Front drive making clicking noise at low speeds. Anyone know where I should start?

[Jdfern]

I have 2003 100 series with 247k miles.
I have been trying to locate the source of an intermittent clicking sound, I think it is coming from my right front drive shaft.
It's not really causing any problems so far other than occasionally making a noise that drives me nuts.
I put the transmission and transfer case both in Neutral and jacked the front wheels up, When I spin the wheel I can re-create it and it seems to have a little play. The drivers side is silent and has less play.
Of course I'm hoping for some easy an inexpensive fix. Does anyone have an idea what this noise is from and what needs to be done?

 

[Live to Ski]

i have a similar phenom on my '04 lc.

following w. interest...

 

[oakback]

Pull the grease cap off and check to see if the retaining clip has fallen off. pics here

 

[T4R2TLC]

It looks like the play is in the CV joint itself and not at the hub flange.

I had an intermittent click from drivers side that seems to be resolved after doing wheel bearings, greasing needle bearing, and replacing hub flanges. That doesn't look to be the cause here, but worth digging in if those are overdo for maintenance.

 

[Jdfern]

I had some neck surgery so I had to hold on my trouble shooting a bit. When i was checking the clip as per "oakback" suggestion I found that the clip was good.
I did see something weird though, the wheel in question looks like the bearing got very hot at some point and melted the plastic center wheel cover a bit.
I am probably the 4th owner of this LC. The Toyota maintenance records say that the front bearings and brakes were done at about 198k so assuming that is accurate they only have about 50k miles on them. The brakes pads measure and rotors appear good. When I feel the wheel for "play" or " binding" I don't see any issue at all. I took it for a spin and felt the grease cap to see if was getting hot and it's not. Maybe be this melting was from prior to the 198K service?
I guess when I totally recover I'll have to dig in and do wheel bearings, greasing needle bearing replace rotors.
1st photo is wheel in question with melt damage. The rest are just to show what it should look like.

 

[nissanh]

Looks like you got non-OEM CV's and those have a significant play at both the inner and outer joints as well as the splies with diff and at the flange. Perhaps those gaps have now gotten bigger.

 

[GerLC100]

on the melted part: can you anyhow judge on when it happened by taking a look on dirt in there? everything around dirty/ rest not --> recent. dirt in all corners = perhaps older?

 

[Jdfern]

Looks like you got non-OEM CV's and those have a significant play at both the inner and outer joints as well as the splies with diff and at the flange. Perhaps those gaps have now gotten bigger.

You can you tell if they are non OEM CV’s by just looking at them? I will take a closer look when I can to try and verify.

 

[Jdfern]

Looks like you got non-OEM CV's and those have a significant play at both the inner and outer joints as well as the splies with diff and at the flange. Perhaps those gaps have now gotten bigger.

I tried to look for a part# or name stamp on the CV joints to verify if they are non-OEM. I searched for CV picture / images to compare them to the CV's I have.
Is there something that is unique to OEM that I can look for. I'm not going to replace them until they absolutely need to but I'm just curious because I have had this rig for a few years now and everything I worked on seems like it was probably the original and the previous owner(s) seemed to use a Toyota dealer for repairs and maintenance.

 

[GerLC100]

I think OEM always has the yellow clips:

CV Shaft Assembly - OEM Toyota - Fits 100 Series (FACV60040)

Toyota Land Cruiser Front Axle Parts

cruiserteq.com

 

[Jdfern]

I think OEM always has the yellow clips:

CV Shaft Assembly - OEM Toyota - Fits 100 Series (FACV60040)

Toyota Land Cruiser Front Axle Parts

cruiserteq.com

I think OEM always has the yellow clips:

CV Shaft Assembly - OEM Toyota - Fits 100 Series (FACV60040)

Toyota Land Cruiser Front Axle Parts

cruiserteq.com

thank you!

 

[NE Snowman]

I too have a click, low speed only coasting. If I accelerator or apply the brakes I don’t hear it. Haven’t dug into yet, curious what you find. 03 192k stock.

 

[Jdfern]

I too have a click, low speed only coasting. If I accelerator or apply the brakes I don’t hear it. Haven’t dug into yet, curious what you find. 03 192k stock.

That sounds exactly the same as what my 03 is doing. I’m not going to dig in too fast to repair, although it’s annoying it is intermittent and does not affect the performance. She still drives and climbs smooth and strong. When it gets worse then I’ll be able to justify the expensive parts.
When I do figure it out I’ll post again, or maybe we’ll get lucky and someone solves it first!

 

[Jdfern]

The good news is the click is gone, the bad news is I don't know what was causing it. I ended up replacing all these new genuine Toyota parts: Both CV shaft assemblies, both axle diff seals , wheel bearings and seal, dust shields, brake rotors, pads, clips and I installed the Toyota caliper overhaul kit on both.
One of the ball joints had a lot of slop, Toyota would only sell the whole upper control arm (UCA) @ above $425 each. So I ended up pressing out and installing some Dorman ball joints (they are kind of cheesy Chinese made) some day I'll spring for the Toyota or ARB UCA's. All this stuff was due for repair anyway, the click was just a motivator.