Draftshaft or Dif Grind Noise (97' FZJ80) (1 Viewer)

[nothovi]

Do yourselves a favour and pull the spline zerk for rear D/S. Spray some brake cleaner into the fitting and test drive. You could also have a chbby friend bounce the body while you watch the spline for movement while rocking the rear end.
If there is movement then replace the zerk and lightly regrease.

When greasing splines watch for movement or grease ejection from zerk this is not good. Movement will increase d/s length thus applying force between the T/C and diff...force equals growl!!!
An overgreased spline will act like a hydraulic ram preventing your driveshaft from floating.
Those of you who run tracked equipment will be familiar with how grease is used to tighten tracks.

Pulled the zerk today, gave a good solid stream of break cleaner into the fitting. Let that sit for a few minutes then when for a test drive. Drove over a few speed bumps to get some movement in the line. Unfortunately the noise was still present. Went ahead and put the zerk back in and gave it 3 or so pumps from the mini grease gun. Didn't see any movement or ejection from the zerk when regreasing. Went for a test drive, still had the noise.

Without pulling the driveshaft I think its tough to really know how much grease is in there. Still might do that if I have time before the week hits.

Tomorrow I'm planning on checking/changing the T-Case fluid and can report back on that.

 

[nothovi]

Update on this. Got it down to another shop to have it looked at. They're certain that there's a bad bearing in the Transfer-Case. Which one will take pulling the t-case and looking at the bearings. Sourcing, replacing, or rebuilding bearings/t-case won't be the cheapest venture. I'm sure it would be fine to run as-is for quite a while but would hate for it to go bad on me and break down. Guy at the shop said he'd call with some options a little later.

I don't have much to offer anyone else experiencing a similar noise other than it could be the t-case. Not much to offer as to what might have caused it other than just regular wear.

 

[nothovi]

Question for anyone looking here: Anyone have the full steps on running without a driveshaft w/ factory CDL switch?

Trying out some further process of elimination here by driving with the driveshaft pulled. That said I have a question about the exact order of execution so I'd love some help. Lots of instructions for those folks without the CDL switch but not 100% sure what to do here.

So, I have the CDL switch which normally engages just fine. To drive without the front/rear shaft, do you need to engage CDL prior to pulling the shaft and still yank the fuse? Or can you pull the driveshaft then lock the CDL, etc.?

 

[Fzj80 1997]

Update on this. Got it down to another shop to have it looked at. They're certain that there's a bad bearing in the Transfer-Case. Which one will take pulling the t-case and looking at the bearings. Sourcing, replacing, or rebuilding bearings/t-case won't be the cheapest venture. I'm sure it would be fine to run as-is for quite a while but would hate for it to go bad on me and break down. Guy at the shop said he'd call with some options a little later.

I don't have much to offer anyone else experiencing a similar noise other than it could be the t-case. Not much to offer as to what might have caused it other than just regular wear.

Did you end up replacing the bearing in the tcase? Did it get rid of the noise?

 

[nothovi]

Did you end up replacing the bearing in the tcase? Did it get rid of the noise?

Shop sourced a used LX450 tcase (150k miles) and dropped it in, no improvement on the noise. I didn't really trust their judgment on the u-joint being within spec so I bought a new front driveshaft on sale from Toyota since the price was about the same as just putting a new joint in the old one. Haven't gotten around to putting it in yet.

I'm hopeful the new shaft will eliminate the noise but hard to tell. So this one is still a mystery at this point but I'll update as I get time to work on it. Priority is putting in the new power steering pump & hose (that I also got on sale during the Lexus parts sale last month).

 

[Fzj80 1997]

Shop sourced a used LX450 tcase (150k miles) and dropped it in, no improvement on the noise. I didn't really trust their judgment on the u-joint being within spec so I bought a new front driveshaft on sale from Toyota since the price was about the same as just putting a new joint in the old one. Haven't gotten around to putting it in yet.

I'm hopeful the new shaft will eliminate the noise but hard to tell. So this one is still a mystery at this point but I'll update as I get time to work on it. Priority is putting in the new power steering pump & hose (that I also got on sale during the Lexus parts sale last month).

Seems like a dc shaft is the way to go. I put in a driveshaft with new oem u joints and there was some improvement, but it’s still making noise and slight vibration when letting off the gas just like the video in the first post