89 pickup "Clanking" not in the U-joints what could it be?

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what about transfer case? IS that what you are trying to get me to find out by dropping the shaft and seeing what happens in front wheel drive only?

Had a guy say he thought it could be the transfer case.


I may have missed the slip joint. Don't think so though.


Thanks for the ideas guys!!!
 
toy4xfun said:
there is a double cardian joint on the front drive shaft, there is also a zirc grease fitting in the middle of that joint. you have to look at the card on your driver side viser. get under the truck with it in 2h and your hubs unlocked and look up in that joint and see if it is dry. and that might be your problem.
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that shouldn't make noise in 2 wd...right?
 
Sometimes friction in the hubs and case allow the front to move a little, mainly in the hubs. or for clarification, that has been my experience with GM and toyota solid axle hubs. Im not very good with IFS stuff.
 
add= automatic diff disconnect. i do not know when they started using it but if it has it, your front drive shaft turns all the time. if you have manuel hubs and they are unlocked then your front drive shaft does not spin.
 
In my experience, and I unfortunately have had to replace several U Joints because I continually do NOT use Toyota's U joints, is that a U Joint that has failed (unless so gar gone it is about to fall off) will not cause a clunk. They will cause vibrations like a tire has gone bad or churping because of the failed bearings. But no clunk.

Clunking, in my experience, has always been an issue with the tranny or rear diff. Your rear diff has a LOT of miles on it. I rebuilt mine at 160k due to slop/worn bearings.

If you remove the rear driveshaft, as others has mentioned, it will be clear what it is. You can check the slop (tolerances) of the rear diff at that time along with the u joints.

As well, it could be many things and not just one-collectively causing the noise.
 
toy4xfun said:
add= automatic diff disconnect. i do not know when they started using it but if it has it, your front drive shaft turns all the time.
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Not true, with the ADD system, the drivers side axle shaft is disconnected in 2wd, and the spider gears in the diff do most of the turning, with the drive shaft spinning some do to drag.
 
toy4xfun said:
the wife's 95 the drive shaft turns. it has to turn for you to be able to shift on the fly.
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Not necessarily.

The Shift on Fly could activate the ADD AND the transfer. In that system, nothing would move except the front diff.

I dont know because I have manual hubs. But the system can have several combinations between the transfer, hubs and diff. Just not sure what Toyota did.

I would think they activate the transfer and hubs at the same time. This would cut down on the drag significantly and increase gas efficiency. But...
 
Jukelemon said:
Clunking, in my experience, has always been an issue with the tranny or rear diff.
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i had a clunk in several of these pickups with high miles. the truck would clunk at the moment that i accelerated or decelerated. it came from the rear end. i happened upon a 4x4wire sidebar that described my clunk pretty well, scroll to the bottom of this page http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/mainte...ront_end/lube/

i only had one of my clunking trucks at the time i found that article, and i also happened to be in process of replacing my entire suspension, installing new drum brake innards, and installing new diff gears. after the new springs, the clunk was greatly diminished.

ZUK did my diffs, and i described the clunk to him and asked him to pay close attention to the condition of the old gears. he reported this gobblygook "As far as the infamous clunk...ya, I could see how that could happen with a PPL of 0 and CBPL of 0....BL was the usual 008. " after my new parts went in, my clunk was gone.

the only other detail that i have is, i could reproduce my clunk with the truck parked - by simply rocking the truck back and forth (using a rear wheel as a handle) an inch. it sounded like a dull bell. there was no play in the drive shaft by hand tho. you might use this test to see if you have anything like my previous condition. good luck,
 
the noise is more of a "clank" than a clunk It isn't a dull clunk like one would expect out of the rear end that is full of grease.........

was going to take shaft out today but weather won't permit it.
 
Upon re-greasing the "slip" joint the noise stopped. I put 6-7 pumps of grease in the fitting and drove it and it has stopped!


Thanks so much for the help.

This place is awesome!!
 
I completely missed out on providing any insight in this thread so since I want to be a part of it I'll just say "Hi."
:lol:
 
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