I like easy way of checking for slop at the wheels and CVs. Put a paint pen line on the CV and wheel. Setup your phone to record that line and replicate your clunk. If there’s slop there it will show in the lines moving against each other. Mine did and no longer moves with CV, flange, and bearing loaded correctly. But the clunk is still present and the only thing moving is the front shaft while the CVs are dead still. Next, I’ll check the fluid and find some shavings then stress over it I’m sure.
The OFFICIAL clunk/thunk driveshaft thread
- Thread starter Kigiin
- Start date
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Definition of biting off more than I want to chew: Whew, started watching this series to see how bad it would be. If it keeps bothering me, I'll just get a front locker installed and replace ring and pinion while in there.
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Spent some time trying to chase down the clunk this weekend. All of the common culprits have been either , serviced , replaced or inspected. This includes driveshaft issues , front diff bushings , and CV / hub flanges
Something to note is when the CDL is engaged the clunk goes away , and it drives so nice I am now hell bent on chasing down a fix again . Across the board some people note that engaging the CDL helps and others say it does not, so this may be a clue to help get to the bottom of the issue . I'm just not sure what it translates to, I suppose the problem must not be in driveshafts or bushings , but more or less in the transfer case. I wonder what else is affected in the drivetrain when we lock up the tcase .
Something to note is when the CDL is engaged the clunk goes away , and it drives so nice I am now hell bent on chasing down a fix again . Across the board some people note that engaging the CDL helps and others say it does not, so this may be a clue to help get to the bottom of the issue . I'm just not sure what it translates to, I suppose the problem must not be in driveshafts or bushings , but more or less in the transfer case. I wonder what else is affected in the drivetrain when we lock up the tcase .
a somewhat uneducated guess is that it puts full engine load on the front driveshaft and eliminating any backlash in the front diff. the rear is always under full load from the engine/tranny/xfer. in normal driving the front driveshaft is somewhat "freewheeling" no?
Removing both driveshafts today and sending them off to Driveline Specialists. I have a pretty good clunk right now, but I'm guessing it's lack of grease + worn u-joints.
I'll report back after re-installing the finished product, which will involve:
- Complete disassembly, media blasting, cleaning and painting of shafts
- Installing 4x new genuine Toyota u-joints
- New grease nipples
- Balancing driveshafts
I'll report back after re-installing the finished product, which will involve:
- Complete disassembly, media blasting, cleaning and painting of shafts
- Installing 4x new genuine Toyota u-joints
- New grease nipples
- Balancing driveshafts
Recently purchased an 02 and went down under with a grease gun to try and alleviate the drive shaft thunk when shifting between R and D. Reading up on this forum and watching a few videos, it looked generally possible to reach all zerk fittings without lifting the truck. As a bonus, you do not need to drop the stock skid plate / splash guard that is in the way of the front shaft. All guides I've seen indicate removing that entire cover, so I'll share a few photos below on reaching it.
The engine cover has a small hatch in it that may be removed with two torx screws. I was lucky and where parked in my garage, all fittings were pointed at roughly 8 o'clock, if viewed from the rear. This is necessary to get the grease gun up to the fittings in the front through the hatch. My grease gun has a +/- 12" hose. It is easily routed through the hatch up to the fittings with enough room under to pump the grease.
Hatch in the middle is missing, two torx screws on either side to remove.
View up through the hatch to the fittings.
Clearance of grease gun with 12" hose shown through the hatch up to the fittings.
The engine cover has a small hatch in it that may be removed with two torx screws. I was lucky and where parked in my garage, all fittings were pointed at roughly 8 o'clock, if viewed from the rear. This is necessary to get the grease gun up to the fittings in the front through the hatch. My grease gun has a +/- 12" hose. It is easily routed through the hatch up to the fittings with enough room under to pump the grease.
Hatch in the middle is missing, two torx screws on either side to remove.
View up through the hatch to the fittings.
Clearance of grease gun with 12" hose shown through the hatch up to the fittings.
So did it help the clunk ?
Haha oh yea that’s the point of this thread right?
Yes, initially the clunk was completely gone. About a ten mile drive later it was back as I shifted in reverse to back into the garage. Considered this long overdue preventative maintenance, will be replacing all of the suspension links/joints/bushings etc. next as more PM. The clunk is a bit annoying but I’m more concerned about getting all PM up to date on wear items hoping that if done thoroughly the clunk will eventually be gone.
YMMV, but I replaced every single bushing and suspension component on the truck and all of that gave me only marginal improvement. I suspect now most of my clunk is coming from the front diff itself. I recently mailed it off to have a front locker installed, where the bearings will be changed out and the lash will be re-set to factory spec, I'm anticipating this fixing my problem. We'll see soon.
Did you try removing the front driveshaft and driving it around?
One option would have been to do the part time conversion.
One option would have been to do the part time conversion.
Interesting to follow this thread, we are all quick to blame the driveshaft or front diff bushing, of course they are the easiest to get at first. That being said no one seems to find that as a fix. The clunk you get when coming up to a red light and you feel like someone rear ends you seems to be solved with some driveshaft TLC.
It seems the front CV / Hub flange is a more likely culprit for the driving clunk, and if that checks out I do suspect the clunk is coming from inside front diff or transfer, especially if locking up center diff alleviates the clunk symptoms.
It seems the front CV / Hub flange is a more likely culprit for the driving clunk, and if that checks out I do suspect the clunk is coming from inside front diff or transfer, especially if locking up center diff alleviates the clunk symptoms.
I had this same issue with my FJ. Thump from the back when stopping and taking off. Intermittent. The fix is the updated driveshaft for the FJ cruiser. I’m not sure about my 2006 LX470, but I’m going to say so. It was 100% gone after I bought the updated drive shaft. There is an old part number driveshaft that is part number “A” the new one ends in “B”. I chased the issue for over a year replacing everything but the rear driveshaft on the FJ. I put it in 4 wheel and drive without the rear shaft for a few days and noticed it was gone. That is the answer. Now I wonder about the LX.
I tried the CDL trick and indeed my clunk went away completely. The front still rises/lowers with the R/D shift but no clunk.
The driveshaft is known to be a big part of this issue, that's what this thread is detailing. Between that and a few other areas.
It's all caused by service intervals and service work not being done often enough, and not being done properly even then.
The FJ had a defective slip yolk. The 100 doesn't, it has defective technicians and owners.
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Generally speaking based on everyone's experience within this thread, When you get the feeling of someone rear ending you it does seem to relate more to a DS issue, whereas it seems like the people who have more of the P-R-N-D clunk OR the letting off the gas and back on clunk will relate more to front end issue like CV/ Flange/ Diff / T-case
Still getting a slight thump when shifting from D to R...
So far I have changed:
1. CV Axles
2. Axle Flanges
3. Front Diff Bushes
4. All bushes on upper/lower control arms and panhard bar
5. Motor and Transmission Mounts
6. U-Joints Front and rear
7. New front bearings
Only thing I can think of now is maybe the splines inside my front and rear prop shafts. Any ideas???
So far I have changed:
1. CV Axles
2. Axle Flanges
3. Front Diff Bushes
4. All bushes on upper/lower control arms and panhard bar
5. Motor and Transmission Mounts
6. U-Joints Front and rear
7. New front bearings
Only thing I can think of now is maybe the splines inside my front and rear prop shafts. Any ideas???
This seems to be a re-occurring theme throughout 100 series owners. Generally speaking, all of these parts seem to have some wear simply due to age. On the never ending quest to repair the clunk we replace them all one by one and still don't solve the problem.
Some of us find a few shots of grease on the rear DS slip work, others have some worn CVs and hubs and that does the trick, but again generally speaking a lot of us have done many repairs to find the clunk doesn't get better.
I'm trying to find the trend but it seems that the obvious " grease your driveshaft / slip " advice really isn't a cure for this problem.