Reverse squeak sound?

Ill drop this here also.

 

This is all 3 sections. Each side looks the same as the one pictured. No places to grease them at all.

 

You might be able to tell which one it is by pulling on the driveshaft at each u-joint. The one that is bad should move a little (maybe very little). I had the same problem a couple years ago. I pulled the driveshaft and took it to a shop that replaced all three with greaseable spicers. If you're around Nashville I recommend Clinard's downtown.

 

About how much would I be looking at if it's just one u-joint? Just curious.

I put the rear axle on jack stands to see if I could put the truck in reverse to see where it was coming from, but with the rear wheels off the ground and no actual torque on the drive shaft, there was no sound.

 

Well most people cant find them, they are hard to see and the shaft may have to be rotated to the correct orientation to see. But if they are not there then replacement is the only option. From what i understand there is no aftermarket u joints that are the right size that can be had at the local parts store for the 01-04's. The ones that most have recieved are to wide and the retaining rings will not go in. The double cardan joint definatly is not serviceable and toyota wants $75 apiece for factory joints. So like said above find a driveline shop and have them replaced and use the ones w/zerks.

 

I'm kinda thinking it might be that rubber piece that the center of the drive shaft runs through cause I put a little bit of oil all around it and the sound got a lot quieter. And to me the sound is more like a metal-on-rubber sound anyways.

 

Thats the carrier bearing, there is a how to in the first gen section on how to replace that. http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/1st-gen-tacomas/260283-how-replacing-carrier-bearing.html

 

Are they prone to going out?

 

Yes, they delvelop play, if you can grab the shaft and it moves around quite a bit then that could be it but most of the time they just cause a vibration. From one of your pics it looks like it may be pretty warn. Most of the issues like yours have been resolved with u jounts though.

 

Quite a bit is an understatement. That thing has like at least an inch of play in either direction.

 

Having the same problem on my 2000 taco. How do you know which u-joints are bad? Also, are the Toyota ones that much better than the Moog or Dana?