plan is to pickup three of these and replace them all.
Matsuba Stock Replacement Toyota/Lexus Universal Joint (U-Joint)

 

[Tek23]

Fix!

Double cardan joints were bad. Ordered a new driveshaft from tom woods. Problem solved! Thanks to everyone who helped.