The OFFICIAL clunk/thunk driveshaft thread (2 Viewers)

[moooooooo]

i have the clunk/thunk. I assumed it was my poor driving style whilst changing gears (mine is a manual) but now that i listen to it it happens on quick deceleration (accelerate, esp 3rd gear, decelerate coz of traffic)

And 2nd gear to 3rd i have to be super smooth, which i shouldnt have to. Feels like backlash like i had in a Monaro years ago. Or uni joints. Same with 3rd to 4th.

I found another place locally that services 4x4s so i might give them the chance this time as i am due my 140k (kms) service.
cheers
peter

 

[Cypher]

Just an FYI: I have had the thunk since I got my 100 just over a year ago. Since reading this thread about a year ago and learning that it is the slip yoke that is causing the problem, have been greasing the drive shafts every 3000 miles. The thunk has decreased considerably and gets better each time I grease. I figure after enough greasing it is going to go away completely and then I will return to a more reasonable greasing schedule. If not, I plan to remove the drive shaft and rebuild it.

 

[NMuzj100]

have been greasing the drive shafts every 3000 miles. The thunk has decreased considerably and gets better each time I grease. I figure after enough greasing it is going to go away completely and then I will return to a more reasonable greasing schedule.

[STRIKE]3,000[/STRIKE] 5,000 is the factory recommendation. Unless you are crossing water then it's DAILY.

Are you using a Moly-fortified grease ? You will continue to get improvement as the moly is plated onto the "striction" surfaces under pressure.

And they do get better with every greasing! and greasing is much easier when you have a proper flow established and the grease you are replacing isn't all dried out.

 

[bhamtyme]

Another newbie here!! Lubed the spiders and the slide yokes tonight. Lubes the slides till grease flowed past the seals. When I disconnected from the rear slide, about 3 - 4 oz flowed back out of the zerk. Am I looking at a problem or is this to be expected?

 

[NMuzj100]

Another newbie here!! Lubed the spiders and the slide yokes tonight. Lubes the slides till grease flowed past the seals. When I disconnected from the rear slide, about 3 - 4 oz flowed back out of the zerk. Am I looking at a problem or is this to be expected?

Not normal. Sounds like your zerk may be inop but if you got clean new grease past the seal then no big deal. If it happens again next time you lube then replacing the zerk might be a good idea. They screw in and out so replacement should be easy.

 

[Cypher]

3,000 is the factory recommendation. Unless you are crossing water then it's DAILY.

Are you using a Moly-fortified grease ? You will continue to get improvement as the moly is plated onto the "striction" surfaces under pressure.

And they do get better with every greasing! and greasing is much easier when you have a proper flow established and the grease you are replacing isn't all dried out.

Yep! Using moly-fortified grease as suggested in a number of threads here on Mud. I am looking forward to this eventually going away completely. It is much better than the day I bought it about 1 yr ago.

 

[agaisin]

3,000 is the factory recommendation. Unless you are crossing water then it's DAILY.

My Maintenance Schedule says every 5000 miles (or 6 months). And it specifies that if the vehicle is submerged then to lube within 24 hours regardless of maintenance interval. Did they change from 3k mi to 5k mi for different years (mine is 05).

 

[NMuzj100]

My Maintenance Schedule says every 5000 miles (or 6 months). And it specifies that if the vehicle is submerged then to lube within 24 hours regardless of maintenance interval. Did they change from 3k mi to 5k mi for different years (mine is 05).

That does look like the standard on the maintenance website linked to the FAQ even for 98s and my paper manuals. 3k probably comes from repeated exposure to Jiffy Lube commercials as a kid.

- 15k (12 months) for pampered service
- 5k (4 months) for Driving on Rough, Muddy,Unpaved, Dusty, Snow-Melted or Salt-Covered Roads or with a trailer, camper or car-top carrier.
- Daily for Deep Sand, Mud or Water. (With the 24 hour after submerging note)

 

[Cypher]

That does look like the standard on the maintenance website linked to the FAQ even for 98s and my paper manuals. 3k probably comes from repeated exposure to Jiffy Lube commercials as a kid.

- 15k (12 months) for pampered service
- 5k (4 months) for Driving on Rough, Muddy,Unpaved, Dusty, Snow-Melted or Salt-Covered Roads or with a trailer, camper or car-top carrier.
- Daily for Deep Sand, Mud or Water. (With the 24 hour after submerging note)

That is good information and should be added to the thread regarding lubricating the drive shafts... I am sure there are many out there that will find this useful given the amount of time many of use spend off-road.

 

[bigdaddy]

Wow, thank you Mud! I had the "clunk" since I bought my cruiser a few weeks ago. I thought it was just due to the AWD system. I spent about an hour and a half last night greasing all the zerks and what a difference it has made. Now when I take off the brake and apply gas or go from neutral to drive the "clunk" is gone. Here are a few things I might add to what helped me do the job:

1. Safety - Make sure you use double safety when jacking up the car. When I use Jack stands I take some 2x8's scraps and throw them under the tires "just in case". Just something about crawling under a 6.5K pound car that can be scary. Be careful....

2. You will need to take off your plastic belly pan (the big one), mine had only 5 of 6 bolts (10 or 12mm). But I just left it off for now since I am changing the diff fluid and tc fluid this weekend. I think this kept the previous owner or shop from lubing the fronts. My hand got tired pumping the front driveshaft!

3. Grease - I used Mobil 1 Synthetic Grease Mobil 1 Synthetic Grease because my gun already had it in there. I picked up a couple extra tubes, and used the better part of two tubes.

4. Keep it clean - You will most likely get messy. have paper towels, tp, newspaper handy. And where gloves, this stuff stinks. I use Thickster gloves I found on Amazon they rarely tear on me. Get as much excess grease off as you can. I still had some fling off on my exhaust and it does stink but will go away.

5. Pump and pump some more - If you dont have a grease gun, get a quality one. I think others here like the Lincoln. I had a cheapy with the flexible hose which worked but had a hell of a time getting it to stay on the zerks on the u-joints (hence the mess and smell). Be persistent, I pumped until I saw fresh grease come out on the driveshaft and u-joints (nice redish/purple). I dont think the front drive shaft had been greased in a long time (very little old grease came out and what did was gritty).

6. Follow up - as other said if it hasn't been done in a while, try more frequent lubing. I plan to do it again in 2K mile when I am due for an oil change.

All I can say is that my cruiser is super smooth now thanks to you guys and this forum!

 

[bamabrock]

Mine has a fairly frequent 'clunk' when I shift from reverse to drive. Is this the same "thud" we're talking about here?

I'll shoot some Amsoil grease in the shafts tomorrow to see if it eliminates the noise.

I have this exact same thing. I need to grease it up this weekend to see if it fixes the problem.

 

[bkgee]

3. Grease - I used Mobil 1 Synthetic Grease Mobil 1 Synthetic Grease because my gun already had it in there.

You might find that M1 does not keep the clunk at bay for more than a few thousand miles. I choose to use it for the same reason. I get clunk back after 2-3 thousand miles (although never really bad). I am wondering if the spec'ed Moly grease will do the job better or for significantly longer intervals?...

 

[NMuzj100]

I am wondering if the spec'ed Moly grease will do the job better or for significantly longer intervals?...

Yes - MUD spec'd moly will do better. The longer the Moly-fortified lube is in place the smoother the action of the slip joint will become. Over time the moly will become plated onto the High pressure friction surfaces.

But any lube will help a bunch compared to an under lubed joint.

 

[2000UZJ]

I guess I am lucky, I have never had a clunk or anything. Not one thunk or clunk. All my flunks and thuds are from the front end.

 

[NMuzj100]

I guess I am lucky, I have never had a clunk or anything. Not one thunk or clunk. All my flunks and thuds are from the front end.

Your's probably slides smooth on red clay gumbo.

 

[2000UZJ]

Your's probably slides smooth on red clay gumbo.

No such thing here sir! Don't know what your talking about

 

[lexi4darin]

Ok, following up on my early posts on here. First off, greasing the drive shaft works well for me and resolves the clunking.

However, this was not always the case. Turns out I followed the procedures from others and noticed an alarming amount of grease coming out the rear of the drive shaft. I tried several times greasing the shaft and then driving. It worked for a couple days at the most but never solved the problem long term. One thing of note, all the times I greased the drive shaft none of the new grease came out of the seal.

Anyway, just before giving up I'm able to detect where the grease is leaking from. Turns out there's a flaw/problem with my drive shaft (see pics below).

Tried JB Weld. This blew out after the first drive; I imagine the pressure of new grease in the drive shaft cavity was too great. You all know the price of a drive shaft compared to JB Weld so I sanded down the JB Weld. After 8-10 different applications of JB Weld and not driving the Hundy over a weeks time, it seems my problem is fixed. The drive shaft is holding grease now and as stated above the clunking is gone. Note: with JB Weld, I used a grease cleaner on the drive shaft surface. As well as sanding with medium and heavy grit papers.

After testing, it might be prudent to take off the drive shaft and polish over the JB Weld so that it's more evenly coated. Thick as possible (for strength) while keeping the mass of JB Weld evenly distributed across the rear surface of the drive shaft (as to prevent any vibration while rotating).

 

[richg]

Anyway, just before giving up I'm able to detect where the grease is leaking from. Turns out there's a flaw/problem with my drive shaft (see pics below).

QUOTE]
I recently did some work on an 05 LC that my in-laws picked up (I have a 98 LC myself). Had a pretty good driveshaft clunk.For the 05 rear driveshaft, the slip joint zerk was located up at the t-case side of the driveshaft, not the rear diff side (as I guess is the case for the older vehicles?). Also, the 05 driveshaft, whenever I added grease to the slip joint, it would squeeze out of the U-joint end of the joint (I assume there was a hole just like what you have on yours, didn't take that end of the joint apart to investigate, but I'm guessing that the hole is not a flaw).I ended up pulling the slip joint apart and greasing the splines manually. If I compressed the slip joint completely by hand, all the excess grease would push out the hole at the end of the joint. Clunk has been gone since then (~1K miles). We'll see how long it stays gone.rich

 

[petrotk40]

I have the same issue, my clunk comes back every 1k-2k miles... I can't get much new grease past the seals before it comes out the hole.

 

[marcfj60]

That's interesting. I wonder if Toyota added the hole because of concern of pressurizing the inside of the slip yoke with too much grease, potentially damaging bearings or gears.

Is the hole perpendicular to the surface it's drilled in? You could tap threads into the hole and have a removable seal. Put a bolt in when you grease it until grease flows past the slip yoke seal. Then take the bolt out to allow the excess pressure and grease to come out.