Painful low frequency drone/pressure in cabin

[LJE]

500 miles and 9 hours of driving later... A set of 4x Rock Warrior wheels in good condition (with old, destroyed tires) + 5x nearly brand new Falken Wildpeak 285/70/17! Just need to get the new tires mounted and wait for my spacers to come in. Fingers crossed that the new tires fix my issues!

BTW, you can absolutely fit 9x 33's in the back of a 2003 Sequoia, hahaha.

 

[LJE]

Just waiting on my spacers now after getting tires mounted... I know Rock Warrior wheels aren't anything special, but man, I think they're just about the perfect looking wheel for a 100 series! Just the perfect look of rugged yet refined. These came with the center caps, but they're pretty ratty (like most RW center caps I guess...). I may 3D print some new ones & use SendCutSend or someone similar to do a custom aluminum logo inlay/center.

 

[LJE]

Ugh.

$2000 in wheels, tires, and spacers later... Still happening.

It's gotta be on the backend of the transmission, transfer case, driveshafts, or differentials. Just like before, it's speed dependent. Frequency of noise still corrosponds to driveshaft rotation speed.

Going to dive back into this tomorrow by pulling the rear driveshaft again (now that I have known good tires), but man, I'm super bummed.

 

[zgfiredude]

Crap, but you did score great wheels and tires! Once you track this down, you'll be soooo happy!

 

[Import Driver]

That's disappointing!! Thanks for the update tho. There are a lot of people following this.

 

[RapidRob]

Really hoped that would cure it. I don't feel like reading the whole thread again but , driveshaft rotation whether the engine is running or not?
just turn the key off and see what happens. don't take the time to put in neutral or anything.
I say that because drone noise is very real on cars with headers. sometimes the exhaust system just doesn't play well with the harmonics of the headers. Taking time to go to neutral before key off would separate those moments. Then throw in neutral to restart. Maybe been covered but you've tried so much I'm just throwing stuff at the wall and actually that was my first thought when you mentioned headers. We are sticking with you until this is solved, best of luck.

 

[LJE]

UGH.

Now I'm just mad at myself.

Remember how waaaaay back in this thread I said I checked the output flange for the rear driveshaft on the transfer case? I'm pretty sure I checked it by trying to wiggle it by hand with the driveshaft pulled off. At that time I didn't notice anything bad.

Just gave it another go tonight with the driveshaft in place (which gives me more leverage) and check this out:



Yeah. That output bearing is shot. That probably explains why it changed so much (but didn't go away) when I pulled the rear drive shaft off too.

This seems like an uncommon failure, so I'm going to have to do some digging I guess. I know Cruiser Outfitters sells a whole rebuild kit, but I'm hoping that's not necessary here. It looks like I might be able to pop the rear of the TC off in-situ to replace that bearing, but we'll have to see I guess.

 

[Bisho]

You can remove the rear housing on the TC to change the breaking and seal.

 

[RapidRob]

I'm just glad you found something! Whether it''s the whole issue or not it's certainly not right.
Hopefully the housing is okay and it hasn't been going bad for too long. Depending on what you find and your frustration level ,
Maybe just swap out a used transfer case?

 

[Hugh Heifer]

Be careful on the bolt nearest the exhaust. Mine sheared while trying to remove my tail piece. Resulted in full XFER case removal and much anxiety.

 

[MongooseGA]

I never get to say this, so I'm gonna..


I told you it wasn't the tires!

 

[LJE]

So it begins... New bearing and seal should arrive tomorrow from @cruiseroutfit - gave them a call on Monday and Jason got me sorted out! Price for one bearing and two seals (because I know my luck) + shipping to my doorstep across the country in 2.5 days was $75, which was $40 cheaper (and twice as fast) as the bearing and a single seal from my local dealer. I'll take it!

I've gotten the rear housing extension off & mostly dissembled at this point - I have to go get some better lock ring pliers tomorrow to deal with one of the snap/lock rings inside of the housing (specifically, the one that holds the shaft in place on the bearing). As suspected, there is a large amount of play in the ball bearing now - I'm hoping there's no wear on the actual housing itself, but I won't know that until the new bearing is installed.

 

[MongooseGA]

On baited breath..

 

[Bisho]

So it begins... New bearing and seal should arrive tomorrow from @cruiseroutfit - gave them a call on Monday and Jason got me sorted out! Price for one bearing and two seals (because I know my luck) + shipping to my doorstep across the country in 2.5 days was $75, which was $40 cheaper (and twice as fast) as the bearing and a single seal from my local dealer. I'll take it!

I've gotten the rear housing extension off & mostly dissembled at this point - I have to go get some better lock ring pliers tomorrow to deal with one of the snap/lock rings inside of the housing (specifically, the one that holds the shaft in place on the bearing). As suspected, there is a large amount of play in the ball bearing now - I'm hoping there's no wear on the actual housing itself, but I won't know that until the new bearing is installed.

View attachment 3734593

View attachment 3734594

IIRC, I needed to modify (with a cutoff wheel) a three jaw gear puller from harbor freight to fit down in the housing to pull the gear. I might be mixing that up with the front, but there’s a few videos out there showing it. Be glad you aren’t doing the front.

 

[MongooseGA]

IIRC, I needed to modify (with a cutoff wheel) a three jaw gear puller from harbor freight to fit down in the housing to pull the gear. I might be mixing that up with the front, but there’s a few videos out there showing it. Be glad you aren’t doing the front.

I recall something similar when I was doing my transfer case regear. If I recall correctly, there was a trick I pulled off with my shop press and some silliness. Not sure if the same potential exists here.

 

[LJE]

IIRC, I needed to modify (with a cutoff wheel) a three jaw gear puller from harbor freight to fit down in the housing to pull the gear. I might be mixing that up with the front, but there’s a few videos out there showing it. Be glad you aren’t doing the front.

I recall something similar when I was doing my transfer case regear. If I recall correctly, there was a trick I pulled off with my shop press and some silliness. Not sure if the same potential exists here.

Thankfully, pulling the rear bearing is easy enough. I got it apart today & check this out - yeah, I too love when bearings sound like ratchets:

 

[lexuslandcruiser]

Thankfully, pulling the rear bearing is easy enough. I got it apart today & check this out - yeah, I too love when bearings sound like ratchets:

Wow, this thread is insane! You're so dedicated. I have a very similar issue, not quite into the painful level like yours, but I'm 99% sure it's not tire or suspension related in my case either.

I wonder if the same gear is shot on my truck too?!

Kudos for sticking to it. I can't wait to hear if it fixes it

 

[LJE]

Wow, this thread is insane! You're so dedicated. I have a very similar issue, not quite into the painful level like yours, but I'm 99% sure it's not tire or suspension related in my case either.

I wonder if the same gear is shot on my truck too?!

Kudos for sticking to it. I can't wait to hear if it fixes it

Hahah - I've put so much money into resurrecting this truck I won't (can't?) stop now, hahaha.

So, got it back together last night and drove it to work this morning... Something is definitely still there.

I *think* it's better, but I'm going to pull the rear driveshaft again when I get home. I know it's got a very small dent in it, but the fact that something took that bearing out tells me that driveshaft might be unbalanced now, which would be a problem obviously. Noise/vibration is still tied directly to driveshaft rotational speed. Removing the rear driveshaft last time (I'm getting good at this...) didn't fix the issue, but then of course the output bearing was already kaput.

I also think I might pick up a set of chassis ears - had never heard of them before yesterday, but holy crap, those look like they'd be super useful for tracking this issue down. Not sure if they pick up frequencies this low, but it's probably worth a shot.

 

[MongooseGA]

When you pulled the rear shaft, what did the u-joints feel like? Were they floppy like a donkey dick? Were they loose like sleeve of wizard? Did they smoothly articulate and kind of want to hold their position when you let go, but then slowly succumbed to gravity?

The first 2 are bad. 3rd is what a new joint should behave like.


Damn. I was really hoping the output shaft bearing was going to be it.

BTW, IME a single tiny dent isn't likely to make a noticeable change in shaft balance. Bad u-joints have been the culprit many times for driveline vibrations in my truck. I think I've replaced them about a half dozen times in a many years. That may imply some other underlying issue, though.

 

[LJE]

When you pulled the rear shaft, what did the u-joints feel like? Were they floppy like a donkey dick? Were they loose like sleeve of wizard? Did they smoothly articulate and kind of want to hold their position when you let go, but then slowly succumbed to gravity?

The first 2 are bad. 3rd is what a new joint should behave like.


Damn. I was really hoping the output shaft bearing was going to be it.

I remember they didn't feel egregious, but I'll check again.

My hope is that a bad u-joint/unbalanced driveshaft took out this output bearing (which is why the problem changed but didn't go away when I yanked the shaft last time), now that I've fixed the bearing hopefully I'll just need to replace the shaft.

I'm confident that we're getting closer - the fact that I was able to drive 25 minutes without my ears physically hurting all day tells me that there's been an improvement. I just don't want to have to mess with the rear diff or any other part of the T-case...