Wheel noise while driving

[RossenP]

While driving the other day, my 05 SR5 started making a very peculiar sound. It seems to be coming from one of the rear tires. The best I can describe it is a clunk or knock sound, as if someone if hitting the underside of the car with a hammer.

The noise is cyclical, happening once on every rotation of the tire. It also gets louder when I press the gas pedal. As the car speeds up, the noise gets faster but not really louder. As soon as I let go of the gas pedal, the noise gets quieter but is still there. I can also feel it. You can feel it through the pedals and the steering wheel. It's also quite loud outside of the car. At low speeds, you can still feel and hear it as well.

Does anyone have any ideas what this may be? I was thinking it's something to do with the rear wheel brakes. I definitely need new pads soon, bit I was worries the caliper may also need replacement.

 

[RossenP]

So an update to this;

I was running an errand last night when the noise in the truck got really bad. I pulled into a parking lot on the side of the road and right after stopping at a stop sign, the most disturbing noise, which sounded like metal snapping, came from the rear tires.

I was towed to a mechanic and left the car overnight to be looked at in the morning. Today I got a call from them telling me the rear differential was blown. They quoted me some prices for used parts.

According to the mechanic, the whole diff needs to be replaced, and maybe the housing, depending on if it's cracked or not.

He quoted 950 for the rear diff, more if the housing needed to be replaced. Is this reasonable for the part in question? He said he would be able to source one from a 4runner which has 45k on it.

I don't know much about this type of repair, but he did say he was open to using parts that i source for him, so i can find a better deal, that works too.

 

[RossenP]

For the sake of closure, the diff was replaced with the used part. It rides great. Total cost was 950 for the part.