Grinding noise coming from transmission area on highway

Problem Solved!!!

I just wanted to share this because I have seen a few posts on here stating similar issues....

I have an '06 Reg Cab manual. I noticed a noise getting progressively worse the more I drive it. It sounded like a grinding noise or vibration coming from the transmission area.

To try and isolate the problem I removed my foot from the accelerator. That is when the problem happened. I only seemed to hear it on the highway above about 65 MPH. So that means I was usually in 5th gear, so I decided to see if I heard it in 4th gear so see if it was the gear in the transmission.

The problem still persisted. So I tried listening for it around town in the rest of the gears, but I heard nothing. So that lead me to believe the transmission was probably okay and it was something else that would spin when the truck was moving.

Then I read on hear somewhere the someone have bad bearings or something on the input shaft to the drive shaft. So that made sense to me, when the engine is under load on the highway, the RPM and vibration would be just right so I would hear the noise.

I took it to Toyota and had them look at it, and I told them my theory. They called the next day and said my drive shaft was broken and they were going to replace it. So if it had a crack in it, or it was unbalanced or what I do not know but now the truck runs perfect and no more noise.

If the drive shaft was unbalanced I am no mechanic but I am pretty sure they could just re-balance it, but that is just my thought...Anyways I have only had the truck back for about a day but I have done a bunch of highway driving since I have had it back.

I will keep you posted if the noise comes back, and I hope this helps someone else having similar issues.

 

Mine does it too. I saw a big thread somewhere (dont know if it was here). Where most reg cabs do it. A couple people had alot of miles on there making the noise with no problems.

 

Mine does this too and I'm out of warranty. The problem is the slip yoke, it's loose and wobbles very slightly under neutral load. I tried cleaning and regreasing with Teflon grease at one point, but it didn't do anything to get rid of the noise. Some people had luck flipping the driveshaft but that didn't work for me either. I think it just moves the noise away from the cab a little.

The only fix is either a new driveshaft or possibly putting a spacer on one of the DS flanges to take up some of the travel. It appears that the yoke is over extended, which is supported by the fact that a heavy load in the back will get rid of the noise completely (i.e. compressing the DS so the yoke spline is pushed further into the DS). A spacer would mimic a load in the bed, but I have no idea how thick the spacer would need, and I haven't wanted to buy existing ones on the market because I don't want to bottom the slip yoke out and destroy the DS or transmission or differential.

Hopefully the new driveshaft they put on yours is revised to get rid of this issue. Good luck.

 

@tacoJAK any update on your truck regarding this issue?