Rear end CLUNK (halp)

between speeds of 5-30mph, going over shallow bumps, I hear a nice CLUNK, CLUNKITY-CLUNK, etc, coming from the rear.

Things I've already checked:
Shackles
Hitch removed
Bed bolts
Shock bolts
U-bolts
U-joints for play (none)

I'm running out of ideas. Help.

 

Telescopic drive shaft?

Greased the spline recently?

 

It is. I will put some more grease in there and come back. Next thing will be removing all the stuff in my toolbox.

 

Greasing the slip yoke didn't help

 

hows the carrier bearing?

 

It's alright. Probably towards the end of its life. I wish I had a GoPro I could stick under there

 

Anyone else having this problem?

I'm thinking maybe a blown shock at this point, though the handling isn't mushy as would indicate this

 

I did but mine was the shock broke off from the frame and shot up threw the bed

 

I also forgot that I need to adjust the drums. The protocol is they need to just barely drag when you turn by hand, but I've read somewhere that it can cause this clunk. So I need to back them off a bit and see what happens

 

Spare tire loose?

 

I feel like I've checked it, but I'll check it again.

 

When you say 'checked', is this a visual check, or grab-it check, or a fastener re-torque ?

 

Retorque. Except for the shackles, they're OME so they really can't be "torqued" or they won't articulate at all.

 

Do you have Dakars? If yes, which bushings did you use in the leaf springs?

If you used the OEM ones from Toyota, grab a pry bar and try to pry them side-to-side in the front/rear mounts. I bet you they move. If that's the case, buy some OME or Energy Suspension bushings and ditch the Toyota ones.

I had the same problem in my truck, and it was 100% the leaf spring bushings.

 

also the spline calls for a #2 grease with MOLY

 

I have Alcans. They are roughly 6-7 years old. If you are talking about the shackle and main spring eye bushings, they are both squeaky ass poly shit. I just had to douse the main eye bushings with silicone lube because my truck sounded like a WWII tank.

Molybdenum grease? I didn't know this. I've been putting red n tacky in there, along with the u-joints, every other oil change or so. I have only been putting moly in my OME shackles since it calls for it.

 

if you look at the owners manual I think the double cardan and the slip yoke?? use Moly #2, I used Amsoil Heavy Duty #2 w/MOLY that stoped my axle wrap clunk but they don't make it no more, then I used REDLINE CV2 w/ red MOLY and was good too. the MOLY clings better to metal parts like yokes and joints, in fact I used the grease on my u joints too but theres a great debate on whether to use it on them, I had 260k miles on the driveline all original u joints

 

The reason Toyota calls for moly fortified grease on the splines is because of the sliding/shearing points of contact. Moly grease is better for that application. Where the u-joints movement would not be shear or slide, more rolling/rotating (whatever the technical term is, lol), Toyota calls for common wheel bearing grease, as it performs better in that application(or rather the moly damages the surfaces in this application, that's the debate that folks have had for years, but Toyota still only calls for Moly fortified grease on the splines) .

 

yes that's correct, with mine I took a chance after the fact of finding out about moly grease I wanted 1 grease to use for the whole truck it worked for me but I could have been lucky with using the moly in the u joints

 

Nah, prolly not lucky per se, it's likely just not enough moly to do actual damage. Also, I wasn't trying to tell anyone what to do at all, just putting the info out there is all. The u-joints don't carry weight like a wheel bearing would and so they might get away with having the moly grease. Know what I mean? Try moly when packing wheel bearings...lol. Actually don't. Please nobody do this. I don't even know for a fact they'd fail, but my guess is they would sustain damage.