Front axle noise, help a buddy out!

My fellow Tundra owners, I need some help trying to figure out what this noise is coming from the front axle of my truck. It’s been doing it for several months now, constantly!
I’ve taken it to my local tire/suspension shop and they could not figure out what it was. I then scheduled an appointment at my local dealership, they had it for about 4 hrs and all they said is that everything seemed to be in place, nothing missing, nothing out of the ordinary. They told me they needed the truck to stay over night so they could fully inspect it. This was a no go for me since my truck is my daily driver.
I’m posting a video with the hope that someone might experience the same issue as me with their Tundra.
One thing to note is that it’s a 2015 TRD Pro, fully stock suspension, running 315/70/17 tires.
Also, local guy at the tire shop said that the noise seems to be coming from the center of the axle behind the skid plate.

 

Is any part of the skid plate loose? What kind of sounds

 

I’m trying to upload the video and it’s not letting me. Says “the uploaded file does not have an allowed extension” can someone tell me how to load a damn video on here? Lol I’m kind of a newbie on here

 

Can you post it to YouTube and link it

 

https://youtu.be/wKBXkmz2co0

 

Interesting. Seems like at the very very end of it we heard the sound as the truck came to a complete stop and the suspension lifted

 

Seems to me the more the axle flexes, the louder it gets. Definitely weird, can’t seem to get my head around it

 

Can you duplicate the noise by bouncing it up & down or does it only make the noise while moving?

 

Yes I forgot to mention, it also does it while I’m at a complete stop and I turn the steering wheel towards either direction. The noise is not as loud but there is still some “grinding”
Also does it if i stand outside on the running boards and I bounce up and down while the truck is at a complete stop.

 

So it sounds suspension related. Noises are tough to diagnose from a video. Is it related to one side or the other? From what I could tell, it sounds like the control arm pivots/bushings. You can try some spray lube & see if it makes any difference. You could try having someone bounce on the running board & see if you can pinpoint the noise.

Good luck!

 

Also check the shock mounts. It could also be bad shocks.

Also how many miles on your truck?

 

Thanks Paul! I’ll check that out first thing in the morning

 

Was it recently aligned?

 

No it has not in while.

 

I was going to ask if you checked to make sure the running boards are tight and loose or rattling against the body or frame.

Also, did you have the tire shop check your ball joints for wear?

Just a suggestion.

 

The noise sounds like a bushing with dirt trapped in it. Have you been through any slop lately?

 

Crazy as this sounds, I had the same type of creak on my 2004 dbl cab. I hunted all over the front end for months. It turned out to be a piece of drain rock gravel wedged between the bed and the cab.

 

I had a VERY similar sound in a 71 Volvo P1800e. It was a top shock mount bushing that was in bad shape. Not the same suspension, but same sound. I'd check for rubber bushings up front and possibly on the strut mounts (sorry not familiar with front end components on the Tundra from a mounting perspective). It could be anything rubbing synced with the front suspension from the sound.

 

I think I would start by removing the front sway bar. At least temporarily and see if anything changes.

 

I Have the exact same problem on my 2016 tundra trd pro. Please let me know if you figured out the problem, thanks

 

Mine was identical sound to the video and was getting worse. Problem solving took a bit of time. Solution....as @Hbjeff stated, My problem was the TRD skid plate. I removed it and sound gone. I put some white lithium grease on top of the square spacer in the middle and the two cylindrical spacers and remounted. Sound was gone immediately. It's slowly coming back. Remove your skid plate and see if it goes away.

 

I’ll give a try but it’s seems to be happening when I am turning left or when I hit any bumps on my left side.

 

mine was way louder while turning also especially with bumps. I’m confident that’s your problem. I’d be shocked if it wasn’t. Sound is identical.

 

This was my issue. Lift shop forgot to torque the bolts properly and came out and broke through my rotor

 

Turned out to be the skid plate, I noticed there was a missing spacer for one of the bolts. Could be part of the problem.