Shutter or jolt as I come to a stop

Tried every angle of the dangle positioning. Think I need a different tip for the 4wd shaft.

 

Yep. Just tried again. No dice.

These 2 zerks are smaller. Thanks Toyota....

 

I think I spoke to soon on this. The problem came back not long after I greased the zerks. I went and greased them again last weekend hoping to flush out and dirt that may have entered. That was a temporary fix but the problem has resumed. I'm fairly confident I have a bad U Joint.

How do I go about finding the one that's the problem? I've never done a repair like this. Is there a preferred brand for replacement?

 

If it's me, I'd pull the whole driveshaft and take it to a shop to get the carrier bearing/ujoints changed and the shaft re-balanced. I prefer to use Dana/Spicer joints. It's not that it's hard but it can be a pain in the ass and if a shop charges me an hour labor for it it's well worth it IMO.

 

I watched a video on replacing the U Joints and it looks like a PITA honestly.

 

put the truck in neutral and block the front wheels. crawl under there, and check for any looseness on either side of a particular u-joint. When I had a bad u-joint on my tacoma, I could wobble the whole drive shaft and you could see, hear and feel the slack in that joint.

 

it's not the most fun job, but it isn't that hard. honestly I thought the same thing before I did mine. the hardest part was getting the sucker back together without all the needle bearings falling all over the place.

 

Also known as the center support bearing?

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=7500016&cc=1389001&jsn=838

 

correct.

 

Yup, that wouldn't be my first choice though. Timken, SKF, or National in that order if you aren't ordering a Toyota one.

 

Copy that. A local shop just quoted me "around" $200 to replace the U Joints, rebalance the shaft and replace the carrier bearing. They recommended non-greasable U Joints but will use whatever I want. Seems like a fair price.

 

Use the Toyota Bearing and buy a new nut. You can re-use the washers. Part #’s in pic.

 

$150 on Flea Bay. Do you remember what the Stealership charged?

 

Toyota parts online was about $200 for both parts.

 

UPDATE for anyone that cares. I dropped my truck off at a driveshaft shop earlier today with the expectation that they replace all 4 U joints, carrier bearing, and rebalance the drive shaft.

I spoke to them a few minutes ago and they said all U joints were fine. They left those alone. They said the shaft was way out of balance and the carrier bearing was weak. They didn't get a chance to drive it yet so I'm really curious if the problem I'm having will be solved.

Here is what I don't understand. He said these trucks have a non-repairable driveline and he kept saying the CV was fine. I have no idea what he meant by either of those statements. Why would they check the CV axles? What's non repairable?

@Darkness @Casper421 @Professional Hand Model @bmf4069

Thoughts?

 

The double cardan joint is sometimes called a CV.

Keeping in mind I haven't had to work on mine but sometimes the joints are steepled (basically the yokes are dimpled instead of using clips) and considered non serviceable. My old Grand Cherokee was like that and there were only a couple shops that would take the time to do them.

 

That's weird they would call it that. I haven't been down the driveshaft road yet, but it's coming up.

 

I think, but not sure, that only thr 4wd has that. If it's the joint with the greasable zerk then its 4wd only.

Another thing I don't have to worry about

 

Ahhh. That makes sense. I plan on clarifying all this tomorrow.

 

Even stealership is scared to touch the Doblé Cardán Hoint.

Heavy Truck Service shop can do them.

 

That's what this place is, or appears to be. All they do is drive shaft work. I'll report back later when I speak to them. I have a feeling they took a look at it and realized it was over their head.
When you replaced your carrier bearing was it just out of precaution or could you actually tell something was wrong? I'm wondering if that was the cause of my problem.

 

It had some cracking on it and also a bit of play. Nothing changed on the truck performance good or bad, as there was not a problem prior. Consider it preventative maintenance.

 

Another Update

I picked the truck up last Wednesday and clarified a few things. "CV" is another name for double cardan as @Festerw mentioned above. They couldn't find any issues with the U Joints. Since picking it up the problem seems to have completely disappeared. I believe the issue wasn't a U Joint but must have been the failing carrier bearing.

Total labor to pull drive shaft, replace carrier bearing, and rebalance drive shaft was only $93. I'm very happy with that.

He also mentioned that I should be able to grease the 4WD zerks using a grease needle and even showed me how it's done. You have to line it up on the nipple just right in order to get it to accept grease. He confirmed it's a major PITA but is possible. I've got a grease needle coming via Ebay.

 

Post up the needle your shaft guy used. Good news on u-joints being fine!

 

Good to know! I have a carrier bearing coming later today and plan on replacing it tomorrow. I'm hoping that's the source of my driveline woes as well.

 

Unfortunately, the problem has come back since my last post. Not nearly as bad, and not as frequent. I'm not sure what to make of it at this point. Unless it gets worse I'll probably leave it be. The only time I notice it is when coming to a stop.

 

did you get an OEM carrier bearing or an aftermarket?

 

OEM. But as soon as the guys saw it they said "that's really a spicer". So "OEM" in this case is Spicer according to the shop.

 

Just wanted to post a final update(I hope) for anyone that finds this via google search. I ended up greasing the slip yoke multiple times. This is the one where no grease would become visible to matter how much I pumped. I actually found a post on another forum where a guy reported 42 pumps on his Sequoia before he saw the yoke start to extend.

After greasing it 2-3 times I seem to have resolved the issue I was having. I haven't notice it happen in probably 2 months.


Here is that post.

Just did mine today - 42 pumps of Mobil 1 synthetic grease until the slip yoke started to extend. Did my rear driveshaft U-joints too - 8 pumps each. This was the first time these U-joints have been greased in a little over 100,000 miles and they were both absolutely tight with zero play or slop. Here's the "Arkie 6 fix" again, for anyone who hasn't seen it:

"The driveshaft slip yoke has a zerk fitting for adding grease. There's a large void under the zerk fitting and it may take 30-40 pumps on a grease gun to actually get any grease on the splines, depending on how much grease was in there to begin with.

Take your grease gun loaded with lithium-based NLGI #2 grease and start pumping grease into the slip yoke zerk fitting. At some point you will encounter increased resistance on the grease gun handle and see that the slip yoke is expanding. Continue to slowly add grease. You will likely see the slip yoke expand on each pump of the handle and then slowly contract. Continue adding grease for about five to ten more pumps or until you see grease coming out around the seal, then stop.

Now get on the rear bumper and bounce it up and down a few times. This will compress the slip yoke and force more grease along the splines. Now take a wrench and remove the zerk fitting to allow excess grease to escape. Once the zerk is removed gently bounce on the bumper again to give it a little help. Clean up the expelled grease, re-install the zerk and you are good to go."