Noise ?

Hey everybody. I have a 2003 Tacoma and am having some strange noises that seem to be getting a little louder recently. Any help would be great.

The one that is most audible right now is a sort of scratching (like a stick against the pavement) that starts at about 30mph and is a consistent scratching sound until the truck is stopped. It sounds like a cricket chirping at times but not so high pitched. Almost seems like there are always pebble in the tires, which there are not! Anyway, I have heard some low humming and rotational vibration under the seats for some time now, but 3 different mechanics have chalked that up to road noise, which I still don't believe cause I have had 2 different sets of tires now and the sound it always the same.

I guess I am concerned that the humming is in the drive shaft, but I can't seem to begin to thing what this scratching may be. Any suggestions out there on what to look for?

 

check your pads

 

is your disc brake shield rubbing anywhere, that sound wouldnt be coming from under the seats obviously but it does make a nasty scratching sound.

 

Pads are good.

I will check the shields this weekend when I can put the wheels up and have s look. Get back to you after that.

Thanks so far y'all.

 

I was thinking tires first, and brake shield/brake area second after reading your description, as those are usually the areas that contains wear items.

Of course it could also be something silly like some plastic molding came loose and is rubbing (a lot of people have paid lots of money replacing parts and looking for problems when its been something really stupid that people just dont think of checking). Look for any wear marks in your wheel wells, mud flaps, and all along your drive line and front axles. Then there's also the people that I've heard will put zip ties on the drive line as a joke.

Are you running oversized tires? 285 width tires come really close to the UCA on stock wheels and if something is out of alignment or the ball joint is failing, I could see some rubbing happening pretty easy.

Does the noise seem to get worse the faster you go, after you press the brakes, or any other activity, or is it pretty steady?

If that doesn't work out, have you tried jacking up the truck to see if you can narrow it down a little bit more? There's just way too many moving parts that it could be.

Some other options at the top of my head (besides brakes and tires). They all should be pretty easy to diagnose one wheel at a time.
Wheel bearings
Front axles/cv joints
u joints on drive shaft

Then you get into the more involved areas like diffs, transmissions, and transfer cases.

 

Lube up your Drive shaft?

I didn't grease mine for a while and it started making this LOUD ANNOYING SCRATCHING SOUND. greased it til the grease was squeezing out and the sound went away.