Squeak from front shaft slip yoke? Help me understand.

[stevets]

Hello. 2002 SR5 Sport ed. with 111000 miles.
Had a noise that occurs only above 20 mph and only on deceleration. Its sounds a bit like a squeaking belt or a small dry bearing kind of noise and is either on or off - no change with speed change or braking or trans in neutral.
A local shop diagnosed a rusty front shaft slip yoke, did a bit of sanding and spray lubing and the noise went away for about a week. I called them when the noise came back and they said the solution is a new front drive shaft.
My questions:

1 - does the front shaft even turn when 4 wheel drive is not engaged?

B- I can see the evidence of in/out movement on the rear slip yoke. Should I be able to see this on the front also?

3 - i SWEAR I've greased this fitting recently but just for the hell of it I squirted 7 or 8 pumps in with no evidence of the shaft moving and no excess grease squirting out anywhere. WTH is the grease going?

4 - Can this be disassembled and fixed or is their fix the only one?

 

[stevets]

Bump

 

[thegipper]

You can try removing the front DS and cleaning up the slip yoke (did they do that or did they just clean it off when it was still attached?).

My rear DS was binding and I first just tried putting a bunch of grease in the zerk fitting, it only made it worse. I then removed the rear drive shaft, cleaned out both the male and female ends and used a brush to apply a thin coat of grease on the spines. I put it all back together and gave it two pumps of additional grease and it has been fine since.

The slip yokes are sliding in and out slightly as your driving, even if the 4WD isn't engaged. I believe the front DS is always turning, it just isn't under power (since the wheels are turning and it is connected to the front diff, it always turns, it just doesn't have any power to it).

 

[Kanoe]

1 - does the front shaft even turn when 4 wheel drive is not engaged?

B- I can see the evidence of in/out movement on the rear slip yoke. Should I be able to see this on the front also?

3 - i SWEAR I've greased this fitting recently but just for the hell of it I squirted 7 or 8 pumps in with no evidence of the shaft moving and no excess grease squirting out anywhere. WTH is the grease going?

4 - Can this be disassembled and fixed or is their fix the only one?

1- Not sure but I suspect it does turn as mine seems to be in a different orientation every time I look at it.

2-Yes. Both Yokes move. I have put an ABS slip ring on mine to see how much they do move, like they do on mountian bike front forks. The rear moves most, mine travels 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch over time. The front less so, but still I see 1/8 inch of movement on the front.

3- The cavity in behind the slip yoke is big. If it is dry from never being greased in the past, it will hold a lot of grease. You'll see when you take the yoke apart.

4-Yes, you can take the DS off, slide the yoke apart and clean it up. Just be sure to mark everything so it all goes back clocked in the same manner as when you took it out. Not a hard job but you'll need a torque adapter to get a torque wrench on the flange bolts.

 

[phattyduck]

The front driveshaft does not spin in 2WD. The right front axle is disconnected from the front diff in 2WD, so the ring and pinion aren't forced to spin. The left front axle does drive the inner section of the diff, but the rest doesn't turn...

Just removing the front DS and driving around will tell you if that is the problem...

-Charlie

 

[thegipper]

The front driveshaft does not spin in 2WD. The right front axle is disconnected from the front diff in 2WD, so the ring and pinion aren't forced to spin. The left front axle does drive the inner section of the diff, but the rest doesn't turn...

Just removing the front DS and driving around will tell you if that is the problem...

-Charlie

Is that the case for all 3G 4R's? When I initially thought about it, I assumed it wouldn't spin. But the more I thought about it, I figured the front DS would spin not knowing that the axle is disconnected in 2wd. I am curious on how it does it. Is there an actuator that does it or is purely mechanical?

Definitely remove the front DS all together and drive it around to know for sure if it is the source of the problem.

Thanks

 

[phattyduck]

Is that the case for all 3G 4R's? When I initially thought about it, I assumed it wouldn't spin. But the more I thought about it, I figured the front DS would spin not knowing that the axle is disconnected in 2wd. I am curious on how it does it. Is there an actuator that does it or is purely mechanical?

Definitely remove the front DS all together and drive it around to know for sure if it is the source of the problem.

Thanks

Unless you have swapped over to manual hubs, the ADD system disconnects the front right axle from the front diff when in 2WD on all 3rd gens. Without any driving force on the right side of the diff, the left axle driving the diff only spins the spider gears, not the ring and pinion and the drive shaft stays stationary.

-Charlie

 

[thegipper]

Unless you have swapped over to manual hubs, the ADD system disconnects the front right axle from the front diff when in 2WD on all 3rd gens. Without any driving force on the right side of the diff, the left axle driving the diff only spins the spider gears, not the ring and pinion and the drive shaft stays stationary.

-Charlie

I read up on the ADD system and it all makes sense now. This is all news to me so thanks for the information.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

 

[stevets]

Thanks for all the replies. I'll update with the results of the shaft removal.

 

[Jt2El46]

Hello. 2002 SR5 Sport ed. with 111000 miles.
Had a noise that occurs only above 20 mph and only on deceleration. Its sounds a bit like a squeaking belt or a small dry bearing kind of noise and is either on or off - no change with speed change or braking or trans in neutral.
A local shop diagnosed a rusty front shaft slip yoke, did a bit of sanding and spray lubing and the noise went away for about a week. I called them when the noise came back and they said the solution is a new front drive shaft.
My questions:

1 - does the front shaft even turn when 4 wheel drive is not engaged?

B- I can see the evidence of in/out movement on the rear slip yoke. Should I be able to see this on the front also?

3 - i SWEAR I've greased this fitting recently but just for the hell of it I squirted 7 or 8 pumps in with no evidence of the shaft moving and no excess grease squirting out anywhere. WTH is the grease going?

4 - Can this be disassembled and fixed or is their fix the only one?

I'm having a similar problem with the drive live squeeling under load. From using different window It seem to come from between the transmission and the rear diff. I had the axle rebuilt and the sound persists. The oil in the rear diff is clean and clear. Does anyone have any other ideas what the sound is?

The front axle will move no matter what, it is connected to one axle or another, the point is there is no load, thus free wheeling like the front trans axles.

 

[stevets]

I removed the front shaft and the noise was still there. I then squirted more grease than I would have thought necessary into all three fittings at the front of the rear shaft ( front u joint, C joint/coupler and rear u joint) and the noise is gone.

This has been bugging me for a month. My kingdom for $.05 worth of grease in the right place!! Now to try and get my money back from the dipsticks that diagnosed the slip yoke.......

 

[vukos]

Your problem sounds like what I've been having recently. See this thread: http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/229758-what-noise.html

This was resolved by getting both drive shafts and u joints and slip yokes properly greased by a mechanic