Having trouble with my 04 tundra SR5 rythmic grinding while driving over 20mph

For the last few months I have been trying to sort out what this problem could be, I have finally narrowed it down to the splines in the rear driveshaft, I tried to grease them with the fitting but that does not get the grease to come out, it just all seemed to puddle and the tip. I found this out because the noise had stopped but then returned as I drove throughout the day. I dropped the rear driveshaft and notice the splines were not getting any grease. I was told that when doing this that you had to replace the u-joints in the cardan joint while it was out so I tried to see if it would be a quick fix by trying to take one clip out, it broke in half on me... I proceeded to take the next 5 hours removing the hellish conglomeration of gubbins out the the gentle application of a 2lb hammer, I tried replacing them with these (i don't know how to put proper links) https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=10997576&cc=1426935&pt=2392&jsn=10664 and they decided to pop on me which i was not expecting. My question is this, how do I know for sure that this is the right dimension, I really need to figure out if I am just searching the wrong thing or if I just broke something. Any help is appreciated

 

Ok. I'm trying to figure out what you're doing here. There are no "splines" on the rear driveshaft, but I think it you just might not know what to call the u-joints or universal joints on the driveshaft. I'm going to venture a guess that you have no driveline experience? This one might be best left to the pros. When I say pros, I mean a driveline specialty shop. Make sure you mark the EXACT orientation that you remove the driveshaft out of the vehicle. Make marks using either paint markers or something similar so you have a definitive way to line up the flange plates when you reinstall. The driveline shop will be able to get you the correct u-joints and properly balance the shaft so you don't have any more problems.

 

The double cardan joint is not considered serviceable on these. It can be serviced, but it's more of a custom, one off type deal where your using arts from other Toyota models with modification to try to service it. Not recommended. A driveshaft shop may be able to service what's wrong with yours without needed to get crafty, or most will replace the driveshaft with a new assembly to fix all of the joints at once.

 

there are splines in the rear driveshaft and I marked everything to the best I could before starting work, The splines are what allow the driveshaft to expand and contract while going over bumpy terrain. My question was essentially why did the u-joints not fit if I am using an oem size replacement

 

What do the U joints have to do with the splines? Also a picture of what your working on would be helpful.

 

I'm not intending to get into a lesson on semantics, but here we are: A spline is a ridge or tooth on a drive shaft that matches with a groove in a mating piece and transfers torque to it, maintaining the angular correspondence between them. For instance, a gear mounted on a shaft might use a male spline on the shaft that matches the female spline on the gear.
What you're describing is the driveshaft slip joint.
Driveshaft work is not easy. The tolerances are very tight. The part you highlighted is for the front driveshaft.
DANA 25153X Spicer Select; Greasable; 3.219in Outside Snap Ring Dimension; with Yoke O.D. 3.469in; 1.062in Bearing Cap Diameter Info
Fits Front Driveshaft at Front Axle
Case closed.

 

Obviously, you are now beyond the point of no return. But for future, if you have a zerk that won't open, you can push it in using a thumb tack or a small nail. The valves inside the zerks get dry and stick closed. By opening in up manually, you can them pump grease inside whatever it is that requires grease. With that said (also for future) we have a thread for this kind of thing: Grease your drive shaft you lazy sods. | Toyota Tundra Forum

 

I believe there are differnt size ujoints depending on the truck specs. 4x4 vs 2x4. V8 vs v6. If they don’t fit you have the wrong ones.

 

Does the grinding reduce or stop temporarily if you tap the brakes while it's happening? What if you hold the brakes? I'm leaning more towards a stuck piston on a caliper, or maybe some dummy who didn't know better unbolted the caliper to change the brake pads (which is 1,000% unnecessary), and didn't tighten the two caliper bolts correctly?

 

I really wish it was a caliper, I have replaced both front brakes and rotors and this sound was affected by greasing the drive shaft

 

I apologize for keeping everyone waiting, I was at work and could not reply, as it stands I have narrowed down my issue to being driveshaft related as the noise and grinding feeling was lessened and almost completely gone after getting it greased at an oil change place, I know they didn't use a ton of grease because not all the fittings were greased and I could not see anywhere grease leaked out. the noise came back along my drive and I stopped and tried to add more but I started getting the sensation no grease was making it into the yoke insert after a certain point. The noise continued and when I arrived home I dropped the drive shaft and was trying to grease it by hand i slipped and dropped the male end into the dirt and spent a hot minute cleaning it out and that iss when I got into the trouble with the U-joints, I just wanted to see how easy the would come out and I ended up snapping a clip to the point it would be unsafe. So my main question is still, what are the U-joints I actually need, I got everything out cleanly and putting it together would have been easy if I had educated myself on proper procedure first and not just slapped it into the press and gone to town. I am not opposed to getting a new driveshaft to be safe but all the ones on Ebay take 2 weeks to get and that is a lot of missing paycheck

 

Did you pull the slip joint apart? It sure as hell looks like the u-joint in the picture is taking grease.

 

With this new info, I suspect lack of proper grease maintenance has led to you blowing out a u-joint. A failing needle bearing would cause what you're describing*.

If you’ve had the driveshaft out, you NEED to understand the orientarion of EVERYTHING in the driveline is critical. Getting anything 90° or 180° out will absolutely fuck your world up.

I cannot recommend enough that you find a driveline/driveshaft shop near you if none of this is already common knowledge in your craw. This is one of two times I recommend you NEVER go to a general shop or chain: Driveline probs, and air conditioning probs. Always seek a specialist. They’ll usually do the work for far cheaper than you can do yourself, correctly. There are ample driveshaft shops that will even do free diagnostics.

 

There's two sets of splines, the slip yoke and the forward flange behind the carrier bearing.

 

I pulled the slip out so I could understand where the grease was going, i tested on the rear most ujoint to make sure my grease gun was working and apparently it needed it. I took it through a shop that said they "greased all 4 U-joints" and i was just like , to the manager "I think there are 7 but I will take your work for it"

 

It's according to who's counting.

 

Greasing the U-joints does not address the slip yoke. It has its own zerk.

 

Yes I know that, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out why OP was messing with the slip joint when the problem was a "rhythmic grinding in the driveline". I probably would have taken the zerk out if I suspected the joint wasn't taking grease, rather than pulling it apart and dropping it in the dirt. At this point I think were starting to piece together what happened here. A bunch of errors that ultimately need to be addressed by a driveline shop and probably replacing the driveshaft at this point.

 

The fact it subsided or improved after greasing the 4 u-joints, then returned, again, would suggest bad u-joint.

That could be easily explained if one of the rubber seals on any of the 4 heads of a single u-joint disintegrated or died for lack of maintenance or impact or [???], and whatever grease got pumped into the joint slung right back out again. Hell, it could've tossed a needle or three while the joint was dry, which helped the grease evacuate that much faster.

If it were me, and I had these symptoms as outlined, and I knew someone hasn't been greasing the u-joints at every oil change as they should, or at least every 6k-10k miles (at worst case), I'd be replacing the U-joints with some quality Spicer/Dana sealed joints ASAP.

But given the driveline shop nearest me will do the work for about 25% more than I'd pay for the parts, and knock it out about 4x faster, and warranty their work, and they diagnose if that's the issue for free, I'd be hard-pressed to actually do the work myself. If I was retired, it'd be a different story, but juggling two kids and a business, time doesn't grow on trees these days.

If @xXShadowTundraXx 's symptoms outline/timeline above is correct, I'd be very surprised if I was wrong. Unless I'm missing something above.

And FYI - you can replace the retention clips on u-joints. NAPA and plenty of other stores carry them. You'll find a wide assortment in the HELP! aisle of parts.

 

PS ---

PS - never buy auto parts on scAmazon, fleaBay, or WallyMart's website.

You honestly never know if what you're buying is authentic, and there is (and has been) massive issues with counterfeit products entering the parts supply chain via those vendors. Especially true for electronics and safety products, but .... for something that, if it failed, could do major damage (like a driveshaft), definitely DO NOT use those sources.

 

I would replace the u-joints with new Spicer one bought from a Dana Spicer distributor.