Drive shaft center coupling play

2006 2wd double cab. Noticing a clunk while accelerating from either a stop or slow craw.

How much play should there be in the drive shaft center coupling, where the front and the back of the shaft are joined. I’m not sure what it called, seems like a rubber bushing.

I have a fair amount of up and down/left and right play and wondering if this could be the noise I’m hearing.

Thanks

 

You're failing to provide the most critical piece of info we need: Are you 2WD or 4WD? Always include that with requests for input. Or go to your profile and update your truck info to include year, cab type (DC), year, engine, drivetrain so you don't need to type it every post.

Play in carrier bearing is not unusual. Taken from this thread, there are two very common clunk causes:

• Driveline "clunks" when stopping and going: For 4WD trucks, you probably aren't lubing your driveline every 5k-10k miles as needed see this reply (PS - this zerk requires special attention, see reply #4). For the later-year 2WD trucks, there's a TSB out, the crossmember can cracks over time, then bolts loosen & fall out. Typical symptoms are clunks when turning, stopping, going. There's a specific TSB for the 2WD tranny mount problem, but it calls for replacing the crossmember, which many think is overkill unless clearly cracked (examples here). If not cracked, retightening with a non-permanent thread sealer has worked.

 

I’t is 2wd. I’ll update it. I just checked and the tranny crossover mount is solid with no cracks.
Are we able to load videos on here? I can try to get a video of the play in the carrier bearing.

 

And all 8 bolts are tight, torqued to spec? There's 4 externally visible at the base of the tranny. There are 4 hidden inside the holes up under the crossmember. The latter are typically what loosen and/or are missing. The crossmemember cracks are sometimes hairline and hard to see.

Upload it to www.imgur.com then post a link to the video here. The forum software will auto-embed it.

 

Thx I’ll look again for the hairline cracks. All bolts are in, just not sure about tightness. What should I torque them too?
I’ll also work on a video upload…..

thx

 

A lot of people find they're finger-loose. Torque specs are in the TSB I linked to above. This is a very common problem for 05-06 Tundra and 05-07 Sequoia. Symptoms in the TSB basically match what you reported. Even members with cracked crossmembers have found tightening the bolts to spec provides considerable relief from symptoms.

Always start with the free solutions first. I doubt you want to deal with the hassle of finding the correct carrier bearing and replacing it properly, only to find the clunks still exist because you didn't tighten some bolts

(you wouldn't be the first, btw ... can't tell you how many ppl have replaced their carrier bearing to fix vibrations in the driveline only to find it was their rear drums not being properly adjusted, cupping on their tires, or even a single wheel out of balance! Carrier bearing is rarely the culprit!)

 

https://imgur.com/a/PHbMpAl?s=sms

 

What would you say that is, 1/2" vertical play, max? My '06 has about 75k miles on it right now, and has about 1/4"-3/8" play. Some play in that joint is normal.

Is that a new driveshaft? Just going by the shiny new sticker. If so, give some more details about when/why it was replaced, by whom, etc.

 

Hard to tell the amount of play.
Driveshaft is original. 120k miles
Crossover bar bolts all torqued and doesn’t appear to be any cracks.

If you look at this pic, the driveshaft is sitting toward the bottom of the bearing coupler….however may be normal.

https://imgur.com/a/JbHgI1Q?s=sms

 

Mine is the same RE: Position in the carrier bearing.

Other people have reported similar shudder due to rear drums being improperly setup. Have you tried pushing the e-brake in/out a few times, then see if it continues?

I can't remember what the most recent one was, it's just inside my memory's grey zone. Got a small gap I suffer with after a month or so goes by. But I feel like it was something totally off-the-wall I'd have never thought of.

 

Did as you said. Went out and messed with the e-brake a bit…..no more noise.
Thx for the tip. No idea what was causing it but it seems to be fixed….

 

Applying the e-brake causes the rear drums to readjust, assuming the e-brake is functioning properly of course. It's a cheap way of recalibrating the rear drums.

Poorly adjusted rear drums is a major cause of weird vibrations, acceleration/deceleration problems, etc. I try to make a habit of applying the parking brake a few times back-to-back 1x - 2x per year to avoid this. Sometimes once does it, but I tend to set-release 3-4 times for good measure.

Folks who live in the rust belt and drive on salted roads sometimes aren't as lucky as us, with more pristine, rust-free frames.

 

I'm with @shifty` here, that's a really clean setup!