Tapping niose 2005 4x4 mystery

I talked to my father-in-law and he told me to look to the forums for a solution to my problem.

I came home from my 6 month deployment to find my 05 Tundra 4x4 SR5 Quad Cab has a clicking / tapping noise coming from somewhere beneath. My wife drove it a few times when I was gone but she swears nothing was wrong when she drove it. (NO, there was no Jodie driving my truck, before anyone starts). Here is what I know

It is only present during cruising from 15 mph and above. As soon as I apply the gas it goes away, if I start breaking it subsides mostly. It is still present if i coast. I do feel it in the wheels a little, but it isn't the CV's.
I put down the back window and I can hear It more pronounced. It is consistent with the speed of the vehicle, as I go faster it goes faster.

First I though a bad CV, changed them both, still there

Then I saw my Carrier bearing was sagging a bit, changed it, still there

My Lugs are tight, just checked them

None of the four wheels wiggle or move when I have them lifted.

I am lost, so is my dad, and my mechanic friend.

Please feed me any reasonable ideas, I am really at a loss and I cant keep replacing things that are not broke.

 

Can you get it up on jack stands & see if it's replicated?
Any chance it's just gravel in the tires?

 

This ^^ is THEE text book example of: start with the least expensive possible solution and work your way up the money graph.

So.....????

 

What kind of wheels do you have? Any washers behind the lugs? Rock stuck in a hubcap? Dust shield behind the brakes bent or rubbing? Wheel bearing?

 

Put it on jack stands. Could not replicate. No rocks. Might be the front drive shaft. Going to remove it and see what happens. Other than that, .Had a master mechanic come look. Said it seems like the u joints on the drive line. We will see. Drive lines come off tomorrow

 

Keep us posted now that we're all curious. I hope it's something minor!

 

Your driveshaft has the double cardan? How many miles on truck?

 

133k. I am going to pull the drive shaft off and check the U joints. I am 90% certain it's the drive shaft

 

I have 256k on my 2000 tundra and have not replaced the driveshaft. Have you looked at brakes and dust shield?

 

It is responsive to the pressure on the drive line. If I'm accelerating i can't hear it. When I am stopping I can not hear it. But when I start cruising above 15 mph it start popping. The fast i go, the faster the tocking.

Drive shaft behind the carrier bearing is out. Took a front wheel drive trip,. Sound isis Sti there. I am going to take off the mid section now

 

Took a drive with no rear drive shaft. Still have the sound. But I made sense headway. The sound was not effected by accelerating., .That tells me now, it IS in the rear end and is not the drive shaft

Wheels and drums come off tomorrow.

 

So found the problem finally!

Tires. Believe it or not it was the tires. The rear may have had a small flat spots in them from sitting. I have no clue why it was responsive to the acceleration and breaking mimicking a drive train issue, .But it did. I'll put this one in the books

Lessons learned
1. Don't throw money at problems you haven't fully diagnosed.
2. Start with the simplest things first
3. Access the facts and start with elimination and isolation of the most likely problems.

 

Time for some big smoky burnouts!

 

Put your truck up on jack stands before the next time you shove off. What new tires you getting?