grinding or growling please help

hello all lets start with my truck, i have a 08 tacoma 4cyl. 4wd single cab.
no lift. 79000 miles. i am getting a grinding sound in the front end. the sound is noticeable at 50mph and up. it sounds like when you drive over the rumble strip on the side of the road. it does this all the time except when i give it fuel. anyone have this issue any ideas or fixes would be helpful.
thanks

 

First things first...check your front end. Rule out front wheel bearings. Doesn't haw the right symptoms, but check it to rule it out. Then move on to possible driveline grinding.

 

Any change in the gas mileage or cruising RPM?

 

yes there has been a chande in mileage but not a whole lot 1 or 2 mpgs

 

Sounds like you could have a bearing problem in your front driveline. I don't know enough about Tacoma drivelines to be helpful. But if this were a jeep I would suggest checking the wheel bearings first and then moving on to the diff / carrier bearings. If you don't feel like you can handle that sort of work. Maybe you need to take it to a mechanic. Hope it works out for you. Good luck.

 

Any difference in the sound between 2H or 4H. I had to have my front diff replaced just shy of driveline warranty expiring at 59k miles.
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2n...es-before-powertrain-warranty-expiration.html

 

the sound is still there in 4wd but not as bad. sorry for late reply im working on it as we speak.

 

Good luck. I'm thinking it's in the front diff, because after going through my experience, if it were bearings you'd be able to isolate to one side or the other. But I'm no expert.

 

Did you get it fixed Op?

 

sorry again for the late reply. from what i found i believe it is the diff. bearing, wheel bearings are tight (i didnt check them for heat after driveing) this might be something else i check. the sound is there between 55-65 mph has anyone had wheel bearings go out and still be tight. any help would be great

 

Only grinds when letting off the gas huh? Sounds like the driveshaft noise that seems to affect 4wd single cabs (single piece driveshaft). Mine does it too, though its exacerbated by my helper springs which raise the back end slightly. Try putting a heavier load in the bed and drive around for a while and see if it still does it. If it does not, then you have the driveshaft issue. Its caused by too much play in the slip yoke. Some people have had luck getting rid of the sound by flipping the DS around, thus moving the sound further to the rear of the truck. Sorry on my phone, bit a search will reveal several threads on this issue with the single cab 4x4 (not to be confused with the carrier bearing vibrations so often discussed on here).

 

to start with i dont trust shops all they are around here are parts changers.
the wheel temps are not hot, i dont have a carrier bearing,and believe me its not a pulley. i do all my own work on all my trucks, just trying to save some time and work by getting some help from friend on T.W. i going to try drive shaft flip cant hurt to see if this helps i will let you all know how it goes.

 

well now i really dont understand whats going on. i flipped the drive shaft and now the sound is gone, well very faint. what did this change

 

^^^^

 

thanks for all your help. iknow flipping the drive shaft didnt fix it but doesnt sound so bad now. i did grease the slip joint while it was out it still had plenty of grease in it from last time i did it 2yrs ago could this be the source of the noise

 

Below are some links to other threads about this (there are a good number more). I greased the slip joint with Teflon grease and changed the u-joints about 2 years ago also. Didn't make a difference in the noise at all. I think the only solution is a new driveshaft. I've often thought that a DS spacer would help because it would compress the slip joint, but I've been hesitant to do it because I don't want to bottom it out when I've got a heavy load in the back. It's been making this noise for 50,000 miles now and hasn't gotten any worse or better.

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/suspension/191798-how-reg-cab-rear-driveshaft-flip.html

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/151761-if-you-have-reg-cab-flipped-your-driveshaft.html

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/259859-tsb-reg-cab-driveshaft-grind-dry-bearing-noise.html

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/214280-when-depressing-clutch-speed-grinding-noise-transmission.html

 

I have 1.5" of aal lift and have the rattle/grind on deceleration over 50~mph. Everything is tight with exception of the slip yolk which had, what I thought was negligible play.. but, sounds like that's the culprit based on all the posts. Thanks for the posting up.